Ive searched the threads and cant find any keywords to my issue, so here it goes. A few days ago I put a King OEM coilover kit and Icon UCAs on. After the install the wheel was a touch off center. No issues but my OCD kicked in and I brought it to the dealer for an alignment. So after said dealer completed it, the wheel was further off center to the left. So I drove it around the block and asked them to center the wheel this time. Well second alignment was completed and nothing was fixed. They told me it shows a in spec reading on the rack. I asked them to test drive it so they can see its not fixed. I was told they did....around the parking lot, and there was no issue. At this point the steam was coming out of my ears and before I lost my cool I grabbed my keys and left. Now im sitting in an offroad speciality shop waiting on alignment #3. So the tech comes out and says its in perfect specs on the rack. Then brings me out to see because he sees the look on my face and it turned a redish hue. As hes going through the specs, he says some new trucks because of the electronic steering have to be re-zeroed on center...Well im versed in auto repair and I try to stay up to date on everything. But is this wheel re-calibration on these new 2015-2016s a thing, and how do you do it. Also the rear axle is slightly off-centered. So any insight would be helpful. This shop is on point most of the time, so im hoping they can fix it.

 

Maybe I'm crazy, but is the wheel centered inside the truck when it's being aligned? I would think that all it would take to center it back would be to adjust the tie rod ends to accommodate the steering wheel, but maybe my brain just works too logically

 

on my 13 after a 2in level and like you 3 alignments the steering still favoring 12:30/1 o'clock...seems odd they could not use the tie rod adjustments to recenter.....as for the thrust angle/rear axle...is it off lots....I know from my past late 80's to mid 90's ford spec was up to 1/2 inch off for rear thrust ..so if you want them to fix it could be as easy as loosening ubolts and force/shift axle and retorque...but how bad and how much are you willing to spend...

I know if I had the alignment ability still I would have set the 13 to 11:30 to compensate for the favoring to 12:30/1 oclock...lol...

 

The rear thrust angle spec from ford on these trucks I am pretty sure is +-.5 I have it in my truck, will check it later, if different will re-post

 

Thanks to everyone for the responses. You are correct on the specs, The thrust angle was .49 when the offroad shop was looking it over. He loosed everything up and threw a ratchet strap around the axle. Now its .01 and he readjusted everything. Now the wheel seems 99% centered. It came down to the dealer being lazy, and not doing a complete alignment.

 

No you are thinking the same way I was! I kept thinking how hard is it to center the wheel! When the offroad tech took me out to show me he wasnt lying. The wheel was centered and front was all in the green. Its when he checked the thrust angle, he had a ah ha moment and fixed it.

 

Hi guys. Struggling with alignment. Mostly my steering wheel center. I have a 2015 2wd 157" 502a Lariat w/lane keep.

Installed 2" leveling struts from eibach. Alignment was perfect first time. Decided to go higher. Installed 4x4 knuckles with 4x4 eibach leveling struts and springs to get a 2.7" level over a stock 4x4, 4.2" higher than stock 2wd. Only difference in front suspension between 2wd and 4x4 is longer shocks and heavier springs on the 4x4 that make the it sit 1.5" taller than a 2wd, and the knuckles, which fix uca and tie-rod angles from the 1.5" higher 4x4 stance. I actually got about 3" of lift over a 4x4, 4.5" over 2wd.

This is where the issues start. Alignment was ok-ish. Truck drove straight for the most part, but the steering wheel was always a bit to the right/left. It was very sensitive to road crown, and drifted as soon as I turned the wheel past center and kept drifting afyer manually returned to center. Almost felt like play. Never seemed to find it's center.

I installed rancho UCAs to help with the crazy ball joint angles. I was hoping this might help unstress the suspension and regain tracking, which it did. Took it to another shop (les schwab) and had it aligned. Same result. Also had the dealer recalibrate my sensors and update my power steering module per tsb. Apparently these trucks with lane departure wander alot, even if the lane departure mode is off. Also, electronic power steering adjusts for road crown, making things more complicated.

