alignment issues

01thunder

01thunder

New member
tires and alignment yesterday. steering wheel not straight like it was. if i level it, truck goes right. today tuesday, i took it back and it went up on the rack 3 times for adjustments and still doing the same!!!:mad:

i am not one to like wasting time so at this point i do not know what it could be. pretty much everything is new up front so i don't know what is causing the drift. before with all the old shit it aligned fine.

feedback is appreciated because i don't like driving vehicles with crooked steering wheels nor holding to compensate. :mad:
 
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assuming the alignment is good, you probably have a bad tire.

try swapping the front tires side to side. if the pull goes away, or goes the other direction, you have a bad tire.


oh, also make sure all the tires have the correct/SAME pressure.
 
nevada said:
assuming the alignment is good, you probably have a bad tire.

try swapping the front tires side to side. if the pull goes away, or goes the other direction, you have a bad tire.


oh, also make sure all the tires have the correct/SAME pressure.
Click to expand...

did that before taking it in; same thing.
 
i checked the specs from 9/13 and compared them to yesterday and today and they are right on! so now to figure out why it is drifting right.
 
camber:
left: -.02
right -.03

toe:
left: -.11
right: -.10

caster:
left: 2.8
right: 3.0

all of these are within specs so i don't know what is causing the drift!:mad:
 
Sounds like just a crooked steering wheel. If they are a good credible shop it should just be a simple adjustment made on the tie rods turning them a 1/4 turn to the same direction the steering wheel is off. Put the steering wheel to where the truck goes straight and let go to see if it is a PULL or just a crooked wheel. Remember the road always crowns to the right.
 
diggity_1031 said:
Sounds like just a crooked steering wheel. If they are a good credible shop it should just be a simple adjustment made on the tie rods turning them a 1/4 turn to the same direction the steering wheel is off. Put the steering wheel to where the truck goes straight and let go to see if it is a PULL or just a crooked wheel. Remember the road always crowns to the right.
Click to expand...

I agree... The caster and camber spread isn't enough to cause an issue
 
Agreed with those above.

To simplify a bit:
You can set toe to be in specs with the steering wheel crooked. Often times when adjusting a tie rod the steering wheel may shift from force put on the tie rod. If they continue with adjustments without reinspecting the position of the steering wheel they will likely set it to the correct specs when the steering wheel is not straight. Then you have a vehicle that will go down the road straight but with a off center steering wheel.

Or maybe the tech is a retired sumo wrestler.
 
EatonKyleH said:
Agreed with those above.

To simplify a bit:
You can set toe to be in specs with the steering wheel crooked. Often times when adjusting a tie rod the steering wheel may shift from force put on the tie rod. If they continue with adjustments without reinspecting the position of the steering wheel they will likely set it to the correct specs when the steering wheel is not straight. Then you have a vehicle that will go down the road straight but with a off center steering wheel.

Or maybe the tech is a retired sumo wrestler.
Click to expand...


HAHA. True. I was an alignment/front end tech for 5 years and I've run into some cases where we had to have the customer stay in the car for the adjustments.
 
EatonKyleH said:
Agreed with those above.

To simplify a bit:
You can set toe to be in specs with the steering wheel crooked. Often times when adjusting a tie rod the steering wheel may shift from force put on the tie rod. If they continue with adjustments without reinspecting the position of the steering wheel they will likely set it to the correct specs when the steering wheel is not straight. Then you have a vehicle that will go down the road straight but with a off center steering wheel.

Or maybe the tech is a retired sumo wrestler.
Click to expand...

the first 4runner i had it got aligned 3 times before they got it right. i got in it and set the wheel then the tech did the adjustments; no problem after that, crowned road or no crowned road.

i did that now, but he had done the adjustments before i set it. i will have to do that again.
 
01thunder said:
but the wheel was straight before the new tires/alignment? what changed?
Click to expand...

Them adjusting it.

You might want to ask to see the steering wheel position when they have the alignment heads/sensors on it. This will show you a live reading of toe when you can verify the wheel position is correct at the same time. You could even sit in it and make sure its in specs WITH the wheel straight.

My point is
You can set toe to be in spec with the steering wheel in any position. Of course the desired position is straight but some people don't reinspect wheel position while in the process of adjusting or after so they continue to align it with the position of the steering wheel off.

I suspect another alignment shop would probably get it right away but trying to give some options to get it corrected with the shop you've spent your money with already.
 
01thunder said:
the first 4runner i had it got aligned 3 times before they got it right. i got in it and set the wheel then the tech did the adjustments; no problem after that, crowned road or no crowned road.

i did that now, but he had done the adjustments before i set it. i will have to do that again.
Click to expand...

You got me while I was still typing but looks like we are on the same page.

Good luck!
 
i'm not paying another $90 somewhere else when they should get it right. i am going again thursday morning. what pissing me off even more is the fact that techs/managers wanting to argue with me telling me that the truck is old and that there are more worn parts besides the ones i replaced that are causing the problem. what? or i've been doing this all my life and i know what i am talking about. :loco:
 
01thunder said:
the first 4runner i had it got aligned 3 times before they got it right. i got in it and set the wheel then the tech did the adjustments; no problem after that, crowned road or no crowned road.

i did that now, but he had done the adjustments before i set it. i will have to do that again.
Click to expand...

No delicate way to put this, the alignment tech you took it to doesn't know what he is doing. Centering the wheel is EASY. I sell alignment machines for a living, and I "train" techs on using our equipment. I am simply astounded at the lack of basic knowledge the majority of these techs have, or don't have. Get your money back, and take it somewhere else!

:couch2:
 
IBallEngineer said:
No delicate way to put this, the alignment tech you took it to doesn't know what he is doing. Centering the wheel is EASY. I sell alignment machines for a living, and I "train" techs on using our equipment. I am simply astounded at the lack of basic knowledge the majority of these techs have, or don't have. Get your money back, and take it somewhere else!

:couch2:
Click to expand...

not one, 2! the old man did it first. then the kid did it now, whom i wanted because he didn't it the first time in 9/13. we'll see thursday what happens.
 
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