Alignment Info/Right hand pulling

[brillmtb]

Back from dealer for pull to the right and found out a couple of things.



No Camber adjustment

No Caster adjustment

Only Toe and Pinon angle (I think I heard that right)



What people are calling the caster adjustment at the things that control rotation of the whole front axle and since it is rigid there is no way to differentially adjust front wheels.



Made sense to me when they told me but then how were they going to get the -. 4 degree overall camber, "within dealer spec" but causing my truck to pull to the right fixed?



They cant without an offset balljoint which they admitted they have done for older dodges but not the 03's yet.



Interestingly they swapped tires side to side, fixed the neg toe and my truck seems to drive straight now. The neg camber still there! I hope this is not just my imagination.





Also, it was news to them that there is a weighted power steering tube now for 03 and they are looking into it for my rig. When they pull by VIN it does not come up but the TSB states only that it applies to 03 dodge diesels with no build date on there so it should have come up on all the trucks.



The guy doing the alignment thought he saw these on the 04's. Are they on all the 04's?

 

[Kmac]

brillmtb,



I ran into the same thing on my 03 1-ton dually. I don't understand the "no adjustment"situation. What's the reasoning behind this decision? Is there a good reason for "no adjustment"... ... Inquiring minds would like to know. .

 

[SilverFox]

There was a long discussion on this pulling to the right issue about 8 or 9 months ago. You might want to run a search. I put an after market adjustable ball joint on my truck and that corrected the situation. The dealer even warranted the after market part and labor. I have over 15000 miles since the replacement part was installed with no problems.

 

[JFirebaugh]

Originally posted by SilverFox

There was a long discussion on this pulling to the right issue about 8 or 9 months ago. You might want to run a search. I put an after market adjustable ball joint on my truck and that corrected the situation. The dealer even warranted the after market part and labor. I have over 15000 miles since the replacement part was installed with no problems.

SilverFox,



Can you please provide details that are more specific on your offset ball joint replacement and your Dealer's coverage of the parts & labor costs? My 2003 4x4 Q/C has pulled to the right since it's delivery day. The Dealer just gives me a blank look and scratches their body parts when I tell them it needs fixing! I know that I need adjustable ball joints to increase the Camber's side-to-side differential values, in order to stop the right drift. A friend who is an experienced service manager says that a drift like this "will only get worse as the suspension settles-in and ages. "



Can you please give the name of the manufacturer and the specific part number(s) of your new ball joints? Also, can you look at your Dealer paperwork to give specifics on how your Dealer handled the warranty claim for the parts and labor? (Or at least a name & number of a service person at the dealer that could explain to me over the phone) My Dealer says Dodge won't pay for an adjustable ball joint installation and re-alignment. My CTD has 6,900 miles on it now and I'm tired of my selling dealer's stalling and their incompetent, un-motivated responses.



Please help!



John

 

[DPKetchum]

Your dealer needs to call his DSM and get approval. the DSM can pay through D. C. warranty almost anything his heart desires!:--)