After calibrating and a few trips back to get the steering wheel centered, the wandering got much better and the steering wheel was near centered, but still off enough to be annoying. Took it back and they couldn't get it centered again, actually making it worse.

At this point, I was pretty sure it was the geometry of the leveling struts and springs I installed that made it hard to align, possibly overstressing the suspension and tie-rods. I took it back to stock UCA's and 2wd bilsteins set at 1.25" lift with stock 2wd springs. I installed a Maxtrac 2wd 4.5" lift spindle, which gets its lift by lowering the hub (no cv axles on 2wd). So the UCA, LCA, and tie rod angles are the same as a stock 2wd. Again, I had the bilsteins set to 1.25" taller, so the geometry would be a little worse than stock, be better than back when I was stock with a 2" 2wd leveling strut.

Installed the kit and went to another shop to align. The truck rode and handled so much nicer with the spindle lift, and geometry looked awesome. The previous setup had very little downtravel. With this one, I got almost all of it back ( lost some to the bilstein level), and thus, ride and control was much better. However, the steering wheel was still off-center! The tech said he had to farm it out, since his Hunter alignment machine was old and didn't have the technology to reset the steering angle sensor. He admitted that even the other shop didn't get it centered, but was better than when he tried it.

Out of desperstion, I played with the tie-rods. I was able to get the steering wheel centered. There was no more wandering. It drove pretty nice. However, I learned that the steering wheel is EXTREMELY sensitive to even the smallest tie-rod adjustments. Even 1/12th of a turn (using the lock nut as a datum against a marking on the tie-rod) is enough to throw the steering wheel off. Because of this, I knew that my initial adjustments, which were eyeball 1/2 turn, could have thrown off my toe. Had I known how sensitive the wheel was, I would have made the measured, calculated 1/12th to 1/18th turns I did at the end when I finally got the feel for it and got the wheel straight. In theory and practice, equal adjustments on both sides would keep the toe within spec, but center the wheel. But my learning curve might have messed that up.

I went to the farmed-out shop that did my last alignment and told them what I had done and learned. They agreed the wheel was not perfectly centered the last time. They threw it on the rack and sure enough, my initial adjustments threw the toe off, but they noted how the steering wheel was centered. I asked them to keep the wheel where it is and just get the toe back in spec. He aligned it in ten minutes, and only drove it once and said it was centered. I took off and the wheel was way off!

The whole time I was thinking it was my truck, but I think these techs are just "getting it in the green" and calling it good. A good tech will align, drive, and adjust the toe a few times until the wheel is centered. I know now from experience that takes more than ten minutes.

Took it to Ford same day to align again... they have a new alignment machine that is only two weeks old. But it is not a Hunter. According to their machine, the truck was out of spec again, both in caster and toe. Weird because I had literally just had it aligned 20 minutes earlier. Ford said they didn't need camber/caster bolts, but it makes the adjustments more precise and they find they hold alignment better than the stock nuts after they have been loosened after the initial factory install. I knew that was BS, but figured I could be wrong and it didn't hurt, so went ahead and had them align it with SPC camber/caster kit. I explained to them that I was having trouble getting the wheel centered, and thought the other guys were just getting in the green and never took the time to get it right. Alignment tech, who is also the quicklane manager, agreed.

