steering wheel off center after alignment

[fgtex]

I had new tires put on today at NTB. Their free alignment check said that the toe was off and that this was causing my front tires to wear out on the outside edge faster than the rest of the tire. Now my steering wheel is off center by about 10* or so. It is driving me crazy. A coworker said that I may have gotten a half-arse alignment job. They should be able to fix the alignment w/o my steering wheel being crooked, right? Can they dial in the camber and caster better?

fgtex

 

[Rio_Grande]

AAAAA compleete alignment would have included reseting the wheel. What happened is when they fixed the toe, they fogot to tighten or loosen the drag link to get the steering wheel fixed. I would go back and tell them about it. It will take all of 10 minutes for them to gather the tools and align the wheel.

You can always do it yourself, but I would make them make it right.

 

[BamaSixGun]

I had new tires put on today at NTB. Their free alignment check said that the toe was off and that this was causing my front tires to wear out on the outside edge faster than the rest of the tire. Now my steering wheel is off center by about 10* or so. It is driving me crazy. A coworker said that I may have gotten a half-arse alignment job. They should be able to fix the alignment w/o my steering wheel being crooked, right? Can they dial in the camber and caster better?

fgtex

had the same thing to happen to me after i hit big pot hole next to a sidewalk. it knock my front end out and also turned the steering wheel about 10* too.

fortunately, i have a buddy of mine who aligned it back for me very cheap, and straightned up the steering wheel free of charge.

it took two attempts to get it right. he actually got it within a couple of degrees and tightened it and it fell right into place after driving it down the road.

a crooked steering wheel makes you feel weird goin down the road.

 

[fgtex]

After reading the above posts and studying the Haynes manual for the truck, I have determined that the tech must have failed front end alignment school. I looked under the truck, with 4 yrs of road grime, and the only parts that have been adjusted is the drag-link.-mad No wonder the steering wheel is off. I will be making a trip when the shop opens today.

The way I understand it is that the tie-rod is used to fix toe and the drag-link is used to center the steering wheel after the toe is corrected.

My first clue should have been when I checked the air pressure when I got home and found out that they put 75psi in each of my D rated tires.

fgtex

P.S. - Please correct me if my understanding is off.

 

[Rio_Grande]

The way I remember it you are correct, But I often get the terms mixed up, but when I crawl under I can do it right. Drag link runs from pitman arm down to knuckle, Tie rod ties the two tires together.

I haven't looked at my PSD frontend since I bought it, but being solid, it can't be much diffrent, and being a leaf sprung vehicle makes it fairly simple.

How did it turn out? Lot of these shops Hire monkeys to work in the shops and foget the money they gain in cheap employment will leave 10 fold in unsatisfied customers.

Jeff

 

[fgtex]

So I take the truck in this morning and tell then that the alignment that they did makes the truck drive funny. The guy tells me new tires, blah, blah, blah. I ask him what suspension piece that they would adjust on my type vehicle to fix the toe. He tells me the tie-rod. I tell him to go show me where they adjusted it, because it hasn't been touched, only the drag-link. He stammers for a few seconds and then he says that he will fix it himself. I guess he knows what he is doing. It drives much better and the steering wheel is straight!! I will only be going back to this place for the free rotations. The only smart thing that I saw, and something that I have not seen before at tire shops, is that every lug nut was put on by hand and tightened down with a torque wrench.

fgtex

 

[Skweeker]

. The only smart thing that I saw, and something that I have not seen before at tire shops, is that every lug nut was put on by hand and tightened down with a torque wrench.
fgtex

Damn, you're lucky.