I have the Ford Racing 1/2 drop kit, got it aligned per the 'perferred lightning specs' and everything was great for many many miles. Then I installed the herb's washers and got it realigned and now nobody can get it right. I have tried the 'stock' specs as well as the 'lightning perferred specs' that are listed in threads here. It constantly pulls right.

I've been into this latest shop 2 times, and they always put it to 'spec', but apparently spec isn't good enough. What do I have to do to get them to get it correct?

thanks for any help,
eric

 

ttt

 

Man, I hope you get an answer. I dropped my SCrew the beginning of this year and have the same issue. Three different shops have worked on it and the last one at least got it to where I am not fighting it, but it still is not perfect. The Ford dealer (second shop to work on it) did the crappiest job of all - the 3rd shop said the alignment was so far out that it would not even register on their machine.

 

What do you mean 'spec'?is not good enough.I have had to give up on some [specs] to get others inline so vehicle would drive good.Are you wearing tires.And don't forget to have the ball joints cked I have yet to work on a late model ford pu [more than 40kmiles] and not have to replace atleast on ball joint.Stan

 

Mine was having similar issues and after 2 A-Arms it was finally corrected enough where it could be alighned withing specs and drive correctly. And this was how it came from the factory, not an accident or anything.

 

Don't count out the tires.
To make sure, swap front tire/wheels side to side to see if it pulls the other way. If it pulls the other way you have a separated tire.

Sometimes it isn't the alignment at all.

 

Welcome to my world. Actually mine drives straight but the wheel is still off-center. I took it back and they improved it but still not perfect. Good luck. BTW, I have the FRPP drop also. I think this winter I am going to rebuild my front end. The old 99 probably needs ball joints from driving these Michigan roads.

 

After I lowered my truck, roush kit, I had bad outside tire wear, I took it to 3 different places and all said it "couldn't" be aligned. I finally took it to an SVT dealership and they aligned it, all seems good. Most shops didn't want to even try to align the truck for some reason? it was frustrating.

 

Take your truck to a Frame and Axel shop! I had the same problems and after taking it to several front-end places I took it to and old school frame shop. They took my alignment sheet that I downloaded from the boards and tore it up. They went on to explain how our wide tires need to be set up different! I must say that the proof was in the pudding. almost 2 years with the same front end alignment.

God Bless,

Suavy

 

I recently re-installed the Western Chassis 2" lower control arms on my truck after replacing the bushings(several were elongated after ~two years). I had installed my stock lower control arms last year with the 1" Eibach drop spring that came with the 3/5 kit after finding the loose bushings and bad ball joints on both sides. When I had the truck aligned last year the shop that does my alignment work couldn't get my caster or camber in spec (I watched one of the owners spend 3.5 hours working on it one night after I took it back with a pull to the left). While doing the recent work I reinstalled the stock spring with the 2" control arm for a little less drop - the 3" front was more like 4" with settling. This resulted in a severe change in camber which I decided to try to ballpark before taking it for alignment. I noticed that 3 of the 4 camber adjusters washers had been stripped - for good reason, and my fault. When I originally installed the camber adjuster for the upper control arms I didn't know to remove the factory fixed alignment plates which resulted in very little adjustability. I corrected my mistake and this time the alignment tech was able to get it near perfect - no pulling since the caster/camber was set correctly.

 

it's an '01 and has 27k on the clock. and come to think of it, i have a nasty crunching noise when the wheel is turned all the way to the right, and then backed off a little. it appears to be a different noise than the steering stop noise (maybe?)

for others, all 4 tires are absolutely BRAND new. the previous tire had been worn to the steel belt due to the previous bad alignment (they were the original tires, so no biggie on the loss).

 

The last set of tires which were recently replaced did have extremely bad wear on them - that is what the Ford dealer did for me. The day after the new set was installed, I took the truck to Butler Tire and they ALMOST straightened everything out - just a slight pull to the right.

 

that's what mine is, a slight pull to the right... i will not accept *any* pull to anything. with almost $1000 in new tires, i'm not taking any chances.

 

Try moving the front tires to the rear and see if it helps it at all. Very easily could just be tire pull.

 

First, throw out the so called "SPECS"
Find you an older mechanic that knows front geometry.
Problem is, these younger mechanics rely on the new fancy machines with disco lights and really do not understand what they are doing or what/why the "machine" is telling them to do.
It is not rocket science, but will easily confuse most that have little experience.
The reason for finding an older mechanic is because they learned alignment geometry using the old heads that utilized guages and bubbles.
If you were near Baton Rouge, I guarantee I can get you straight using a string, and a measuring tape.
I know, laugh out loud, but I am serious.
Good luck, and stay away from Chain Tire stores.
"Mechanics" are a dying breed!
Vince

www.lnsauto.com