Taking my 2002 XLT SCrew in to the dealer for wheel alignment (it pulls to the left). They charge $59.99. I remember something about a kit that has to be installed first for them to be able to perform the alignment. Any idea how much the kit costs ? Can an alignment shop do it without the kit ? Thanks in advance.

 

This brings back memories. I had uneven tire wear and pulling to the right on a new Ford Ranger that was under warranty and they refused to do the service under warranty saying that the front end was permanently aligned at the factory and was screwed up because I hit something. I was pretty pee'd off because I knew darn well I hadn't hit anything. Anyway, to cut a long story short I took it to Sears and they did the alignment. They had to knock out a couple of unadjustable factory parts (I think they called them "cams" but I might be wrong) and put in adjustable cams which they said they normally used on wrecked cars, to allow the alignment. I was not charged anything extra for the new cams. However, my front end alignment at Sears was $99, which is considerably more than you were quoted. At any rate, the parts should be cheap or thrown in for no extra charge.

 

Here's a hot tip for ya...Front end alignments are "covered", yes covered, under your warranty for 12/12. Just guessing since you have an '02 you are still under that??? When the service writer acts like they don't know what you're talking about,(from experience) just start yelling BS and to see a manager or to look it up for themselves.

 

No such thing as a 4 wheel alignment on a vehicle that has a non adjustable rear end. The best they can do is a thrust alignment. This will take into consideration where the rear axle is pointed and adust the fronts to that thrust line, hence the name. A 4 wheel alignment assumes that something is adustable in the rear and yes that should be covered in your 12/12.

 

Ford will do and alignment and balance 1 time under 12mo/12k miles. Talk to your svc advisor and tell him your truck pulls to the right when driving and you have a vibration @ 60mph and this should be your ticket. I'm a svc advisor and do this for customers all the time who have no idea about the 1 time free align/balance thru their warranty.

 

Question for Capt JJ...

I was way too excited about driving my SCrew home that I don't remember any paper work detailing what the warranties are. Where can I find what exactly are stated in the warranty?

 

The "Cams" you mention are for Ford trucks with "Twin I beam" or "Twin Traction Beam" (the 4x4 version) front ends.

I, too have had this alignment performed on an '87 Ranger. The cam is actually an eccentric bushing. The bushing had an octagonal head (which fit into a recess in the control arm). The cams can be purchased with different values of eccentricity (.050, .060, etc.). Because the head is 8-sided, the cam can be rotated to give 8 increments of the total eccentricity.

My mechanic (a long time high school friend) agreed to set the camber toward the neutral (0 degrees) end of the tolerance as possible. It was one of those less busy days, and he allowed me to help (mostly watch him and hand him tools). The Ranger specifications allowed for +.75 degrees to +2.62 degrees camber. We measured about 2.12 degrees before starting. My tires were wearing on the outside edges, so I knew we needed to go to the other extreme of the tolerance (A Ford dealer probably wouldn't have touched it and said, "everything is within spec"). When we had taken our "best guess" we ended up with +.88 degrees left side and +.75 degrees right side. My buddy was scratching his head (figuring if it was worth the time to try to even both sides), his fear was that .13 degrees was too small a value to get with one increment of rotation on the cam. That's when I got an idea: I climbed into the truck and sat behind the wheel. The alignment (with driver) was dead even at +.75 degrees. Job done!

 

The cams are not just for the I-Beam suspensions, the current torsion bar suspension on the Screw requires adjustable cams to be installed to adjust the alignment.