Pull to the right

[baronbors]

Wife drove the GT today and said that it was drifting slightly to the right if she took her hands off of the steering wheel ( Don't ask) Since I NEVER take my hands off of the steering wheel, I never have noticed. So I did a test drive and sure enough, take your hands off of the wheel it drifts to the passenger side. Pulled the wheel thinking might be a brake problem but everything there is OK so I took a right angle square and measured the angles of the tires. The front passengewr side wheel is sitting about 3 degrees out of parallel to the drivers side wheel and to the rear wheels. (See photo) What has happened here and can I fix it? Easily, cheaply ?

[RallyBob]

What you have described in your photo is negative camber (top of wheel tilts inwards relative to the bottom of the wheel). This will not however, generally affect steering 'pull' to one side.

Caster variation from side-to-side is usually the culprit for that. It may be as simple as a re-alignment. They will re-shim the upper a-arm bolts to correct the caster, and will then adjust the toe.

There is the distinct possibility of a bent a-arm, since GT's are prone to it. This will cause the caster change described above, and it will also shorten the wheelbase by a bit on the affected side. A quick check with the tape measure will confirm or refute this theory. From wheel center-to-center, you should measure 95.7". If it's shorter, it's likely from bent parts. Only fix is to replace at that point.

Bob

[hrcollinsjr]

Could be as simple as differences in tire pressures from right to left.

On the camber issue check to see if rotating the upper ball joint will fix your problem.

Harold

[jeff denton]

You need to look closely at your A-arm bushings, and the bolts that hold the lower A-arms to the crossmember. Mine had been run loose and the holes were all wallowed out. Somewhere here you should find the camber problem. Do carefully check your ball joints for looseness, too, naturally if they are shot the geometry is screwed and danger is present...
I agree with Bob's guess of a bent upper A-arm. They are really twinky! But I've never been able to catch any "out of squareness" by trying to measure wheelbase with a tape measure.
Racers do it with the car on stands, all wheels off, and carefully hanging plumb bobs from what they want to measure. And from marking reference points on the chassis and measuring from there to the balljoint or axle tube.
Harold's tire pressure tip is certainly right on, but, your camber proves something is wrong up there.

[baronbors]

Originally Posted by hrcollinsjr Could be as simple as differences in tire pressures from right to left. On the camber issue check to see if rotating the upper ball joint will fix your problem. Harold

Measurement from center wheel to center wheel is 95.7 both sides. Tire pressure is 32 psi each tire and since I am a neophyte at front end work- what is involved in rotating the upper ball joint?

[jeff denton]

It's really simple, support the car on the lower A-arm, pull the tire/wheel.
Remove the two bolts holding the upper ball joint to the upper A-arm, lift up the arm, swivel the ball joint 180 degrees, and reassemble. Your camber then will either be better or worse.
But I still want you to figure out how it got off so bad first. May be a safety issue!
Another thing to consider here is that your pull to the right is caused by some form of "rear steer", something out of whack in the rear suspension geometry.

[baronbors]

Originally Posted by hrcollinsjr Could be as simple as differences in tire pressures from right to left. On the camber issue check to see if rotating the upper ball joint will fix your problem. Harold

Harold wins the prize on both counts
I was checking the air pressure with my AutoZone 99 cents handy dandy air pressure gauge. Started letting the air out of the back tire until it started to look low and measured the pressure. 32psi- I knew that it couldn't be right so I took it back to Autozone and yelled at them for selling me a defective product ( I was only messing with them- they all know my first name by now) I purchased a digital pressure gauge and checked the front tires. 28 psi on the driver side 17 psi on the passenger side. Brought both tires up to 32 psi-test drove and the passenger side pull is gone.
I pulled the front wheels and checked the upper ball joints. The passenger side has an excessive amount of slop in it as compared to the driver side. All other bolts and bushings look good on the top and bottom A supports. Guess this means a quick call to OGTS - thought I would replace the ball joint on both sides because if one is gone - the other probably isn't far behind it.
Thanks to everyone for the help- Harold- your the man.