Truck Alignment Issues

kickinassrt-10

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I had my truck at Dodge yesterday for about 2 hours trying to get it aligned...They aligned it because it was pulling right..and after alignment it was still pulling right....
they then tried to overcompensate to the left in hopes of straightening out...but no luck....
They said they would need to diagnose why it is pulling like that?
What could be the cause of pulling?
BTW truck has never been in an accident (bought from carmax and at dodge they verified everything was factory)
Also those new rams are beautiful along with the 4 door Rubicon jeep!
 
had the same prob on my RC.

tried a couple of different places with the same results as you.

took it to Jared @ what used to be Frank Kent Dodge & his front end man got it right on the money.

jbilledeaux is Jared's screen name here

:rock::rock::rock::rock:
 
Try swapping the front tires from right to left. Sounds like you may have a radial pull.
 
Most tires for our trucks are directional....no swapping left to right. At least on a permanent basis...
 
They should have looked or noticed, but check out the outer and inner tie rods. Being a certified Chrysler body tech I can't tell you how many rams I've seen come through the shop that hit a curb or edged a parking block and bent the tie rod. Usually the inner towards the rack. Inspect themn closely for sign of bending. Also look at the wheels for curb rash, that might lead you in the right direction fast. What happens is the tie rods are great for factory 17" wheels but when they went to the 20's in 02' I believe, the larger diameter and weight of the wheel exerts tremendous force if caught on the edge of a curb or backed into etc. The 22' are even worse.
 
Had a simmilar issure on my 06 (that I heard was easier to align). 2 shops couldn't get it right. Still pulled, steering wheel not centered. Found a shop and they got it right on the money. Drives better then the day I got it.
I was convinced that something was bent, but he said everything looked good, just a crappy alignment.
 
Chuck B said:
Most tires for our trucks are directional....no swapping left to right. At least on a permanent basis...
Swapping directional tires for testing purposes, is okay. It's a quick test that may save him some headaches.
 
the stock pirelli's are NOT unidirectional.

I would also give a tire rotation a try if your running the stock tires.
 
SANTEEN said:
Swapping directional tires for testing purposes, is okay. It's a quick test that may save him some headaches.
I got Conti UHP so no directional in these tires, they even swapped the tires.....the guy at Dodge checked the tie rods and control arms..,.nothing noticeable....he said it could be something with the springs:dontknow: the alignment tech got it right into specs on all tires I was watching him do it, so I don't think if I took it anywhere else they can get it any better since it's in spec?
My thought is maybe it had something to do when I put in the rear lowering shackles??
I'm at a loss for ideas because the wheel is straight and the truck still has a pull to the right...
 
VENOMOUS1 said:
They should have looked or noticed, but check out the outer and inner tie rods. Being a certified Chrysler body tech I can't tell you how many rams I've seen come through the shop that hit a curb or edged a parking block and bent the tie rod. Usually the inner towards the rack. Inspect themn closely for sign of bending. Also look at the wheels for curb rash, that might lead you in the right direction fast. What happens is the tie rods are great for factory 17" wheels but when they went to the 20's in 02' I believe, the larger diameter and weight of the wheel exerts tremendous force if caught on the edge of a curb or backed into etc. The 22' are even worse.
I'm going to inspect them myself today and really get under there and check....my buddy's 06 F150 had the same problem he was reversing and caught a pole with his tires turned and smacked dead center tire to pole and it bent his tie..from my understanding tie rods are pretty cheap and easy to replace (at least it was on his truck $75 for the part and about a half hour for us to change it) so I might just go that route and replace both tie rods
 
Kickin i did suspension for years bud, there is a few reasons, now I am leaving in a few hours to spend time with the lady, but you are welcome to call me at anytime this weekend.

first off are you a heavy person? over 250lbs,
the reason is ask , is if you are then the truck needs alignment with you in it,
no dissrespect , but over 250 it has an effect on the alignment when you are in the truck, and aligning it out of the truck will change everything.

Now pulling

tires, swap them, sometimes it has an effect.

but most of the time its caster or camber.

Caster is the relation of the upper ball joint to the lower ball joint.

now both sides should be exactly the same, if not , one tire will think its rolling faster than the other and cause pulling issues.


