Alignment shops on the east side of town?

[Crazymonkey]

I'm looking  for a shop to do a 4 wheel alignment  on my ram 2500 4x4  . My wife  thought  it was a good  idea to have Big-0 do it. Needless  to say it's not right  and the steering  wheel  is off center  about 1/4to 1/2 turn . Yes it's usually  a simple  fix to adjust  the drag link to center  the wheel  but Ram in all there wisdom  thought  welding  the adjuster nuts to the adjuster was the answer  to the recall for the link coming  loose.

The truck is a 2018 diesel  4x4

I'm on the east side  of town  in Gilbert. 

Really  don't  want  to take it to the stealership  for anything  that they would  plug into the computer  for the emissions  recall  for. They are doing  this as the trucks  come in for service. 

[firstcoueswas80]

Lesson one on the wife + truck thing 

[Crazymonkey]

5 minutes ago, firstcoueswas80 said:

Lesson one on the wife + truck thing 

It was right before  I was going  on a Texas hunt . She thought  it was a good  idea to check  the alignment  out . 

[Sky Island junkie]

13 minutes ago, Crazymonkey said:

It was right before  I was going  on a Texas hunt . She thought  it was a good  idea to check  the alignment  out . 

I let a Big O in Phoenix do brakes on my 98 Chevy 2500 over 20 years ago. They’re the reason I’ve done my own brakes on every vehicle I own ever since as well as everything I can do myself. They didn’t install caliper bolts on driver side. Thank goodness the keepers kept the bolts on the caliper and i had the right tools to properly cinch them down 20 miles away. 

[HNTNGUY]

I have always had great luck with Network Alignment. They have done several of my vehicles throughout the years.

[PRDATR]

Network Alignment in Downtown Mesa. They have been doing my trucks for 30 years and stand behind their work.

[Lucafu1]

If the drag link is welded how are they going to adjust the steering wheel?

[Crazymonkey]

8 hours ago, Lucafu1 said:

If the drag link is welded how are they going to adjust the steering wheel?

That's the part that's screwing  things up . I can and have adjusted  my own front  ends on most cars . I'm guessing  they centered  the wheel  and welded it after it was aligned  . The only  other way  I can see is to adjust the tie rod ends individual  with  the wheel  locked straight . Not the right  way to do things but without  cutting  the welds and adjusting  and then re- welding . I don't  see another  option  . Lots of shops won't  do them because  of the weld fix that ram used instead  of replacing  a bad and unsafe design. 

[Lucafu1]

That sucks. I never heard of that fix by ram but I've been out of the auto industry for a while now. I can't remember but can you eve adjust the individual toe on that truck? I remember only being able to adjust the total toe (one adjustment point for both wheels). 

[Crazymonkey]

So after some digging into how there adjusting  things . There using  the tie rods to align  the front end . After getting  the steering  wheel  centered you adjust the left side toe straight  then bring the right  side tie rod in or out to align  with  the left side . All the while trying  not to move the steering  wheel  off center  and keeping  the tie rods perpendicular  so the front  end doesn't  create  a bind . What a fu** Ed up way to do something  simple.  They could  have just added  a extra nut on each end of  the drag link and used it as a locking jam nut . Loosen the outer jam nut then loosen the inside  nut then adjust steering wheel  to center  then tighten inside  nut then tighten the outside  jam nut and it would  work  to lock everything  tight  and still be adjustable. Probably  just a few dollars  for the nuts but it's cheaper  to just weld the link and call it good . What a bunch of half a$$ engineering on there  part.

[catclaw]

I use Stewart Tire at Broadway/ Alma school.

It's pretty much all they do. Been there 50 years

[Newbie2012]

That sucks, but my OCD would take over. lol  I’d spend the coin on a new Synergy draglink and be done with it, never having to worry about those welds again. 

[mbiewer]

the lil tire shop i frequent sent me to A-1 Auto and Muffler. they do alignments too though. 4809830068 AJ Ironwood and the trail)

 

4x4 ram 2500. they only charged me $80 and gave  me a print out  of what they found and the specs they set it to in the end.

[CopperStateDiesel]

On 2/17/2024 at 5:47 AM, Crazymonkey said:

I'm looking  for a shop to do a 4 wheel alignment  on my ram 2500 4x4  . My wife  thought  it was a good  idea to have Big-0 do it. Needless  to say it's not right  and the steering  wheel  is off center  about 1/4to 1/2 turn . Yes it's usually  a simple  fix to adjust  the drag link to center  the wheel  but Ram in all there wisdom  thought  welding  the adjuster nuts to the adjuster was the answer  to the recall for the link coming  loose.

The truck is a 2018 diesel  4x4

I'm on the east side  of town  in Gilbert. 

Really  don't  want  to take it to the stealership  for anything  that they would  plug into the computer  for the emissions  recall  for. They are doing  this as the trucks  come in for service. 

The steering is a terrible design. APEX Steering for these Rams is the way to go.

The weld must be grinder/cut on the jam nut for the adjusting tube to spin. Don’t take the truck back if a new tack isn’t on there and mark it with a paint marker to verify it was adjusted. Techs hate to do it and will lie about it being done. 

[Crazymonkey]

Just a follow-up  the truck has an appointment  Wednesday  at network  alignment.