Adams930
Junior Member
Hello Gang,
I've lurked on here for years, this place has been a great help for many things in that time. Hoping you guys can give me some insight on my alignment and dealership problem.
I've got a 2014 Laramie with a 4" Rough Country suspension lift, bought it from the dealer 11 months ago with the kit already installed. Right out of the gate I had terrible bump steer and took it to a reputable 4x4 shop in the area and they found the alignment was completely out of whack, and the front struts were only being held in by one bolt on each side, the remaining bolts weren't threaded and just spun in place. They sold it to me like that, unbelievably. I had that shop fix everything and after some battling the dealership reimburse me the cost. That's the background.
So 4 months ago I am driving and the truck feels super squirrelly, so I call the dealer and bring it in. They tell me the alignment is shot and was so bad I cupped up my set of 35x12.50 Toyos beyond repair. So I buy another set of tires (OUCH) and have them install the tires and do the alignment. Everything seems good, I take it in for an oil change a month ago (3,000 miles since the alignment) and have them check the alignment and rotate the tires. They tell me the alignment is completely shot again. At this point I'm pretty upset and explain that there must be something causing this issue, as I've now had 3 alignments in less than a year and it's chewing up very expensive tires. They say I must have hit something. I haven't hit a thing in this truck. I have never taken it off-road. I drive the same drive to work everyday that I've done for years in my 2008 Ram which I have put nearly 200k miles on and have never had a single alignment issue, only needed them done when I've changed tires. They say to bring it back in a month and they'll check it again to see if it's still aligned properly. That day came yesterday.
I drop it off, they call me this morning and tell me the alignment is perfect and all is well. I'm relieved and go pick the truck up. As soon as I pull out of the dealership I notice that my steering wheel is about 20 degrees off center to the right. The truck is driving fine, but the steering wheel is definitely way off. I called them and asked them if they touched anything besides just checking the alignment, or did anything at all that could have knocked the wheel off center. They said they didn't touch anything and only checked the alignment. I've never heard of something like this so I did some googling and I can't find any reason why the steering wheel is all of the sudden off center without them doing some kind of adjustment that caused it. I feel like they are lying to me at this point to try and get out of the ordeal of tearing the front end of the truck apart to find out what's really going on.
So after all that writing (sorry) if you are still with me here, my question is this. Have any of you heard of a steering wheel getting out of alignment from simply checking the alignment? Or is this dealer trying to pull a fast one on me and their mechanic forgot to straighten the wheel after he made the adjustments to the alignment to get it within tolerance? And if this thing is really throwing alignments this rapidly with normal daily driving, what could be the cause?
Thanks for any help you can give!
I've lurked on here for years, this place has been a great help for many things in that time. Hoping you guys can give me some insight on my alignment and dealership problem.
I've got a 2014 Laramie with a 4" Rough Country suspension lift, bought it from the dealer 11 months ago with the kit already installed. Right out of the gate I had terrible bump steer and took it to a reputable 4x4 shop in the area and they found the alignment was completely out of whack, and the front struts were only being held in by one bolt on each side, the remaining bolts weren't threaded and just spun in place. They sold it to me like that, unbelievably. I had that shop fix everything and after some battling the dealership reimburse me the cost. That's the background.
So 4 months ago I am driving and the truck feels super squirrelly, so I call the dealer and bring it in. They tell me the alignment is shot and was so bad I cupped up my set of 35x12.50 Toyos beyond repair. So I buy another set of tires (OUCH) and have them install the tires and do the alignment. Everything seems good, I take it in for an oil change a month ago (3,000 miles since the alignment) and have them check the alignment and rotate the tires. They tell me the alignment is completely shot again. At this point I'm pretty upset and explain that there must be something causing this issue, as I've now had 3 alignments in less than a year and it's chewing up very expensive tires. They say I must have hit something. I haven't hit a thing in this truck. I have never taken it off-road. I drive the same drive to work everyday that I've done for years in my 2008 Ram which I have put nearly 200k miles on and have never had a single alignment issue, only needed them done when I've changed tires. They say to bring it back in a month and they'll check it again to see if it's still aligned properly. That day came yesterday.
I drop it off, they call me this morning and tell me the alignment is perfect and all is well. I'm relieved and go pick the truck up. As soon as I pull out of the dealership I notice that my steering wheel is about 20 degrees off center to the right. The truck is driving fine, but the steering wheel is definitely way off. I called them and asked them if they touched anything besides just checking the alignment, or did anything at all that could have knocked the wheel off center. They said they didn't touch anything and only checked the alignment. I've never heard of something like this so I did some googling and I can't find any reason why the steering wheel is all of the sudden off center without them doing some kind of adjustment that caused it. I feel like they are lying to me at this point to try and get out of the ordeal of tearing the front end of the truck apart to find out what's really going on.
So after all that writing (sorry) if you are still with me here, my question is this. Have any of you heard of a steering wheel getting out of alignment from simply checking the alignment? Or is this dealer trying to pull a fast one on me and their mechanic forgot to straighten the wheel after he made the adjustments to the alignment to get it within tolerance? And if this thing is really throwing alignments this rapidly with normal daily driving, what could be the cause?
Thanks for any help you can give!