Hmm..so do you think they don't know what they are doing or something? I mean why would they use the tires as an excuse if it's not a valid one? I had to buy that trackbar because they said the truck was lifted and that the axle was no longer centerd anymore. So I had to buy a 0-3" adjustable trackbar. Anyway, I'll give them their shot tomorrow, and if it comes out like **** again, I want my money back and I'll just do it myself like everyone here suggests. I also want to be compensated for that wheel, pad, and rotor I had to bought. If they don't help me on that, then I will never go back there again, and they will looose in the end.

 

Where abouts are you? The chain of shops I work for are only on the West coast and are very reputable. How much is your truck lifted? If its 0-2" your stock trackbar should be fine. If its any more than that you should have a track bar drop bracket or a adjustable one. Although having your axle offcenter will not cause any driveability issues it will make your truck dogtrail (ever seen a truck drive slightly sideways on the highway?) You can also set your steering wheel straigh yourself very easily. Drive your truck down the road and get an idea of where your steering wheel is positioned when your truck is driving straight. Park your truck on a level surface and set the steering wheel where it was when the truck was driving straight. Then just adjust the drag link near the pitman arm until the wheel is straight. Might take a couple trys to get it perfect but its pretty simple. Also I believe they should pay for the wheel and other parts at the VERY LEAST. They are lucky you weren't harmed.

 

Well she has a 3" lift on her. Total of 5" overall lift (offroad package). Yeah I know what you are talking about, it was doing that before I bought that adjustable trackbar. Anyways, I don't know how the allignment possibly went wrong. That trackbar is completely adjustable and compensates for the lift on the truck. And I'm going to explain this to them tomorrow. If they don't get it right, I want my money back. I paid $85 to have nothing done lol. Anyway, hope it works out tomorrow, I'm brining it up there for my appointment at 9am. They are going to get the heat of me too. When you mess with my life or my truck, I kind of get a little crazy haha. Thanks for your help too!

 

Wow $85 is a rip off. It also makes me wonder if they just did a standard alignment which would explain why they didnt get the steering wheel straight. And $85 is a rip off (our standard alignments are $29.95 and thrust angle alignments are $59.95 heck even our 4 wheel thrust alignments aren't even $85) I would ask them if they did a thrust angle alignment which is where they set the front wheels in accordance to the rears. If they don't know what your talking about then they don't know what they are doing.

 

If you go in guns blazing and making threats I wouldn't expect much cooperation.

Ask them to do a print out of the alignment before and after they adjust and take a copy with you.
I hope your getting a 4 wheel alignment!
The thrust angle should be very close to ZERO when they aredone. That will indicate the front axle and rear are tracking the same.

If the tires are causing the pull rotating them side to side should reverse the pull or at least effect it some way.

Good luck

 

I gotta chime in too. Loose lugnuts? WTF?? I've worked in a lot of shops, and that's the one major thing we ALWAYS check. No matter what.

+1, The shop I worked at the longest was a white trash little independant-owned Big O, and our alignment guy could align almost anything, I've seen 38"s+ on that machine. Another thing I suggest is to watch them if you can when they do the work. A guy I worked with never torqued anything with a wrench, just gunned the nuts down, and one time a customer saw him do that and he got ****-canned. Sorry for rambling, but I can't believe that B.S. and they didn't pay for the rotor and anything else that was bent/damaged when the wheel came off? F*ck that. Stand in front of the shop with a huge sign telling everyone that they suck ***.

 

I used to work at an alignment shop but didn't do the alignments so am not the best person to talk to on this but I do know a little bit about them. I'd check the alignments but usually if they had to be adjusted someone else would do it. The tires shouldn't matter as we did several trucks with large tires. Mine has 33"s which are a little smaller but it's aligned up perfectly and drives straight with the wheel straight.

To correct the steering wheel you have to adjust something else but not sure what as I can't remember what they said it was and I've never done it.

I would probably try out another shop but thats just me.



Here is where I think you are wrong on this. Well, I don't know about wrong but think it should be addressed and may or may not be causing you issues. If you put a 3" lift on top of the offroad package without changing out any parts your have your stock front end parts maxxed out. The front suspension parts are supposed to be able to handle up to a max of 3" lift. Thats why you see lift kits for 3" and all you need are spacers or coils. Some have control arms but those aren't needed. You have the offroad package which is about a 2" lift and put a 3" lift on top of that. You should be running longer control arms, drop pitman arm, sway bar drop brackets, and a trac-bar drop bracket or in your case the trackbar. If I was you I'd go ahead and order the rest of the parts for a 5" lift instead of putting so much stress on all the parts that are on there now. That or take the 3" lift off or if you want it on put it on instead of the offroad lift. Both together without other parts are just asking for trouble.

 

You cannot do a "4-wheel" alignment on a 2nd gen Dodge Ram, there is nothing adjustable on the rear suspension.

"4-wheel" alignments are forvehicles with adjustable rear suspensions (like vehicles with rear control arms/4-links) and the reason they cost more is because there is more to adjust.

*****4-wheel alignment has nothing to do with 4wd.*******

I hope they are not charging you for a 4-wheel alignment!!! If they are, they are totally hosing you.

Theterminoligy on "4-wheel" alignment also has people confused that if the shop uses 4-heads, that that is a 4-wheel alignment, and that is not accurate either.

All four heads need to be attached to the vehicle for a "Thrust Angle" alignment which is what cars/trucks with non-adjustable rear suspensions get for alignments.

FWIW, some shops still use older alignment heads that cannot "see" each other based on how tall thetires are, the arms are just not long enough to get around the taller tires and let each head "see" each other, so I'm going to have to disagree with the statement that tire size doesn't matter. It may not matter on the newer laser style, but if they havea older style it can have an effect, which should be that tell you they cannot do it, instead of doing just a "toe and go". They also have some wheel restrictions where the heads cannot attach to the style wheels that have no lips on the bead area. Again these were on the older style heads that I was accustom too and I have never used the newer laser style.

It is still my opinion that you have some other issues going on such as loose/worn hub bearings, loose/worn ball joints, or a bad tire belt (which I already suggested to you to switch the front tires around and see if the problem reverses itself or changes).

I hope you get it all worked out soon though as problems like this can be very frustrating.

 

If there is 4 heads I call it a 4 wheel alignment. I guesscalling ita thrust angle alignment would more technically correct.

My point was if the shop is doing a conventional 2 wheel(2 HEAD)alignment with no rear wheel reference you probably won't getacceptable results.

In my area I don't know anyone who charges a separate price for thrust alignments. It's either 2 wheel (2 head) or 4 wheel (4 head) alignment, regardless of what is factory adjustable.

 

OK, they just called me back and said the truck was done. And of course, it's still not perfect. He's saying it's still pulling a little bit to the left. He says it's because of the tires and how wide they are. He said theres something in the tire that's making it pull. He says new tires would most likely fix the pull, but he can't guarantee it, whatever...

Yeah, and catch this. To add to the drama of this dealership, he said somebody hit my truck in the parking lot. They said they saw it on camera, so their bodyshop has to take my truck Monday to fix the damage. He said it's in the front left fender, I don't know how bad the damage is. How the hell do you hit a ****ing giant lifted truck? How can you miss that, err...I'm just so annoyed lol. Whatever, I'm going to get it when my brother comes back so he can bring me up there. I hope the damage isn't that noticable. Thank god they were at least honest and told me. I could so envision seeing it like a week later, and then calling them back and them saying, "there's no way you can prove it was us". Whatever..I'm pissed my allignment still isn't perfect, and I'm pissed my truck has been hit.