It’s time for my first tire alignment and I need some guidance. (1 Viewer)

[Artie]

Interesting. Based on alignment numbers, I would expect it to tow better. Your toe was pretty far out prior and when towing, I would have expected it to exacerbate that. They've dialed in toe reasonably well which should compensate better when towing?

It's possible after an alignment that it take some miles for the tire to scrub back in to the alignment. Based on your description, it seems to be more than that?

Have you changed anything in your towing setup?

May want a bit more caster? Could also try to rotate the tires.

The only other thing that changed is that I balanced and rotated the tires before the alignment was done (towed afterwards and everything was fine). On that towing trip is when I had the steering wheel start to point to the right.

(Wife is taking dictation… reluctantly)

 

[Artie]

This saga has finally concluded, thankfully with a happy ending.

I decided to get up early and make the drive all the way across town to the shop recommended by @32cls6speedmt, Greer Automotive Specialist. Their initial reading shows a drastic change from the numbers at the first shop.

For those interested, here is how I left the first shop:

Here is how it was this morning:

Here is how it is now:

Clearly something happened after leaving the first shop. It drove fine until we left carpool picking up the kids. I honestly thing the speed bumps in the parking lot is all it took… mall crawling is really serious I guess.

It’s a little less caster than was recommended by y’all but he suggested we start here and see how it goes. He also suggested considering body mount chop as mentioned by @TeCKis300. I have to tow a load of firewood this weekend so I’m going to see how this does and if I’m not feeling it I’ll go back.

Overall experience with this shop was great, he had me in the back under the truck at the Hunter Machine going over all the in’s and out’s of suspension geometry. It was very apparent to me that I need to study up on this topic, there’s always more to learn.

 

[Heckraiser]

Nothing better than someone who actually gives a crap about their job

 

[Artie]

Nothing better than someone who actually gives a crap about their job

This 100%. This used to be the norm, I guess I’m dating myself by saying I remember those times.

 

[dcs111]

They are located in my old stomping grounds, I went to high school about 10 min from there.

Thanks for the tip!

I’ll second Greer. 10 minutes from my house and has done alignments, lift, etc on my truck. They are not the easiest to schedule and so build in some patience!