Ford Stealership!

[Nhaz]

So Today After I have spent on and off the last 2 months putting my front end back together after destroying it last july. It was time to get the front end aligned.

Who better to get it aligned then ford. Right?

So I take it to the dealership. They quote me 99 bucks for a 4 wheel alignment. In which I ask how do you align 4 wheels when two of them are unable to move? They explain to me that they align the front two wheels to the back two wheels. I'm scratching my head still but OK. this is why I brought it here right?

So I said go ahead.

3 hours later. they call me back and tell me that the mechanic can't get one of the tie rods off and they will probably break it doing so. (In my head I'm going er ? what? I JUST put them on). So again I say. Ok I need a tie rod end. No big deal. How much for the tie rod end?

They quote me. $95.00

........!

The Most expensive one I could find at NAPA was $75.00

Needless to say. Doubling the cost in 1 part was enough for me to say to them. Stop work put it back together im coming to get the truck.

I was and am so pissed I went to NAPA and ordered a fully adjustable +4 -4 set of bushings. for $37.00 They come in tomorrow. I bought a Spare ultra cheap tie rod end (just in case they are right about something) for 21 bucks.

This weekend I am learning to align my front end.

With this site!

 

[Captain Ledd]

I've all but stopped going to the stealership all together. Only if it is my absolute last resort.

BOTH of the local dealers here are pretty sub par. one basically told me (in a much more polite and professional manner) to "get out".

They can both fold as far as I'm concerned.

Believe it or not, I've actually had really good luck with the local BellTire down the road...

 

[Toms01PSD]

The only time you have to do a 4 wheel alignment is on a vehicle with Independent rear suspension. Your truck only calls for a 2 wheel alignment. There's nothing to adjust in the rear. As for breaking the tie rod, that's a load of crap. You're best off taking it to a tire shop that does alignments everyday. You're not going to be able to properly set your caster/camber yourself. I had fun doing mine on the alignment rack at the shop today...took me 3 hours to get the caster/camber right. It was a bitch...trust me.

 

[adsm08]

I used to work for the dealership. Not all of them are crooked, the two that I have worked for were fairly straight. The only problem that we ever had like this at either was the first alignment tech at this last one was incompetent and lazy. There is call for a 4 wheel alignment on a solid rear end, but only if the rear of the car has been hit or if the axle has been removed and replaced, or if there is some other cause to question the centering of the rear axle. I agree, no need to do a 4 wheel in your case.

 

[Chance]

A four wheel alignment on a solid rear axle vehicle is measuring the thrust line of the rear axle and adjusting the front to it so the vehicle doesn't pull going down the road.

If you only align the front, and the rear thrust line is not perfect with the vehicles centerline (which in a truck that gets used case, normally never is) even if the front is all in spec and aligned, the vehicle will still pull to one side and the customer may come back and complain that it wasn't aligned correctly and we all know about the customer always being right...

But basically a four wheel alignment on a truck is just measuring the rear and adjusting the front according to such...

 

[Toms01PSD]

I'll put my truck on the Hunter machine we have tomorrow and see what it says about the rear.

 

[milje]

I've all but stopped going to the stealership all together. Only if it is my absolute last resort.

BOTH of the local dealers here are pretty sub par. one basically told me (in a much more polite and professional manner) to "get out".

They can both fold as far as I'm concerned.

Believe it or not, I've actually had really good luck with the local BellTire down the road...

My heater fan on my truck went out when it was 35* below zero two years ago when I was in college. Drove to the dealer with my window open and my head hanging out so I could see since the windshield was iced over, it was cold enough that I was one of the few cars on the road. Went in (monday morning), asked when they could work on my truck, Wednesday at the soonest. No other vehicles in their garage, I really couldn't see what was stopping them other than not having the part, I said I'd go down the road and buy the damn thing if they wanted, nope still had to wait 3 days in a horrible cold snap. Loaner car? Nope, bought the truck from a different dealer, even though they had a few loaners sitting outside.

Told them to shove their warranty up their ass, went to carquest and bought a new fan, went to Todd's house and changed it.

