Hello all, I am new here, but I've managed to read the majority of the archived posts! This is a great forum and certainly a bane to the less-than-honest dealerships. ($1200 quote for a brake job on a 1997 Ranger).

I have a 1997 2WD 2.3L Ranger I am preparing to sell. Three weeks ago I rotated the tires back to front, and as we had high winds and I was driving on crowned roads, I didn't notice anything, but when I got on flat pavement I noticed a slight left pull. Suspecting a bad tire, I switched the front left with the right rear, but no change. I jacked up the front end and noticed the left caliper sticking slightly, so I replaced both front calipers with remanned ones. No change. I took the truck to an alignment shop and it came out the same (pulling left) though their machine showed it thrust-aligned. They mentioned I might have a bearing problem. I had recently replaced the left front wheel bearing and races in search of a solution to a chirping noise I later narrrowed down to a vibrational noise (haven't found yet.) Any-who, I replaced the right front bearings and races, no change. Jacked the front up again and tested the suspension components; tie-rod ends fine, drivers side ball joints fine, passenger ball joints need replacing.

So I got my ball joints and am replacing them today, but I can't really envision how they could be causing a left pull. Any insights or similar experiences?

Alto

 

I noticed you said you x-rotated two of the tires with no change. My question is, have you tried putting the tires back where they were before you did the first rotation? Doesn't cost you anything but a little time. You didn't mention if the pull was there before the first rotation.

First post - Welcome to FTE.

 

Thanks for the welcome, as per your question, no I didn't but I had it in mind. There isn't any way to keep the tires like that if it works, because without rotation this truck eats up front tires. My recourse in that instance would be to have the tire(s) replaced. I guess I'm more concerned with making it right for the buyer.
I just completed the ball joint repair and am taking it to return the press tool, and if the pull is still there I'll try that. And no, there was no pull before rotating back to front, but it's also pothole season here, so after the x-cross I figured it may not have been coincidental with the rotation.

Alto

 

Well I started out to return the tool, and the pull was still there, so I went home. I made a careful diagram of the original, first rotation, and second rotation, then for the heck of it I swapped tires side to side. I returned the tool and everything was A-Okay- no pull, steering wheel centered. So it IS a difference in rolling friction.

I'm glad I addressed the other issues anyway, I'll just add the parts price to my asking price and put the repairs on the trucks resume.

Thanks, G2IC_Wraith, for pointing me back to the tires! I know there are two bad ones, anyway. I'm off to argue with the boneheads at Wally-World, where I bought the tires.

Alto