I have an appointment already, so it doesn’t matter. I’ll try it out this evening and report back. If it doesn’t work, I’ll put it all back the way it was. No big deal.

 

Yup. Stubborn is as stubborn does. Whats cheaper, an alignment or two new front tires? I am all for working on your truck and all, but there are some things that you need to farm out to professionals. An alignment is one of them. 80 bucks is cheap compared to new tires.

 

I adjusted the steering shafts as I originally assumed and the 10 degree off steering wheel is now at the 12 o’clock position. Only took a 1/2 turn on the driver and pass rod to adjust accordingly. Shift the steering rods equally and you’ll be fine.

 

Why are you aligning the wheels on a new truck?

 

I installed coilovers

 

It already has coilovers

 

They look aftermarket to me?

His springs have a weird metallic shimmer, as opposed to black OEM, unless I'm seeing things?

 

I installed Fox 2.5 coilovers, so my alignment was off. The dudes at work did a half *** alignment and left the steering wheel off. I corrected it. Tire wear is fine and it steers straight as an arrow.

 

OP got a lot of flack from some keyboard warriors. Some helpful, most not.

I'm always in favor of trying free work first. If it fails, then (hopefully--depending on the work) you're back where you started having to pay for it.

Also, I swapped coilovers recently and took the truck to Firestone. I never take vehicles to Firestone, much less anywhere if I can help it, but they were offering a Lifetime alignment for $170. This was about 2 months ago. Just FYI. To me it was worth it as one alignment costs $100 there.

 

Free work is awesome, but there are other costs associated with an alignment. If it's not within specs, you end up paying for it in tires, wheel bearings, tie rod ends, and ball joints.

That said, the tie rods bolt to a single steel shaft that exists within the rack. Adjusting the rods the same turns number of turns in opposite directions keeps toe the same and lets you center the rack. The key here is to hold the outer rods still so they do not turn at all, and clock the inner rods precisely the same. What I have done is spin the outer rod in the direction I need to turn the inner rod until it reaches it's limit so I don't even have to fiddle with holing it still. Do this before loosening the nut, and return it to level after tightening the nut.

During adjustment, I hang a string with a weight off the inner tie rod around the circular section next to the landings for a wrench, and check the distance between string and wrench handle. I clock the number of turns I want, and stop the wrench at the same distance. Might be small potatoes, but it ensures precisely the same adjustment for both rods.