 

[Nhaz]

The only time you have to do a 4 wheel alignment is on a vehicle with Independent rear suspension. Your truck only calls for a 2 wheel alignment. There's nothing to adjust in the rear. As for breaking the tie rod, that's a load of crap. You're best off taking it to a tire shop that does alignments everyday. You're not going to be able to properly set your caster/camber yourself. I had fun doing mine on the alignment rack at the shop today...took me 3 hours to get the caster/camber right. It was a bitch...trust me.

I agree, Without ever having done it before I looked at it and said to myself that it would be better to have a professional do the job.

Which is why I had brought it to ford. But they were unable to even get a tie rod end off that had been on the truck less then a month. and then tried to screw me when they couldn't get the job done.

So now even though a professional theoretically would get the job done better and faster then I can.

I am Still going to do it myself. for a couple of reasons. But the primary reason is Once I have done it for myself. And I know how to do it and what not to do and what effort and frustration it takes.

The Next time I have to get it done and I take it to someone I am less likely to have someone try to snow me. Or if I manage to do it easily and quickly i may never take to to anyone again.

 

[AllanD]

The only time you have to do a 4 wheel alignment is on a vehicle with Independent rear suspension. Your truck only calls for a 2 wheel alignment. There's nothing to adjust in the rear. As for breaking the tie rod, that's a load of crap. You're best off taking it to a tire shop that does alignments everyday. You're not going to be able to properly set your caster/camber yourself. I had fun doing mine on the alignment rack at the shop today...took me 3 hours to get the caster/camber right. It was a bitch...trust me.

If you've every actually driven a truck both with a "conventional" alignment
and a four wheel (thrust axis) alignment you wouldn't say that.

You can get several interesting effects from an "old school" alignment range from an uncentered steering wheel to a vehicle that changes direction with changes in throttle (really hard to get used to)

at home you can get it close and verify that every thing is free to adjust
(Last time I took my ranger to be aligned everything was not only loose but literally dripping with neverseeze)

the thing is if you've made modifications to the truck, swapped out the TIB for a TTB, replace a d28 TTB with a D35 TTB, replaced a gen1 axle with a gen3 or later axle... all these change trac width and that completely screws any hope of the alignment man getting it close to toe correctly.

AD

 

[Toms01PSD]

The thrust axis on my truck was -.11 degrees IIRC. You're compensating...

Oh, and I need a new rear axle. Too much play in the R&P. How nice...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I asked my brother about getting my truck aligned and he mentioned getting a four wheel alignment. I have a lot of crap to do before I get it to that point anyway so I honestly didn't ask for specifics about why you do what.

He works at a Ford dealership, Ford certified in about everything. He has been my right hand man throughout this project so far... long story short I very highly doubt he would be trying to rip me off.

 

[adsm08]

A four wheel alignment on a solid rear axle vehicle is measuring the thrust line of the rear axle and adjusting the front to it so the vehicle doesn't pull going down the road.

If you only align the front, and the rear thrust line is not perfect with the vehicles centerline (which in a truck that gets used case, normally never is) even if the front is all in spec and aligned, the vehicle will still pull to one side and the customer may come back and complain that it wasn't aligned correctly and we all know about the customer always being right...

But basically a four wheel alignment on a truck is just measuring the rear and adjusting the front according to such...

The catch with that is that any alignment rack worth what you are paying to put your truck on it is gonna take that thrust angle measurement automatically anyway, so the only reason to charge the extra hour for the 4 wheel is if you are adjusting the thrust angle, which should be sold to the customer as a thrust angle adjustment, not a 4 wheel.

 

[Toms01PSD]

We have one of these: http://www.hunter.com/pub/product/racks/4718T/index.htm
L421 alignment rack. I'll let you look up the price on one of those...

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

We have the same 4 post open beam hoist at work, and a brand new John Beam Visuliner 3d that we just got about a month ago. We do a 4 wheel alignment on everything we can. Its just that much more accurate.

 

[Toms01PSD]

We have the same 4 post open beam hoist at work, and a brand new John Beam Visuliner 3d that we just got about a month ago. We do a 4 wheel alignment on everything we can. Its just that much more accurate.

What did you upgrade from? How do you like it?

This is the actual alignment machine we have. Forgot to include it:
http://www.garagegadgetsinc.com/pro...ucts_id=303&osCsid=okkvc9u2urnhq2knoh41etrrg3