rear axle centering is OFF by 1/2 inch

[magil]

Just noticed that the rear axle on my 2006 Tacoma TRD Sport is not perfectly centered from left to right in relation to the body/fenders:

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it's shifted to the right by at least 1/2 inch maybe even 3/4 inch ... anyone noticed such thing?

[Hickleberry]

Does it drive straight or make any weird noise?

[magil]

Originally Posted by Tundra_Hick

Does it drive straight or make any weird noise?

The truck drives straight and there are no noises as far as I can tell.

[quicksilvr]

Mine is the same way?????? It's really noticeable with my wheel and tire combo because they stick out past the fender. It kinda bugs me, but everything seems ok. I don't know how it would have shifted, I think mine was like this from day one and I didn't notice it till I put on different wheels and tires.

-Eric

[quicksilvr]

I have funny feeling there are going to be several people on this forum with this problem and they just haven't noticed it yet.

[magil]

Originally Posted by quicksilvr

I think mine was like this from day one and I didn't notice it till I put on different wheels and tires.

Ditto! After I put on larger tire (256/70/17) I noticed that the passenger rear is almost flush with the fender flare while the driver's rear tire is inset by at least 1/2 inch ...

I am also sure that it was like this from day one -- I only have 1400 miles on mine.

The next thing I want to do is to measure the distance from the wheel to the frame on both sides to see if this offset is caused by improper body fitting instead of axle offset.

[quicksilvr]

Let me know what you find out. I think there are a lot of our trucks out there like this, good ol Toyota quality for ya

[spjonm3]

Try measuring from the frame to the wheel hub. It might be that the bed is off and not the axle.

[magil]

Well ... measuring axle offset relative to the frame wasn't as simple as I thought it would be. To measure for an alleged discrepancy of 1/2" the angles have to perfect and I couldn't get it done in a crappy position I was in this AM in my condo garage. I'll try this weekend (maybe).

Meanwhile I saw at least 2 more tacos this morning that have the same "problem" with the axle being off to the passenger side. One was a reg cab SR5 and the other DC TRD OffRoad Pre-Runner that's parked right on the same parking lot at work.

And guess what!? The front end of my truck is also off by at least 1/2" in the same direction relative to the body/fenders -- this explains why it drives OK!