1st Gen Durango 1998 - 2003 Durango's

I'm pretty sure I need an alignment

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Old Apr 24, 2010 | 01:11 AM
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Default I'm pretty sure I need an alignment

My steering wheel is turned about 1/8 to 1/4 of the way to the left when I'm driving straight, and if I take my hands off the wheel it will pull to the right. This would get straightened out by getting an alignment right?
 
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Old Apr 24, 2010 | 08:40 AM
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yup an alignment should take care of it, and the wheel is tilted bc the last shop to align the truck was lazy so take it somewhere else if you got it aligned bc the first shop sucked
 
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Old Apr 24, 2010 | 11:48 AM
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Originally Posted by shrpshtr325
yup an alignment should take care of it, and the wheel is tilted bc the last shop to align the truck was lazy so take it somewhere else if you got it aligned bc the first shop sucked
lol i hear what you're saying but it was done for cheap @ a vocational school where a fam member is a teacher there. Basically they do the labor for nothing, charge retail for parts so you save a lil money. They didn't have the tools to do a good alignment and I wanna get it take care of finally.
 
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Old Apr 24, 2010 | 02:40 PM
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no offense, but they failed miserably if the truck still pulls, and if i picked my truck up from an alignment shop and the wheel wasnt straight when i was driving straight i would have been making damn sure they fixed it before i drove off the lot (or as soon as i noticed it id have been back),

and depending on how long it has been pulling on you it might have worn the tires to a point where the alignment cannot be fixed bc it screwed up the tires too badly
 
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Old Apr 24, 2010 | 03:24 PM
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Originally Posted by tm985
lol i hear what you're saying but it was done for cheap @ a vocational school where a fam member is a teacher there. Basically they do the labor for nothing, charge retail for parts so you save a lil money. They didn't have the tools to do a good alignment and I wanna get it take care of finally.
Yea but it was a Vocational School so thanks for helping out the kids.


Take it to a real shop cause it sounds like the didn't get the thrust alignment in correctly.
 
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Old Apr 25, 2010 | 01:14 AM
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Originally Posted by tm985
My steering wheel is turned about 1/8 to 1/4 of the way to the left when I'm driving straight, and if I take my hands off the wheel it will pull to the right. This would get straightened out by getting an alignment right?

Is probably a tire pull, cross them and see if its opposite.
 
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Old Apr 25, 2010 | 11:46 AM
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Well for the sake of the site and the people that might be interested I went over there and got my alignment at the sears auto (one of the closest places available on a saturday). So I pay the $70 and drive off, it favors the right a bit so I went back and got a little pissed off and they rotated the tires, everything's good now.

Got aggravated cuz a bunch of 20-25 year olds standing there dicking around and stuff and took like 10 minutes before I got to the front of the line. All set now though...the next thing for me is gonna be the window tints and the AC and/or Window regulators that need to be replaced
 
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Old Apr 25, 2010 | 08:47 PM
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Originally Posted by shrpshtr325
no offense, but they failed miserably if the truck still pulls, and if i picked my truck up from an alignment shop and the wheel wasnt straight when i was driving straight i would have been making damn sure they fixed it before i drove off the lot (or as soon as i noticed it id have been back),

and depending on how long it has been pulling on you it might have worn the tires to a point where the alignment cannot be fixed bc it screwed up the tires too badly
No offense taken... Yea these vocational students at the shop don't charge labor, they only charge for parts. So basically tehy didn't have the tools to do a proper alignment and I knew that when I got the truck, it was just a matter of going to a place where they do that type of ****.

As far as Sears go though, I drove off the first time and they said the alignment was right but they need to do a tire rotation and it ended up driving fine after that. Still ended up pissing me off that I had to go back in the first place though should've just done that to begin with if you ask me.
 
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Old Apr 25, 2010 | 09:53 PM
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yup i agree they should have just done it if it was necessary
 
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Old Apr 26, 2010 | 10:41 AM
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Originally Posted by tm985
No offense taken... Yea these vocational students at the shop don't charge labor, they only charge for parts. So basically tehy didn't have the tools to do a proper alignment and I knew that when I got the truck, it was just a matter of going to a place where they do that type of ****.

As far as Sears go though, I drove off the first time and they said the alignment was right but they need to do a tire rotation and it ended up driving fine after that. Still ended up pissing me off that I had to go back in the first place though should've just done that to begin with if you ask me.
You are correct...They should have test drove it properly(not just around the parking lot) to confirm it was driving right. FYI Most cars today are built with fixed caster/camber and the only thing that is adjustable is the toe. Caster is the angle that causes pull. I always set it higher on the right to compensate for road crown. Thrust angle and rear toe is only relevant if you have independent rear suspension. If you have a regular one piece rear end it is all fixed on most. peace
 
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