99' Tahoe rear end alignment

Greetings all,
I am getting ready to ink the deal on a 99' Tahoe 4WD 4DR, and it has one flaw that is really bothering me. The rear axle appears to be off track to the right by one inch, as in the drivers side tire is one inch closer to the inner fender well than the passenger side. I had a friend follow me and then he drove the truck while I followed him and we could not detect any traking problems. It drives straight and true down the highway (hand off the steering wheel) and the steering wheel maintains perfect centering alignment. The tires have 35K miles on them with very even wear, with a slight a bit of wear on all 4 on the outer portion of the tread which I suspect to be from the forward camber alignment.

I have done the carfax report and spoke to the original owner and neither report any damage ever. I used this flaw as a bargaining point during the bartering for price with the car dealer and at $3600 I am satisfied with the deal. But it has still got me a bit puzzled, any ideas? :zav:

this may be a long shot, but is it possible that there has been a whee spacer installed on that side? I mean, maybe the original owner started the spacers, but ony got one side.. or someone else didnt know they were on there, and took it off or something? i mean thats a long shot. I dont know what else could cause that.

ide call a dealership and ask them the question......

Take it to an alignment shop post haste.

My 99 has the same problem as well as many other 99s that I've seen. It bugs me too but everything measures out right corresponding to the frame. I believe the bodies were mounted a little off on the frame. It is so slight that you just have to live with it.

And good luck doing a rear-wheel alignment on a str8 axle vehicle.. alignment shops won't touch the rear

Shims

Usually the only way to align a straight rear axle is with shims. And most shops won't want to tackle it. Around here the alignment shops only offer 4 wheel alignment for all cars, which means they align the front wheels and charge me for four. Fun times.

I think someone in another post brought up the possibility of an adjustable panhard bar.
I haven't specifically looked for it on my Denali, but it makes sense.. if it is bent.. or the truck was lift/lowered... it can offset the axle assembly.