2004 NBS, 4.6, 70,000, STX 4x4 (shifter in the floor). my dad needed new tires and an alignment. he went to the shop, got 4 new tires installed and went home as the shop didn't have time to do the alignment that day, (truck drove fine other than pulling a little). made an appointment at the same shop for the alignment, took it in a few days later and the alignment was done. after dad got home, he called me and said that it was hard to turn in either direction. i went and drove it myself, and it's like it the power steering pump is working, but it's harder (or stiffer than normal) to turn in both directions. when you're going into a curve, you have to get on the steering wheel to turn and when you need to straighten up, it's the same. it only acted like this after the alignment, the shop has no clue..... any help and/or ideas from anybody is greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

Yes....alignment

 

this happened after the alignment

 

There are good alignment shops and plenty that "have no clue". Looks like your dad was unfortunate enough to get one of those. Is this a tire shop that does alignments or an alignment shop that sells tires. Big difference. I did alignments for quite a few years in the course of my work and absolutely couldn't believe what some long term alignment techs would do. "Clueless" pretty much sums it up!

 

Sounds like the alignment, and judging from the fact that you have to forcefully turn the wheel back after a turn I would think the castor is most certainly wrong.

Do you by chance have a copy of the alignment specs?

 

code 58--this is a "garage" that does a little of everything. as far as getting the tires, they did a good job, but i had also told dad to take it to a front end specialist to get the alignment. i mean, you don't let a rear end guy work on the tranny, do you? LOL

Air Lift Company--i don't think that dad got any spec sheet after they finished, but i'll check with him to be sure.

 

As ALC said, too little caster will do that. Too little caster and too much tension on the rack adjustment are the only things I can think of from what was done to the truck, but there was no reason at all for them to mess with the rack adj. It would take a lot of caster loss (reduction from factory specs) to ever cause it to steer like that. Just makes no sense. But, as stated, I've seen professional F E shops do some screwy things.

 

how would you adjust the tension on the rack?

 

Kind of a stupid question, but did you guys check the fluid level of the power steering? Perhaps it had a slow leak and you are just now noticing it. I know the wife's car had that issue once, just topped it off and was fine afterwards.

 

Does it get easier to turn over time? Caster is not adjustable on these unless a new centric bolt cam kit is used. Tell him to put it on the machine and you personally look at the measurements. Also to check the fluid level you should be able to look at the bottom and determine. Ps pumps can fail at any moment. Mine failed one night going out to the bar. Fine when u went in and had to triple hand it on the way home. Damn that sucked especially with 35s ugh!! Turn the wheel and see if you have fluid moving thru the reservoir, if nothing then bye bye pump. GL bro

 

new alignment set for tomorrow morning at an alignment shop, not a jack of all trades shop. the fluid level is full and is moving thru the reservoir. hard to swallow that a pump would go out on the rack while getting an alignment. will put an update out tomorrow evening.

 

All R & P steering has to have an adjustment to keep the rack "snug" against the pinion or you would have one sloppy mess. Should be opposite (180 degrees) of the pinion gear to keep it tight (no play). As stated, there should be NO reason for them to mess with that at all in an alignment, just was the only thing I could think of other than too little caster that would cause you to have to "muscle" it wherever you wanted it to go. Most extreme I've ever seen in caster is 0 caster on a Honda Accord and 9+ caster on a Mercedes. Now those are extremes!

 

ok, when you turn the wheel to the right, it is harder than normal to steer, if you turn the wheel to the left, it goes about 1/8 turn then gets harder than normal. i took it in this morning and the guy drove it himself and put it on his machine. the camber is right side-.46 & left side-.20. the total toe is +.13----right side +.06, left side +.07. he said the alignment is correct, that the R & P is the culprit as the power steering pump is quiet, no unusal noise. this raises another question--is it possible that the wrong fluid got added (maybe) while at the shop and is causing this "binding" in the wheel other than the R & P going out?

 

Not really fords are pretty good with different fluids mixing.

 

Stranger things have happened than a problem developing after a visit to a shop that was not there before, but my experience is that it is more often something done by the shop than just coincidental. I tend to tread a little lightly when tempted to accuse, but simply want to know the truth so that the responsibility rests where it rightly should.
BTW, I ALWAYS road tested every vehicle I aligned. Anything wasn't dead on, it was before I turned loose of it.