would bad ball joints cause a shop to tell me they can't align my 4wd 04 dually? well let me rephrase that, they said they CAN, but it'd be a waste of money on my part because the ball joints are bad. first time at this shop so i told them wait, i'm going to have my friend that i trust check it all and tell me for sure if they need replacing before i put money into it.

they also said the track links are bad too. so i need to check into all that before i just tell them replace it (and if they are bad, i will pay my friend to do it rather than this or any other shop) because i only let people i trust work on my cars, unless it's something that he can't do at his shop like the alignment due to the size of my truck. i hate leaving my truck at a shop i don't know, or even letting them touch it even if i'm there. i'm just **** about stuff like that lol.

so i figured i'd check here if that in fact would cause the alignment to be a waste. i'm not 100% sure i NEED an alignment either. new tires so not long enough to see if they're wearing irregularly, but i don't want to get to that point either. it sometimes feels like it pulls slightly to the right, but after centering (or almost centering, said shop was supposed to adjust it for me and they got it close but it's still off to the right some, before it was way off to the left...they claim they can't get it perfect without aligning it.......) the steering wheel, it seems to pull less, but still sometimes i think it pulls to the right just slightly. donno if it's bc the steering wheel is still off, or it needs an alignment. only mods are a 2" shackle lift in the front. that's what made the steering wheel be off center in the first place.

i THINK it pulled slightly before the lift, but i also had very bad tires, i couldn't drive it and test it with my new tires until the shackle lift was installed so i don't know.

the wheels should be balanced good as well, although i didn't watch them balance them, but there are weights on them. hopefully they are right.

i'm just scared now with the whole thing because i don't want my brand new tires to wear unevenly. i probably will park it and drive my other car until i figure this out, but it's hard because it sat for 2 months and i had withdrawals from driving it so bad that i've been wanting to only drive my truck the last few days since i finally got the shackles on lol.

 

I'll start by saying everything's a choice. That said, if your ball joints are worn an alignment will not hold to the proper specs. This would be due to excessive movement in the suspension. So could they align it, yes. Would it hold and be warrantable, no.
It is possible that they noticed it early enough that tire wear would be minimal.
I'm not sure what they mean by track links.
If your trucks track bar ends are showing wear, or the mounting brackets are showing wear or stress then I could see replacing them. As far as I know your truck didn't come with an adjustable track bar, although I believe aftermarket ones are available.

 

They might mean Drag links? Those went out on my 08, along with the tie rod ends, ball joints and the track bar.

 

True, they could mean drag links. They could also be talking about sway bar links. Hopefully they gave ufvj217 a written estimate. If not, the best thing for him to do is take it to a shop he trusts and have the whole front end gone through.

A 2" shackle lift isn't going to mess with the alignment very much. Usually it will only increase the caster slightly and caster doesn't wear tires out. Camber and toe wear tires, and with possibly bad ball joints camber won't stay set.

Driving it around for a little while won't hurt the tires either. Just don't wait too long.

 

yea i'm going to try to get all this sorted out sooner than not. luckily i have 2 other cars i can drive if i do need to not use this for whatever reason.

they didn't give me an estimate because i think they could tell i wasn't going to use them anyways even if what they said needed replacing. but i'm going to go by tomorrow morning and ask them to do that just so i can see what they charge (just curious) and what all they actually say i need. i too wasn't sure what they meant by track links, so ill see what they say tomorrow.

and yea, i am going to have my friend that i trust tell me what i need and whatever it does need, i will have him do it because i trust him with my cars. he manages a Tires Plus but he works on my cars at his house on the side. i'm going to go through his shop though for the front end check, i believe it's free, if anything it's a few bux but he will probably do it free anyways, and just throw it on the rack and let me know whats what. i really wish the alignment rack at his shop would fit my truck that way i can have him check/do the alignment and be there to watch it all (even though like i said i trust him even if i don't watch them work on it).

so yea i guess my first step is to see if it needs the parts they said or not. then check on the alignment.

im still kinda mad that i paid them $48 (this shop, not my friend) to center the steering wheel, which i could have adjusted the drag link myself per a write up on here, but since it was already there thinking i was going to have it aligned, i just said do it, and i would have been fine even though it cost $50, but it's not even centered...and personally i don't think it needs an alignment and they say that's why it's not centered because it needs one. i'm not buying it because it was perfectly center before i did the shackle lift....i may make them fix it tomorrow when i go in and i'm gonna watch them as they do it. or give me my $48 back and ill do it myself.

OR, i may do it myself tomorrow, get it centered, then drive there and say how come i could center it but you guys couldn't? and tell them i want my money back. lol.

 

Wrong thread.