Camber is whether the top of the tire is leaning in or out.

now if it is leanig out on the passenger side, it can cause a pulling issue.

both sides with out tires being so wide should be around zero degrees.
actually with the drivers side out about .2 degree.

dont go by the factory settings, they are good , but onley get you close.



now honestly I made every customer sit in the car after I got the alingment close.
this way when they are in it, you can set the pasenger close to zero, and the drivers close but out jsut a tad.


tie rods do nothing for pulling, ball joints should be checked for wear, but nowwadays they usually last a very long time.

also have them maybe do a four wheel alignment, it is possible that the rear axle is cocked jsut a touch, but usually dont cause a pull

but if you ahad the specs I could do more, but it should read somehting like this


.............pass................drivers......
caster......5.5...................5.5....
camber......0.0..................0.2.....
toe in..........0....................0......


but caster and camber combinations is usually the culprit, now what you should do is find a very old man that does them and cares about his work;)
 
Stinker said:
Kickin i did suspension for years bud, there is a few reasons, now I am leaving in a few hours to spend time with the lady, but you are welcome to call me at anytime this weekend.

first off are you a heavy person? over 250lbs,
the reason is ask , is if you are then the truck needs alignment with you in it,
no dissrespect , but over 250 it has an effect on the alignment when you are in the truck, and aligning it out of the truck will change everything.

Now pulling

tires, swap them, sometimes it has an effect.

but most of the time its caster or camber.

Caster is the relation of the upper ball joint to the lower ball joint.

now both sides should be exactly the same, if not , one tire will think its rolling faster than the other and cause pulling issues.


Camber is whether the top of the tire is leaning in or out.

now if it is leanig out on the passenger side, it can cause a pulling issue.

both sides with out tires being so wide should be around zero degrees.
actually with the drivers side out about .2 degree.

dont go by the factory settings, they are good , but onley get you close.



now honestly I made every customer sit in the car after I got the alingment close.
this way when they are in it, you can set the pasenger close to zero, and the drivers close but out jsut a tad.


tie rods do nothing for pulling, ball joints should be checked for wear, but nowwadays they usually last a very long time.

also have them maybe do a four wheel alignment, it is possible that the rear axle is cocked jsut a touch, but usually dont cause a pull

but if you ahad the specs I could do more, but it should read somehting like this


.............pass................drivers......
caster......5.5...................5.5....
camber......0.0..................0.2.....
toe in..........0....................0......


but caster and camber combinations is usually the culprit, now what you should do is find a very old man that does them and cares about his work;)
best advice yet...need to find someone who cares about their work and it means something to them.....
They had it up on the alignment machine with all 4 wheels having the alignment piece on them...
I was doing some reading and the caster/camber does seem to be a go to source for problems like i'm having...
btw i'm not that big only about 170lbs
thanks for the advice
 
kickinassrt-10 said:
best advice yet...need to find someone who cares about their work and it means something to them.....
They had it up on the alignment machine with all 4 wheels having the alignment piece on them...
I was doing some reading and the caster/camber does seem to be a go to source for problems like i'm having...
btw i'm not that big only about 170lbs
thanks for the advice
just hollar if ya need help bud, :)
 
Stinker said:
just hollar if ya need help bud, :)
thanks...i appreciate it:rock:
i'll probably be taking it to someone since I don't have a machine to tell me the reading..
 
Place that did mine is up in WPB. I know its a drive for ya, but they were able to get mine right.
 
OK... here's one for ya. Mine is an '04 RC, less than 5,000 miles, tires are in great shape with correct pressure and within the last two months it started pulling to the right.
Got any ideas?
 
kickinassrt-10 said:
best advice yet...need to find someone who cares about their work and it means something to them.....
They had it up on the alignment machine with all 4 wheels having the alignment piece on them...
I was doing some reading and the caster/camber does seem to be a go to source for problems like i'm having...
btw i'm not that big only about 170lbs
thanks for the advice
One more piece of advice. Just because they got it in the green, does not mean it's good. If they have not calibrated their alignmnet machine, then the actual readings could easily be off. Like Stinker said, find a good alignment shop that cares about the quality of their work. I can't remember the name right now but there is a good one here in Miami. I think it's called Chassis Masters.
 
It's called the Alignment Factory. There over here off of SW 120th st and SW 117th ave
 
jerew65 said:
OK... here's one for ya. Mine is an '04 RC, less than 5,000 miles, tires are in great shape with correct pressure and within the last two months it started pulling to the right.
Got any ideas?
you should swap tires first, sitting that much and that long on oem tires can have an effect on them , especially jsut sitting
 

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