Just picked up the truck from my mechanic. New upper and lower ball joints, new trans filters and ATF+4 and Royal Purple gear oil. My rack is also leaking. I have to order one and it wont be in for a few days. I have to go back to work Wed and wont be able to have it changed until Sat of next week. The truck pulls now ever so slightly to the right and the steering wheel is cocked a little to the right. I would prefer not to have the alignment done tomorrow and have to do it again next week. Would I have to worry about tire wear until I can get the alignment done? The only thing on the front end that was changed was upper and lower ball joints. The truck would drive straight and not pull before. I will also be changing tie rod ends when the rack is changed as well. Thanks for any thoughts.

 

i cant imagine its gunna wear to the point where a week is gunna make a noticeable difference in tread, i had to go two weeks without an alignment and i didnt notice any uneven wear

 

I think I would wait until those tie rod ends are changed. I just did a level kit on my truck and just unhooking them and reattaching them caused my alignment to go out.

 

Depends on how much you're going to drive over the next few days, if your not putting several hundred miles on your truck, I doubt you'll have any wear issues.

 

Meh, its going to be almost 1000 miles back and forth to work.

 

The rack is just seeping at the moment. How bad do these things get to leaking at their worse? I am tempted to have an alignment done tomorrow but wait a few months if I can to have the rack replaced if I can. I just dont want to wear out a set of tires not doing the alignment but I cant afford to have an alignment done every week either.

 

If the rack is just seeping a bit, you can probably get away with it for a month or so, just keep a bottle of powersteering fluid in the truck, just keep it topped off. 1,000 miles could put some wear onto the tires if it's out of alignment badly. Realize though, it's not just your tires that suffer, bad alignment stresses your steering and suspension components, I think your better off spending the $50 to get a front end alignment now. The problem is, without seeing your truck in person, it's hard to pass judgement. It depends on on just how bad it's out of alignment, and how it's out of alignment.

 

You might get away with getting a lifetime alignment. Let them know your situation. Could save some money.