So I'm having a devil of a time figuring this out. Got a new set of tires at around 30k on my 2013 f-350 dually because of excessive wear on the fronts. They were almost bald. The rears wore normally, but they were low enough to need replacing too. Ford said it was an alignment issue. Fine. Thing is Ford can't align the truck because it's a dually. Thats fine, too. I've taken it to Fred Robertson and Bambarger here in town as they are the only places that can align a dually in Tuscaloosa, both agree that the truck is fully within factory specs and within alignment. But the truck still pulls heavily to the left, to the point that I can't ever let my hands leave the wheel. It has acted this way since I've had the new tires put on and did not do this before the new tires. Townsend Ford wants me to go back to one of the wrecker places to get my alignment looked at AGAIN because they say the front end is "tight" and there is nothing wrong. What kind of issue am I dealing with here? Did I get a bad set of tires or is there is another possibility I haven't thought of?

When I start from a dead stop the truck immediately wants to pull to the left. It pulls to the left on roads where clearly the road cants to the right, so in reality my truck is pulling "uphill" at times, which is unbelievable. The pull is so dramatic that on parts of the interstate where there is a gradual curve to the left I can let go of the wheel completely and the truck goes around the curve with no input from me. It pulls to heavily the left at all speeds, on all types of road (2 lane, 4 lane, 8 lane, street roads, highway, and interstate). I am beyond frustrated.

I asked Townsend Ford what the solution would be after I dropped another $90 to confirm that my truck was in alignment and I bring it back to them. the service guy basically shrugged and was speechless, he offered no assurance of a remedy or that they would attempt to figure it out. He just said "well our "front end guy" and our "tire guy" looked at it and it looks fine sir". I feel like I am being ignored here and all I want is for someone, from Ford, to tell me that they will make this right. And all my dealer wants to do is pass the buck. Any advice?

Full disclosure, I tried initially to carry my truck up to Birmingham to have the "big" ford dealerships up there look at it, but both of them (long-lewis ford and town and country ford) said they would have to hold my truck for at least two WEEKS since they had so many diesel trucks already on their plate to work on. Who in the world has two weeks to give up a work truck? I use this truck every day at my farm and to carry vegetables to and from farmers markets, supermarkets, and restauraunts. I don't really have time to give my truck up for a single day, but I will do it to get this issue fixed. But a two week wait to have my truck looked at by a ford dealership is unreal. When I called ford corporate to open a case after this all initially went down a couple months ago the guy on the phone insinuated this was more a dealership issue than a "ford" issue. I disagree. Highly. The fact that ford sells a truck that they can't work on boggles the mind.

 

have you moved the tires around in different positions?

almost sounds like one tire is a different size. did u replace all 6?

but I understand the feeling.. I just put 2 new tires on my wifes car.. on rear as recommended.. car all over the place..

moved them to the front and it behaves properly..

my 2012 dually is at 27000 miles and my tires look new.. just towed 4000 miles and don't see any difference

really sounds like the toe-in is set incorrectly

 

Sounds like a defective tire. Radial shift comes to mind.

 

I agree, put the left tire on the right and the right tire on the left side and take it for a short test drive. You should know right away. Then go back to the tire store.

 

That was my next resort, have them switch the tires and see what happens. It's frustrating that I'm the one that has to come up with this solution, though. My dealer is the "tire store" in this case as I purchased them at Townsend Ford, they put them on, and they balanced them (twice, once when they initially put them on and once last week when I went in to have the issue looked at). The folks at Townsend seem like they'd rather me plunk money into balancing and aligning rather than troubleshooting the issue themselves, hence my frustration. They sold the tires to me, they need to fix it rather than telling me their tire guy looked at it and it looks good, then acting befuddled when I ask what the next step is when I confirm alignment for a third time.

I still can't figure out why my first set of tires crapped out on me so quickly since clearly it was not an alignment issue, as the two wrecker places confirmed my truck was and always had been in alignment. I only tow heavily about 10 to 12 times a year and that's pulling my tractor up to my hunting camp. I tow my riding mower more often between farm and home, but that weighs a total of around 2,000lbs, which is spit in the bucket for this truck.

Thanks for all the help, y'all got me on the right path I hope.

 

Let us know if that resolves the pulling issue, dirkdaddy. If you'd like, I can push this up the chain to your regional customer service manager (CSM). Since you don't have many posts, you may not have the ability to PM yet. Send an email to custserv@ford.com with your details; I'll need your full name, best daytime phone number, VIN, current mileage, and servicing dealership. Since this email address isn't actively monitored, please put my name ("Crystal") in the subject line and post here when you've sent your message.

Crystal

 

was the tire wear fronts, or rears or both?

what pressure were they at? I have mine set at 75 and 60 (normally) or 80 (towing my FW, as the ride is SO much better)

 

Don't let it bother you if rotating the tires doesn't help. It still could be a loose/worn out drag link or bad ball joint which may not show on an alignment check.

 

Bad tires is what I am thinking.


find a heavy truck shop and get it aligned there. That is what I do.