I need some help setting my expectations on my used X. My 2000 4WD, was pulling hard right so I got it aligned last week. They told me the camber on the right front wheel needed to be corrected and the alignment set. The truck is better, but it is still tracking right. It is not near as bad as it was, but we I release the steering wheel, it start tracking right immediately. I have tried this on multiple roads, and the faster the speed the quicker the track right. As I said, it is better, but not what I expect. Is this normal because of the wheelbase of these trucks? This was done by a Ford dealer and I need to decide whether to ask them to review their work or not. The tires are not top dollar tires, they are made in China and have about 6000 miles on them, they came with the truck. I will say the steering is tight, there is no play. Thanks.

 

I would say that you should take it back to your dealer that did the work in the first place and tell them that they didn't too well...If they re-align it and it still does it then you probably have something else wrong.. It could be a dragging brake or whatever...When you take it back,make sure that it's still having the problem and then have them take it for a test ride WITH YOU IN THE VEHICLE WITH THEM...another thing is to have them show you the records of what they did.. When I take mine into the tire shop for an alignment they give you a printout of what it was before and what after they did the work.. They also check all the brakes and adjust if necessary.

 

Have you checked your rear axle? Use a tape-measure from the front surface of the axle-tube to the center of the bolt in the leaf spring perch. Then compare that measurement to the other side of the vehicle. Should be within 1/8" to 1/4" of each other. If not, your problem is at the rear.

 

They drove it and said, yep it is pulling right. I am not sure why this was not noticed before they said it was done. Stay tuned.

 

Ok,, guys here's the scoop. My 2000 Ex 7.3 4x4 was pulling to the right when I bought it used. UP front I will tell you I have solved the problem.

The problem is that the front alignment CAN be set exact dead on target center of range and it will pull to the right.

The solution for mine was to adjust the right wheel caster to +.4 degrees more than the left side. This is within SPEC for the FORD manual so this adjustment is considered in spec.

The downside is to do this, FORD makes and NAPA sells a bushing for the top of the ball joint that fits over the ball joint shaft and the spindle bracket. To change this bushing the nut over the ball joint has to be removed, the ball joint broken lose from the taper and then the factory shim removed. The factory stamps shims with a degree number on the top. My Factory setting was 0 to .5 degrees. The new bushing would go to 1.0 degrees. This allowed for the +.4 differential over the left side. The total cost of alignment and installation of the shim was $152.00 not the "normal" $89.99 alignment on this truck/Ex.

Now the Ex tracks dead straight unless road surface changes. The effort to maintain straight driving from the pulling to the right is gone. Prior to doing this work I checked brakes, slide pins, hubs and hub releasing. The first shop that did an alignment dialed it in TO THE NUMBERS but set the left and right side caster to 2.5 degrees with no offset and this resulted in pulling right. The +.4 caster brought the caster to L 2.5 R 2.9

The rest of the numbers are:
LEFT RIGHT
Camber 0.7 (range -0.8 to 1.3) 0.1
Caster 2.5 (range 1.5 to 5.5) 2.9
Toe In 0.04 (range -0.11 to 0.14) 0.4

These numbers resulted in my Ex driving like a new truck with little effort.
So if you are having pulling to one side issues and they tell you the numbers are within spec. They might be but adding +0.4 to the right caster will correct right pulling given you don't have other issues. Hope this is helpful. Jim

 

That is exactly what they did to correct mine, it now tracks straight. I got lucky and paid only $71 because they felt like they should have found this before they told me to pick up the truck. I am now good to go. I am glad to hear someone else had the same thing done to address their issue.

 

Did they have to install a new shim or just adjust the one you already had installed? Glad we are both Straight on this issue. Jim

 

Something else you may want to try is swapping the front tires left to right and see if the pull follows. I have seen cheaper tires have internal defects that affect the tracking of the vehicle........ Just a thought and fairly easy to check....

 

I have seen that also,, I put new tires on the front and left the old ones on the rear,, still pulled right,, Then I put 2 more new ones on the front still pulled right. Brakes,, front end parts and tire pressure ok,, but the 0.4 camber increase solved the problem. Jim

 

we had the same problem..alignment didnt work....we figured out it was the tires by switching them..i also learned the sd are sensitive to tire rotation.. now when i sense a little pull, i rotate the tires.. so far so good

 

The reason why we usually set the right side caster about a half degree higher than the left is too compensate for road crown. Since most roads are crowned for drainage, even caster settings will let a vehicle follow this crown. If anyone suspects a tire causing a pulling problem, simply cross-switch the fronts. If it pulls the other way, you have more than likely found the problem. Radial tires can have misaligned belts that can cause conicity issues. Much like rolling a styrofoam cup, the cup always turns toward the shorter end. Usually this is more inherent in lower end tire models, but not exempt from higher end ones too.

Jhooch

 

true that...most of the road here are crowned...so we think the X is starting to pull..but we do not know for sure until we get on the local freeway that is flat and then we know for sure..good info..thanx..oh..we fired our localtire place because they gave us a hard time and true, they re-aligned the X without charge...but when we were angry..they said its not the alignment..its the tires..well..thank you for telling us this..u r the experts..not us..why not tell us this from the beginning? there were other issues also..change of mangement and recent poor service, but they lost a 10 yr customer..and the guy before me had issues also..15 yrs he said and he was thru also.

 

[QUOTE=ptolalibertad]they gave us a hard time and true, they re-aligned the X without charge...but when we were angry..they said its not the alignment..its the tires..well..thank you for telling us this..u r the experts..not us..why not tell us this from the beginning? QUOTE]

You must consider that the skills at some business is not what you might have had in the past. Also consider they may have aligned (see my previous post) your vehicle to " factory specs" and therefore if you had pulling it had to be something else and the tires are the logical step the dealer thought, because they can cause pull. However the +.4 caster on the right wheel is ALSO in spec but they might not have made this move thinking that the Center of the range was better than compensation. So they may have been honest with you and not known that they should adjust to +.4. My local shop also would not set the +.4 and told me "if you want me to misalign you will be responsible for tire wear". So I went somewhere else because +.4 is within spec and I have had tire dealers make "tire wear" a prediction that came true. And later found they set toe-in to 1/4" causing the wear. So I try to find a person who you can talk to at a tire/alignment business and work with 1 person to solve the problem if possible. Jim

 

true.i understand what you mean. it was the 4 trip there that they told us this..wasting their time and ours.

 

They installed a new shim on mine.