I've always been told that once you need an alignment on a vehicle just get rid of it because the steering will never be the same. I have a situation on my hands that I need serious insight on. I have a 2006 F-150 Lariat Supercrew with 16,000 miles on it. I was getting my truck washed around the corner from my work place and when I went to pick it up I was squeezed in between two cars. I really thought anything of it and I carefully edged out. As I tried to turn the wheel and come out on an angle I really couldn't so I just came down and I smacked my front end bad. Naturally I knocked the alignment out. A local mechanic shop who does all our maintenance and repairs on our work truck peformed the alignment for me. Initally I was happy because I was just glad for the steering wheel not shaking me to death anymore. Then I realized that my wheel kept being have to had pressure on the left side slightly. I noticed it because as I was driving on a nice smooth road my steering wheel was slightly cocked as to before it was dead center and only minor hand motions when needed to keep the truck straight. So I put the wheel straight and it shot off a bit to the right where before I could let go and it would just keep going straight. So I realized I had a problem.

I brought it back to the shop and he said that was the best he could do and the alignment was correct. I needed a second opinion so I brought to 2 different Ford Dealerships even though I've had terrible experience with Ford Service I went back. They wanted to charge $120 for an alignment and I was ok with it as long as I get my truck back to the way it was. So both dealerships said they couldn't find anything wrong even though I carefully described the problem and even offered to show what I meant because both times I get my truck back from their own test ride and my seat is all cocked back, the radio is blaring which leads me to believe they went joy riding instead of checking for what i was telling them. So I did something I thought was crazy....I brought it to the Chevy dealership around the corner from my workplace. My in-laws all have Chevy's and they all bought them from this particular dealership whose always been known for excellent customer service. So I brought it there and astonishingly enough they only wanted $55 and they actually adjusted it a bit more and it was better. Not exactly how it was but better than the previous alignment. It was close though. I could actually keep my wheel straight for a bit and look normal driving. Then one night I was taking a another street to get to my in-laws for the holidays and I hit a pothole and now my steering is back to slightly being cocked to the left.

I was going to bring it back to the Chevy dealership but I'm kind of leery because even though they did better I'm afraid of like consumer fraud. I know that sounds stupid but I just don't them thinking they can try and get over on me. I know that sounds really stupid but I figured them recognizing me from last time they might try and pull a fast one because I'm a money pit. So I was wondering if maybe I'm setting my standards too high with my truck's steering or it is possible now and days with all the advanced equipment available to techs to get my truck steering like it did the day I bought it back in March '06? Does anyone think the Ford dealership, if they really just do it rather than joy ride, can get it done better? I don't care if they replace the whole front end I just want my truck to be the way it was. Or just go back to the Chevy dealership and tell them to align it and just tweak it a bit more than last time? Ditch the truck altogether? What do the Ford experts here on Ford-Trucks.com think I should do?

Thank you for your time and have a nice day.

 

You need to bring it to a different shop and see what they say don't go getting
into telling them how it pulls or that you had it aligned recently. If you give a
heads up sometime it can skew a persons judgement. I would take it to a smaller
shop maybe one with a bit of racing heritage if your town has one, since most ase
trained guys don't truly understand steering geometry and only interpret what the
computer tells them and have never actually built up or made drastic changes to
a system to see what happens from one minute change. Good luck and if you
know someone with the same truck getting under and comparing measurements
could unveil a bent bracket etc.

 

Not to sound stupid but what exactly would I measure?

 

Let me ask you this, if I don't have a local shop with racing heritage do you think like an alignment specialty shop or am I most probably going to get the same kind of service from an ASE Certified Technician? How could I check the credentials of the shop to say 'ok these guys know their stuff especially racing'? I'm just curious because I've already had some mishaps with this stuff and your reply was very insightful so I thank you for that.

 

A good alignment shop will know exactly what to do to get your truck steering right.

Try to find a place that does alignments on trucks as their primary business. The technician there will know how to set your trucks alignment to fix the problem you are seeing.

Do a search on this forum for details on this fix. Some very knowledgable folk know the answer.

Lou Braun

 

Thanks for these tips guys. I really appreciate it. There is an alignment shop down the highway from my workplace whose nephew used to work for me so I might try there but I like the idea of finding a racing/truck alignment shop.

Let me explain one thing too so you can understand how little it needs to be adjusted but it's enough to aggravate me especially when the truck is practically new. There's a Lariat badge under the speedometer and when I;m driving the steering wheel is slightly cocked left to where it covers up the a & t in Lariat then the truck will drift right if I put it straight like it used to. That;s on a flat road and if the road has the slightest pitch I'm holding the steering wheel handidily with a left slant. Then the truck will shake at 70 mph uncomfortably then I left off the gas and it smoothes out and I never had that problem before.

This may seem petty but I just want my truck the way that it was and thanks to your guys tips I hope I can get it back the way it was. If you have anything, anything at all, I would appreciate it just like I appreciate all of your feedback thus far.

 

I had a similar experience, but my alignment problems began with new tires. I need heavier load tires so I bought some e-rates from a tire store. I am currently getting ready to take them to court, so I will leave the names out. When they installed my new tires which were around 1300 bucks the tech said my alingment was out. I asked how he knew, and he said he checked it. I told him I didn't ask for an alignment but he could go ahead and fix it. They only charged 28 bucks for the alignment. To make a long story short my tires started wearing pre-maturely. I took it back they said it was ok. I had to do a 2000 mile round road trip and my tires wore bad, and even caused shimmy in the steering wheel. I took it back again, and they said there was nothing wrong. We argued about the bad tire wear, and more or less the guy had me ejected from his business. I took my truck to a good truck alignment and balance shop. They spun balanced the tires, and re-aligned it. It was way out of alignment. It drives good now, but I have lost about 20,000 miles of wear on the tires, in only 5000 miles of driving. You can see why the court issue.
Point is, if you don't think it is right, it probably isn't.

 

You're right it doesn't feel right therefore it isn't. I wasn't sure if I find a good truck alignment shop should I say how it has a slight tilt to the left or just say it needs an alignment period. What do you think? Less information the better or better information provided up front will equal better results?