My truck is leaning instead of raking.

[borahshadow]

I think I've got some suspension sag issues... Here's the story of what I did with my truck today before I noticed the issue. Skip down a couple pararaphs if you don't want all the details.

Today I needed to pick up a load of bricks. I loaded the bricks into my truck and I had just enough to cover the entire bed when they were standing on end. Obviously this squatted down the back of the truck a little bit but it didn't seem excessive or anything because it was only like a half pallet of bricks. I drove about 10-15 miles today with the bricks in the back. Nothing too far.

I got home and I needed to take my horse trailer down the street to my neighbors. My horse trailer usually squats down the truck a little bit too. I didn't want to unload the bricks right then because I needed to drop the trailer by soon. I just put the trailer on and so at this point the back was squatted down quite a bit but I don't think I was bottoming out or anything. I drove maybe 1 mile with both of them weighing down the truck. I didn't hit any big bumps hard or anything that I can recall.

Anyway I unloaded the trailer and then the bricks and I looked at the truck (with a now empty bed) and I thought "that back end still looks a little lower than the front" So I took the truck into my shop and I got out a measuring tape. I measured the back end from the top of my centercap to the bottom of the fender (the bottom of the chrome strip) I measured just over 19" I think it was close to 19.15ish. I measured the front and I got almost 20".

So it seems like I have about 1" of cali lean instead of the 2" of rake that I've heard that these trucks have stock. I've never thought (as long as I've owned it) that I've had quite 2" of rake but I've always (eyeball measurements) thought that I had a little rake like about 1" of rake. But not 1" of cali lean. I've never actually put a tape to it before but sure seems to look different.

Does that look like a sagging back end to you?

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I wouldn't be too concerned about this right away except that tomorrow I'm supposed to be going on a 1000 mile vacation... with my travel trailer in tow...

I don't have any straight on side pictures of the truck from the past that don't involve at least one wheel up on some sort of curb,snow bank, block etc...

Any ideas? I suppose that the previous owner could have put on a leveling kit but I thought I would have know that or noticed that prior to this...

 

[JollyGreen]

It does seem to a bit, and I mean just a bit lower than the front. Hard to tell on your sig but...I'd definitely say it's lower, although I don't know exactly what would cause this.

 

[illinoisboy]

It does look to like the rear is lower than the front, if you dont like the way it looks you could decrank and level it out if thats the main problem then mess with it later.
By the way do you know the name of that color off the top of your head? if not i will just look it up later.

 

[borahshadow]

It does seem to a bit, and I mean just a bit lower than the front. Hard to tell on your sig but...I'd definitely say it's lower, although I don't know exactly what would cause this.

Yeah that's what I thought. I have always thought it was close to level or slightly raked but not lower... IDK if I could have bent a leaf spring or something...

It does look to like the rear is lower than the front, if you dont like the way it looks you could decrank and level it out if thats the main problem then mess with it later.
By the way do you know the name of that color off the top of your head? if not i will just look it up later.

I'm not concerned with the looks right now. RIght now I'm mostly concerned that something is damaged. If my rear suspension is hurt at all I'd hate to drive 1000 miles with my 30' travel trailer in tow since that will lower it even more. If I decranked it wouldn't that mess up the alignment? How could I tell if the previous owner cranked it?

The color is

EXTERIOR COLOR,PRIMARY (27U)
EXTERIOR COLOR,PRIMARY,LT STELLAR BLUE (27U)

according to the vin decoder. I think it's the stock paint job. I actually had someone else on this forum ask me the same question today lol

 

[dirtyhick42]

Looks cranked and what is throwing everyone off is the grandpa steps. What do your angles look like?

 

[dcZ71]

so your thinking between the load of bricks and trailer, you bent something?


also check your leafs you should have 3 + 1 overload

 

[Southern Pride]

Haha, see even the truck knows how it's supposed to sit. Just check your leafs and make sure your U bolts are tight. Then enjoy it because rake is affecting more and more trucks each year. We need to raise awareness against this tragedy and save these trucks!

You need to get pics of your front angles and keys/bolts but honestly have you ever backed the truck in there like that? Sometimes my truck looks perfectly level and sometimes it looks like it has 2" of cali in the most unsuspecting spots. These trucks are funny like that I'm telling you. Mine looks like it leans one way more than the other but only when I back in my driveway. I think you might just be a tad paranoid from driving with all the weight and might have looked too hard at it afterwards.

 

[borahshadow]

Looks cranked and what is throwing everyone off is the grandpa steps. What do your angles look like?

For the record I didn't put those on there. They were on there from the previous owner and honestly they don't bug me too much. I could think of lots worse things. These are some of the better looking running boards I've seen... Not that running boards are great looking lol.

I don't know what to check on those angles. I'm assuming that you're meaning the cv joint angles right? How do I check the angles? Eyeball?

so your thinking between the load of bricks and trailer, you bent something?


also check your leafs you should have 3 + 1 overload

Well I'm hoping that I didn't bend anything. I don't/didn't think that I had it loaded down enough to bend anything but that was the only explanation that I could come up with for why it would seem lower today than it did. I can't think of anything else that would cause a sudden difference like that.

I'm going to leave it up to you guys to decide if these pictures look normal because I never paid that close of attention to this until I noticed that something looked different/wrong...

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[borahshadow]

Haha, see even the truck knows how it's supposed to sit. Just check your leafs and make sure your U bolts are tight. Then enjoy it because rake is affecting more and more trucks each year. We need to raise awareness against this tragedy and save these trucks!

You need to get pics of your front angles and keys/bolts but honestly have you ever backed the truck in there like that? Sometimes my truck looks perfectly level and sometimes it looks like it has 2" of cali in the most unsuspecting spots. These trucks are funny like that I'm telling you. Mine looks like it leans one way more than the other but only when I back in my driveway. I think you might just be a tad paranoid from driving with all the weight and might have looked too hard at it afterwards.

haha just noticed that you posted while I was in the process of posting my last post. I would prefer a *minor* bit of rake or level. I don't really like it leaning back... To each his own.

I just posted pictures of the front angles but I didn't post pics of the keys/bolts. That's where I park my truck every day. I always back it in exactly like that...

I think I could be a tad paranoid that's a possibility but all the same there is no question that the factory rake of 2" isn't there and I'd like to know why. Not that I want 2" of rake but I'd like to know if the previous owner cranked it or if the rear has sagged over time.

 

[Southern Pride]

How long have you owned this truck?