shop rechecking work after front end parts replace

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I asked about my truck pulling to the left a couple months ago after having both upper and lower ball joints and inner and outer tie rods replaced on my front end. Well I still have the same [censored] front tires, but I can tell the front passenger tire is badly wearing on the outer shoulder. Although they weren't perfectly worn to begin with, I can tell this is new wear. The shop went ahead and booked another appointment for me tomorrow. My question is since I already spent $1100 on this. Will I have to spend another $80 for an alignment if it needs it? Everytime I bring this thing in it's out of alignment. I'm usually pretty good at not hitting stuff too. When I asked what kind of warranty it had when they did the work, they said it's under warranty, but I won't have a problem. I never did ask how long it was for because I didn't think see why I would have a problem. Every shop in my area installs moog parts. Also, the pulling to the left only lasted for maybe 200 miles after that it started going straight.
 
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Also when did the alignment initially I asked if worn out tires affected the alignment and the tech said no because the machine hooks to the rim, so uneven wear doesn't matter. Makes sense I guess, but I'm almost tempted to go back to firestone for my lifetime alignment.
 
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Need to pony up the $$$ for new tires. You'd be surprised how often a bad tire causes alignment issues.
 
If it's a good business, they'll recheck the alignment for free considering the expenditures you've already made within the last year for labor. Stay away from tire shops for alignments and chassis work. I think I've already told you that.
 
Bad tires will cause it to pull. You can have a perfect front end and bad tires will ruin the way it drives down the road.
 
With all the anecdotes regarding hard-to-align cars, has anyone ever read a story where the alignment shop operator has said, "You know those tires of yours are garbage".
 
They checked it and it the toe was out just a tad. I put new tires on and they rotated the tires, so it pulls to the left now. lol. I think it's just normal for a short period of time until they wear in. I had them grease the ball joints since they looked empty and I think they put too much grease in now one of them is leaking grease out of the bottom edge of the boot. I give up.......
 
There shouldn't be any pull with new tires and a fresh alignment.

It is normal to have some grease come out around the boot after greasing a joint.
 
Originally Posted By: mk378
There shouldn't be any pull with new tires and a fresh alignment.

It is normal to have some grease come out around the boot after greasing a joint.


Apparantly moog has a grease relief slot right around the area when it's oozing out, so I guess they designed it that way. My buddy with a dodge 2500 complains about the same thing. He says dodges always pull to the left. The alignment wasn't even out but one degree on the toe when they checked it, so I don't know. Last time I came on here and complained and it went away after a couple weeks and started driving straight, so we will see what happens this time.

Discount tire rotated the tires and put the new ones on the back even though the front ones were pretty much new already. Seems like a waste of time to me to do that, but oh well. I'm curious to see how it would drive with brand new tires on the front.
 
Sometimes bad brake hoses can cause unusual pulling. Normally only associated with braking though. They collapse internally and don't completely let the pressure off the brake. Or they cause one brake not to react as quickly or as forcefully. So it doesn't sound like this is your problem. But it's something good to be aware of.
 
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
If it's a good business, they'll recheck the alignment for free considering the expenditures you've already made within the last year for labor. Stay away from tire shops for alignments and chassis work. I think I've already told you that.


+1 They should offer to check for free considering the amount of moolah you already shelled out for the repairs. I do agree that it very well could be a tire issue if the alignment is good.
 
Have you had anything done with the steering box?
They get sloppy on these trucks too.
How's the track bar and bushings? They get sloppy fast.

And final note, worn tires will make a vehicle drive funny even if alignment is spot on.

I do my own alignments on my dodge diesel. I use a tape measure. There's not much to align on these trucks.
 
Originally Posted By: Srt20
Have you had anything done with the steering box?
They get sloppy on these trucks too.
How's the track bar and bushings? They get sloppy fast.

And final note, worn tires will make a vehicle drive funny even if alignment is spot on.

I do my own alignments on my dodge diesel. I use a tape measure. There's not much to align on these trucks.


It's two wheel drive I don't think it has a track bar. Are you talking about that hydraulic ram looking thing on the 4x4 models? I thought that was called a steering damper.

The truck now has four new tires and the alignment is good, so I don't think there is anything left to do other than see how things wear after a few thousand miles. All the bushing's look good and no the steering box hasn't had anything done to it. The truck has 103,000 miles. Although I'm thinking that might have a bit of slop in it somewhere cause on slow turns over bumps or uneven surfaces you can feel it in the brake pedal like there is something loose. Doesn't do it all the time and only an overly paranoid whack job like me would even notice it, so I'm not too worried about it yet. I don't feel any looseness in the steering wheel turning it back and forth, feels like a new truck.
 
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I did show the alignment tech about how the tires were wearing like a slanted roof. They wore evenly, but looking from one side to the other there was more tread on one side than the other. I'm not the best at having tires rotated since most places want $16.95 to rotate them, but I bet if I rotated them every 6000 like I should it would barely be noticeable. The tech said he had no idea why the tires wore like that. The passenger tire always wears the worst compared to the drivers side. I'm going to go with what the one member on here said a while back, which was that it could be from too many u turns or hard turns. I usually go faster on left turns and do quite a few U-turns. This case with different it was the very outer edge wearing aggressively like the toe being way out.
 
Track bar is different than steering damper. But it's on 4x4 so it doesn't apply.

The steering boxes in those trucks of that generation were iffy at best when new. There is also an aftermarket brace to help the boxes, though I'm not sure it works on a 2wd. I haven't bought one yet, but I have to do something soon.

Btw my last set of tires went 73k miles.
 
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The truck will wander.

I don't think they actually "go bad" as in break. They just get so sloppy that people get sick of it and they rebuild or replace them.
 
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