Picked up the truck today and wheel was almost centered, but still just a hair to the left and enough to be noticeable and awkward. But now the truck wandered a ton and it felt like it drove sideways, kind of like dog tracking. When trying to drive straight, the wheel is off center to the left and it feels like it wants to ride up left towards the top of the crown of the road, and if I straighten the wheel, and try to correct from that crawl and keep it straight, it starts to pull me to the right. It's like it can't keep it's center. Pretty sure the sensors were recalibrated again, since the lane keep assist was on when I got it (it usually is when he resets sensors for me). Took it back after driving about 30 miles and found the total toe was 0.36deg, and the caster on the right was about 0.7deg more. I understand you need to lead the right wheel a bit to help with road drift from roads sloping to the side, but it looks like 0.3 to 0.4 is the ticket. I know dogtracking is corrected mainly with caster adjustments, so I thought the excess lead might be causing that, but the tech (different tech this time) disagreed. It was well before closing time, but they had another truck on the rack. By the time they got my truck back up, it was almost closing time and the manager who did my alignment had left before I had brought the teuck back feom the initial alignment, so I had them adjust the total toe down to about 0.22deg per what I read on this forum, since there was no time to mess with caster. I actually sat in the truck and tried to center the wheel as they set the toe. They had a bubble level for reference, but I centered the wheel to where I needed it. I could notice however, that the wheel would move as they tightened it. Steer ahead angle got better, but when I drove it, the wheel was still off to the left and the drifting/dog tracking characteristics were the same, if not worse. Drove for about 1 hr on interstate, farm roads, neighborhood and suburbs just to make sure it wasn't me just going crazy. (pretty sure I am going crazy by now).

I did swap the rear blocks a while back (when the eibach 4x4 setup was installed), but measured and aligned my rear end to where the passenger side is only about 1/16th to 1/8th further back than the the driver end. Measuring from a fixed point on the block mounts to a fixed point on the frame rails. So I don't think the rear end is an issue. Rear has new bilstein 5100s to match the travel requirements for the 4" block.

I am getting very frustrated. I have lost so much time with this. And now that I am working from home due to the COVID issue, I don't have the time to drive out to the dealer several times a day, several days in a row. I want this fixed already, and I also don't want to drive the guys at the dealer as ape**** as I am at the moment. I have had 3 other f150s. One 2011 xlt 2wd 157" wb with 2wd bilstein struts at 2.6", raptor 2.75 rear blocks, and two 2016 xlt 4x4 157". Both 16s had 2.5" leveling spacers up front, and oem raptor 2.75" rear blocks. All 3 had michelin ltx at2 tires, 33" or 34". Running same 34" michelins on my current truck. Had the 2.75" raptor block on it before and after the 4x4 suspension swap, but quickly swapped them for the 4" maxtrac blocks I have now. Never any issues with alignment on my other trucks. Usually one and done. The only difference with this new one is now I am running a larger rear block and a spindle lift up front, but many are doing the same without issue. Other difference is the lane keep assist, which has caused the same issues in many other trucks, lifted, leveled, or stock (though leveling does magnify the problem somewhat).

I attached a picture of my first alignment from ford (right) and my second alignment/toe adjust from them the same day (left). Anything jump out to you guys? I just don't know how to proceed from here. Is there something I am missing? Any of you have similar iasues with yout maxtracs? Thanks and sorry if you read all of this

 

broo, my truck has 0.51 thrust angle and it was at -0.1 when i had it, i left it at the dealer for recall repairs for around 5 days, i picked it up and all of a sudden i did an alignment and my thrust angle was at 0.70 and 0.51 in another shop, 0.51 is the final number, it changed and i didnt do modifications to it, i claimed this to the dealer and they did not want to fix it, told them because it wasnt like that when i gave it. They got mad and never answered my calls again after calling 7+ times. Someone told me to lift it up loosen some nuts in the rear axle and pull it back and re tighten the bolts, but idk which side, i have a positive 0.51 thrust angle, and its all original no lifted no nothing. They said there is nothing bent because total toe is withing specs and not way out of whack.

 

Here is the picture of the last alignment, it was at the dealership i bought it and did the first alignment and my thrust was at -0.1 not 0.51 like now, ig camber and total toe are good except the thrust

 

I went through this issue. Third time I brought it in the tech finally said they forgot to reset the steering wheel sensor?