Replaced upper control arms, lower ball joints, struts, tires. After work was done, took it to the dealer for an alignment and the Tech. said it's spot on aligned but it still pulls (drifts) right and wabbles at 60-70mph. Tech. suggested I take it back to the tire place, maybe there's a defect they can identify. They rebalanced the tires and eliminated the wabble but cant see why it drifts right (Not road tracking). Here's my question: When I removed the hub assembly, the old upper control arms were set at about mid travel, so when I replaced them, I set the new ones at about mid travel before tightening the bolts. Should I have set the control arms at the bottom end of the travel befor tightening the bolts; just let gravity pull them down then tighten the bolts for reassembly? Thanks for any help / advice.

2006 F-150 Lariat 4x4 5.4L

 

I am having a hard time understanding what you are saying with regard to travel? Since the hub is not directly bolted to the UCA I assume you are talking about the spindle.

If you are referring to the adjustment available, then the shop that did your alignment would have set that correctly regardless of where you put things.

Assuming you do not have a tire pressure issue, then there is something wrong in the alignment. I went through this once with a shop that swore up and down it was spot on but I had massive bump steer. I had to find a shop with a great rep as having a good alignment guy. He spotted the issue right away and it was fixed.

There is a difference between being in spec and correct, not all guys can think outside the box.

 

Just take it back to them and say it pulls. Give them the old "Are you surrrrre it's okay?" I'm fortunate enough to have access to my buddies shop and alignment rig whenever I need it and it takes me about 5-10 mins. Any professional shop will have no problem throwing it up there and double checking for a quick thing like that.

 

Yea, take it back and have them look at it again.

 

Thanks. I' had is aligned at a Big Brand Tire then at the dealer, it still drifts. I'll try a different shop. Thanks.

 

I'm thinking to switch the front tires from left to right and vice versa. If it pulls the other way you may have what's known as radial pull. Tire defect. Happened to me on Goodyear after about 20K miles. I'm just gonna stop rotation and replace when needed.

 

Mine has always had a slight drift to the right from new while cruising on the highway. I just recently had it realigned and the tech said the my rear end numbers were slightly off. supposedly not a real good way to fix it. Since I have never had any tire wear problems..I dont worry about it.

 

Might be a sticking brake caliper on the side it's pulling to.

 

Good call, forgot about that.

 

Best practice is to tighten the UCA's, LCA's, shock mounts, etc with the weight of the truck on them. When I replaced all these components on my 05, I simply put a jack under the LCA and lifted it nearly off the jack stands before snugging everything down. I then drove it to the tire shop for an alignment.....all is perfect.

I realize that the alignment shop loosens some of these fasteners during the alignment, but the book says to tighten them as described.