Originally Posted by EpicCowlick

You might want to consider a couple little tweaks during the alignment. The shop that did mine set for local roads meaning the average crown and slope where I mostly drive vs. the standard used by the factory. Apparently there are significant differences across the country. Second, they added additional caster angle beyond the factory setting which quickly removed the "shopping cart" effect. If the caster angle is too shallow, it only takes a tiny road bump to get the front wheels shimmying. Add an extra half a degree or so (can't remember the value) and the steering is much more stable and returns to center very positively. You'll notice the steering wheel requires slightly more driver input after the increase in caster (which is a good thing for the overall driving experience).

Just a thought. You and the experts can decide. I'm assuming you will be dealing with an expert of course as opposed to the other kind.

Originally Posted by marchare011

Wife and I will be in Moab at the end of June for a little ATV time.

Originally Posted by $5FootLong

Thought I'd chime in as well and say I had exact same issue on my 11' F250.

You could feel the front end shake a little going over manhole covers, and the like, at 30-45 mph but the big shake happened for me when I went on an a freeway overpass. The overpass is dual lane and turns 90 degrees to hook up to another crossing freeway. Doing about 60 mph, and gradually turning on the overpass, you come across a couple of expansion joints in the pavement. Occasionally, I'll drive casually one handed....tell you what, when I hit that expansion joint I grabbed as quick as I could with both hands to hang on and keep it headed straight.

The slight shimmy on straight on surfaces, at lower speeds didn't bother me that much but after the expansion joint jolt, and considering I only have 4000 miles on the truck, thought I'd better bring it in to get looked at.

I'd read of a few 11 Superduty owners having front end issues and the Rancho Shocks were bad and I thought that might be my issue as well so I mentioned it to the service manager.

On mine they said Rancho shocks were fine but the drag link needed to be replaced.

After the repair, and a week's worth of driving later, the left to right skidding issue is gone. I do feel a little continued bounce up and down. It's very minor and may just be me, but I'm going to take off those front shocks and give them a look over myself.

All in all, replacing the drag link made a huge difference.

BTW, didn't mean for my first post on here to come off as sounding negative.......I absolutely love my truck and have enjoyed reading all knowledgeable posts around here. Even a few of the not so knowledgeable ones

Tim

Originally Posted by marchare011

He said in order to claim a warranty on the alignment or tires, I had to prove I've rotated the tires as described in the "little tire book of life". Also, he says you can only make a claim up to 12K miles on alignment issues.

Originally Posted by EpicCowlick

Shoot me a PM when you go. If we're there we'll meet up.

Originally Posted by porthole

Tell your service REP you followed all the procedures in the book and he is welcome to prove you didn't.

Originally Posted by marchare011

he helped me out by letting me know you have to show proof you've adhered to the requirements set forth by the manufacturer

Originally Posted by marchare011

I had 5079 miles on truck and hadn't rotated the tires yet. So, we(he) did that. Now if there is a tire issue before next rotation is due, My a** is covered.

Originally Posted by marchare011

As for the front end shimmy, apparently you only have 12,000 miles to make a warranty claim for anything related to the alignment.

Originally Posted by marchare011

And as long as I have rotated my tires, I am once again covered

Originally Posted by porthole

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You do not have to show proof, so your dealer is incorrect with that statement. Have him prove it.
I’m not saying that if you want to keep detailed records/log and follow the maintenance guide to the “T” that it is a bad thing – have at it. What I am saying is there is no rule or law that requires you to.
There is a law that requires the manufacturer to prove you did not.



The first “scheduled rotation is at 7500 miles – what does he say to doing it one third early?



Long as I can remember that has been the general practice of the big three. It does seem to be a fair compromise. At one time it was only 90 days.

Alignment and shimmy may not be the same problem. An out of aligned vehicle can have a shimmy, but a vehicle with a shimmy is not necessarily out of alignment.



Assuming you have a front end shimmy you either have an alignment problem or a mechanical failure of some sort. Either of these will most likely cause tire problems, which you may physically see before you feel.

The owner’s manual is quite specific on this:

Page 224
Tire rotation Rotating your tires at the recommended interval (as indicated in the Scheduled Maintenance Guide chapter) will help your tires wear more evenly, providing better tire performance and longer tire life.
• Rear-wheel drive (RWD) vehicles/Four-wheel drive (4WD) vehicles (front tires at top of diagram)

Sometimes irregular tire wear can be corrected by rotating the tires.


Note: If your tires show uneven wear ask an authorized dealer to check
for and correct any wheel misalignment, tire imbalance or mechanical
problem involved before tire rotation.

This is straight out of the book and is BS
Sometimes irregular tire wear can be corrected by rotating the tires.

Irregular tire wear is either an alignment or mechanical problem with the vehicle or a structural problem with the tire. The root cause has to be corrected, rotating the tires will just shuffle the problem.

Originally Posted by porthole

Understood.

I did 18 years full time and another 4 or so part time at new card dealers (class A tech). I just hated it when service reps would try and sell to customers stuff that was not needed.