I am finally doing my t-bar crank this weekend, also installing my caster camber kit and getting an alignment on monday. They guy from the alignment shop told me that alignment doesnt cure the truck from pulling one way or the other. Does that seem legit?? I thought thats what the whole point of the alignment was???

 

Surely that cant be true, haha. If your tires are bad, and road slopes, then maybe. Sounds like an excuse for crap work imo.

 

x2

 

all (most) highways slope to the right for water drainage i was told. so if it has a tiny pull to the right that's normal. also i'm sure your already aware of this but do you know the cons of cranking your bars? also what bars do you have?

 

I have read the pros and cons, I know it can cause premature wear on the front end, I am not super concerned about it but I will keep an eye on things to make sure they dont go crazy, I am not sure what bars I have, what are the differences and how can you tell?

 

look on the door jam theres a code. it will be the SPR code. 1 bars are the stiffest i have them and they are cranked and it rides terrible.

 

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Here is a picture of the truck after leveling, Do you think I should take the 4x4 sticker off the rear fender?? LOL, I really hate it and I have thought about putting that small 4x4 emblem from the newer explorers on the tailgate.

 

take it off

 

All an alignment does to my knowledge is adjust the camber of the tire. Is the toe in or out, that kind of stuff. The whole pulling to one side can be due to grade of the highway or an unbalanced or bad wearing tire.

I left my 4x4 sticker on the sides of the bed just b/c that came on the steppies only to my knowledge. I think a fleet side had the one 4x4 sticker on the tailgate from 01-03. I might be wrong though lol.

 

^^^ the stickers came on fleetsides too,but i say take them off makes the truck look cleaner

 

False false. An alignment has everything to do with pulling. True there are a lot of things that can cause it such as worn out parts, uneven tire pressure, road crown or road angle etc etc.

But if your tires are inflated correctly, your suspension components are in good shape and you don't have an awkward load in the bed, then the quality of the alingment has everything to do with pulling.

It could be a bad toe setting, camber setting, or caster setting. Usually toe/caster are the culprits behind most cases of pulling/drifting to one side.

In the newer rangers with a-arm suspension, pulling to one side SHOULD NOT BE TOLERATED, and if it still exists after an alignment then either your technicians was lazy/ignorant or there are other problems going on (such as bent frame or worn out joints somewhere).

Sounds like your alignment guy knows next to nothing. Take it somewhere where they know stuff.

 

i have those stickers, mine is fleetside and they run about $50 cnd. i had to buy one when my bedside was painted.

 

That's debatable. Like said, a proper alignment should have no pulling. I would stay far away from that shop.

 

so a little update, I had the alignment done at that shop, theguy answering the phone does not work on the vehicles. It does still hav a pull, the pull is coming from an improper wearing tire. The alignment is within specs and the left front tire is not wearing the same as the others, thus the pull to the left. The guy who did the work seems like he knows his stuff, and my brother in law has been taking his truck there for years. Seems like they did a good job and it was only $70.

 

I have shackles too. and sensa tracs lmao

 

Sounds like an excuse to get new tires and wheels. Black on black ****!!

 

If the tire has a lateral pull causing the truck to pull to one side try switching sides with it as long as they're not directional and sometimes that cancels out the pull. As far as alignment goes the main culprit is usually the Camber settings causing it to pull. Toe will mainly cause an off centre steering wheel. Highways also have different road crown than city streets too, so you might find that it drives straight on a main street but pulls a little on the highway (out here it does anyway) This is why we don't let service advisors give technical information at my shop, they usually think they know just enough to give useful information, but are rarely right.