Hello all,

I blew an outer tie rod on the passenger side of my 01 F150 yesterday. I laid in a parking and installed my replacement so I could get home. The steering wheel was straight before and alignment was fine. After I replaced the tie rod my steering wheel was off to the left. I figured I would need an alignment so I made an appt. and took it in today. They did the alignment after also replacing my drivers side inner tie rod. They tried to sell me on a pitman arm and idler? saying that it offered some play as it sat. I declined because there is little to no play in my steering that Ive ever noticed. They did the alignment and now the truck is in line. However, my wheel is still off to the left. I called to tell them they needed to redo this and he fed me a line about not being able to fix that because of so and so. My question is this. My steering wheel was straight before so is this guy feeding me a line or am i going to have to live with this until I replace something else? Any insight would be greatly appreciated

 

First off, does the pitman arm and idler arm have play in it?

Just because you can't feel it in the steering doesn't mean it's not there, it just means it hasn't gotten bad enough for you to notice yet.

As for the alignment there is no reason they shouldn't be able to straighten up the wheel.

 

If there is any play in the idler or pitman arms, they should've refused to align it in the first place.

But putting that aside, they may not be able to correct it if there's even a tiny amount of slop in the steering system. They're machine will read everything as correct, but as soon as the truck budges, the readings will change. There's no possible way to get an accurate alignment with play in any steering or suspension component.

 

As far as play in the pitman goes, they mentioned it when they were working on it but told me it wasnt crucial at this point to change it. I feel no play in the steering but it is my understanding I might not feel the play in it. I just want my steering wheel straight. Im not understanding why it would be an issue to center my steering wheel.

 

I suppose I could get under the truck myself and adjust the tie rods so that my wheel centers out. Apparently it might be too much trouble for a cerified mechanic to take care of this. Im a master electrician, Electricians can do everything.

 

So change your pitman and idler arms.

 

I said we CAN. Didnt say we WANT to.

 

atleast check the Pitman and Idler arms yourself. Crawl under the truck and grab onto the arm where it connects to the center link, push up and pull down, if you feel any play at all they need to be replaced

 

I will do that. My question still remains though. Should they be responsible for my steering wheel being centered when they did the alignment?

 

depends on how bad the other parts are. If you've got parts with slop in them, then I would say they did the best they can with the truck.

 

Got it. Thanks for the input guys