If I have had the alignment corrected, bearings cleaned and repacked, and rotated my tires and still have a slight pull to the right side, what could be causing it? My only idea is that perhaps the rear differential is applying slightly more torque to the drivers side than to the other. I have an s-10 with about 140,000 miles and have had no accidents with it.
If the alignment is correct, it should come back to center after a turn, and on a flat road, stay pretty much in line. If the grade (or crown) on the road is more extreme, then it will pull to the ditch. You can test on some (not all) highways, since they will crown between the lanes, and the right lanes will pull right, left lanes will pull left.
If it’s still pulling, check the brakes. Does it straighten out when braking? If so, then the caliper on the right side would be sticking. I just serviced the wifes car yesterday, and the pads on the inside (where the pistons are) were actually not touching the discs (front and rear).
I seriously doubt the rear diff is having any impact at all. The primary suspects are alignment and brakes.
Chase
Most roads have a crown to them and - assuming you’re in the U.S. & driving on the right hand side of the road - there will be a slight pull to the right side. Have you found and nice, completely flat parking lot to check this out?
Other than that the next thing I’d look at would be a dragging brake.
- So if I hadn’t been typing while Chase posted I would have just seconded his comments *
Um…you could go back and get the alignment checked again. There’s nothing stating that everyone who does an alignment gets it right the first time, every time. They try, and mostly they do a good job, but occasionally, mistakes happen.
Chase
Try rotating the front tires side to side. This fixed a serious pull to the right with my 93 Caprice and a slight pull to the right with my 2000 S-10 Blazer.
Ed B.
Try rotating the front tires side to side.
If the pull completely changes direction,. it is 100% the tires.
If the pull doesn’t change at all, it is 100% the alignment.
If the pull chhnges - other a complete reverse in direction, then it is a combination of alignment of and tires.