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Dang, John. First I've heard of it. Here's hoping you'll no longer see what happened after the shop is through blending it in.
In other news...
Shop had my truck for over five hours... had to use the camber bolts I bought just in case... another $250 labor... and... while the final specs are acceptable, the steering wheel is no longer level. GOTTA CORRECT THAT MYSELF (with an equal tweak on both tie rods to bring the rack back to center, without changing the toe setting).
Why are there no more decent front-end men these days? *rant*
I'm hopeful they'll get it right. I had them do my Lariat grille when I first got it. There were a couple scratches on it, and they matched it perfectly.
There's only a few good front end guys anymore. One of our Kenworths needed front end work, got it back, and the wheel was actually 90 degrees out. I was pissed, that was my KW at the time. Showed the boss, he told me to take it back, NOW. No problem. That was at a shop in Mio Michigan. I've come to the conclusion that most jobs worth doing, are worth halfassing up here.
I took care of the steering wheel postition myself this afternoon, but it took three tries. The truck's electric/electronic-assist steering must be "learning" center or something (on a very minute scale)...
When I left the alignment shop, and the truck was travelling straight ahead on a level road surface with no crown (no perceivable crown, anyway) and the steering wheel maybe 3 - 5* to the right, one would think that the rack would have to be sent to the right to center the steering wheel... because if I moved the steering wheel to the left to "level" it, i.e. straighten the steering wheel, blah blah blah...
Anyhoo... (bear with me, this really messed with my head), I got the truck to the flattest part of the driveway and slid underneath with a big crescent (to hold the tie rod end), a 15/16" (for the tie rod lock nut), and a 15mm (to turn the threaded tie rod), -AND- white grease pencil to mark 12 o'clock on each tie rod, to keep track of their postion.
It must be because these are "front-steer" that I got everything backwards... I first moved the rack to the right so that the steering wheel would clock 3 - 5* back to center! see... WRONG. The steering wheel was twice! the distance cocked to the right, now.
OK, so we gotta go the other way. Get back under and return each tie rod to it's first position, then go another 1/2 turn each to move the steering rack THE OTHER way... lol. OK, good. Test drive... the wheel is now cocked to the LEFT! and about 3 - 5*...
Ok, so get under there a third time, bust the each lock nut loose, and turn each tie rod 1/4 turn! Ahhhhhhh.... THERE we go.
Steering wheel is now centered; three tries. And since each tie rod was moved an identical amount, and noting the direction of each tie rod's threads so as not to disturb the alignment's toe-in settings.
*phew*
But I noticed that the shop had only adjusted ONE tie rod... ya gotta do both with this electric rack-and-pinion steering, to keep the steering wheel perfectly centered. You would think the shop would have a device, a rig, to hold the steering wheel in place like I've seen before in another shop...
I hope a good alignment guy might stumble across this post and set me straight! Because I only think! I know what I might be doing...
Glad ya "got 'er done"! I know mine is off slightly, plus I really need an alignment, likely just toe in, since I put the level on it. Sorta hard to gauge tire wear, all four look great, even after having been on three different trucks, but I really should get it done.
After 7K or so miles they started going out of round. After having all 4 replaced 1 at a time I started looking at tires that discount recommended. Bought from discount and mounted and balanced by discount. They would shake your teeth out. Even the first 2 that were replaced, they started going bad. I ended up trading that truck for the one I have now and the dealership called me to ask about the tires because they had lots of tread but 1 was out of round and 1 had belts seperated. I told them they were junk and needed replaced.
08-10-2020, 07:21 PM
Because I only think! I know what I might be doing... 
