What is wrong in this picture?

do my own alignment with a tobacco stick and a degree finder.lol
 
BigClay said:
i feel I got ripped off. What do you guys think?
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Did he use KY or steering fluid for lube?

Sounds to me like he was too lazy to adjust your steering back or he took you for a punk. It happens to everyone sooner or later. You just have to watch your back (side).
 
davidselite737 said:
do my own alignment with a tobacco stick and a degree finder.lol
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everyone else already told you how to fix it. 2 nuts loose, pipe wrench, and viola! steering wheel is fixed. Tires are already aligned I assume from what you've said before. Seems like fixing the steering wheel is an easy fix...
 
rockcity said:
everyone else already told you how to fix it. 2 nuts loose, pipe wrench, and viola! steering wheel is fixed. Tires are already aligned I assume from what you've said before. Seems like fixing the steering wheel is an easy fix...
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We can cut the wheel off with the plasma and weld it back on straight too!!! now that's an idea.
 
OK, get this. I go back over there this evening and I talk to a different guy, tell him what is going on. He says sure we can fix that no prob. About 10 minutes later he comes back with my original print out and tells me that actually they can not straighten the steering wheel with out taking it off (basically the same thing the guy before told me). So I tell this guy that everyone I talk to says that you can fix this. Then he says very smartatically (sp?) "Well were those people certified mechanics?" So I asked him again (and told him what every one in here has told me you have to do, and again he said he can't and pointed to the toe on the print out (which was 0.63 before and 0.11 actual). I have no idea what these numbers mean, so can someone help me understand what he could referring to? I have the print out here in front of me.
 
BigClay said:
OK, get this. I go back over there this evening and I talk to a different guy, tell him what is going on. He says sure we can fix that no prob. About 10 minutes later he comes back with my original print out and tells me that actually they can not straighten the steering wheel with out taking it off (basically the same thing the guy before told me). So I tell this guy that everyone I talk to says that you can fix this. Then he says very smartatically (sp?) "Well were those people certified mechanics?" So I asked him again (and told him what every one in here has told me you have to do, and again he said he can't and pointed to the toe on the print out (which was 0.63 before and 0.11 actual). I have no idea what these numbers mean, so can someone help me understand what he could referring to? I have the print out here in front of me.
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go back and ask what the the adjuster on the drag link is for? if he wants info from a certification ill be more than happy to tell him about my big box of useless certification and when im done he will just stick to wiper blades. ill even give him my ase # if it will help his hearing.
 
At first, when you asked what was wrong with this picture, i was thinking the red interior, of course. If they cant straighten the steering wheel, they should be working fast food.
 
I didnt take the time to read all the posts in the thread but that's next to impossible to fix.... about the only thing you can do at this point is go full hydro or hydro assist... happens w/ all lifted Jeeps...


needless to say every single time I took my XJ to the shop for an alignment that's how the wheel came back... no one takes the time to drive a little bit, hop out adjust the collar, drive a little more, adjust, and so on til perfect... Finally started doing the ole backyard alignment on it myself... Oh yeah, adjust it too much and the unibody will crack

:driver:
 
BigClay said:
So I asked him again (and told him what every one in here has told me you have to do, and again he said he can't and pointed to the toe on the print out (which was 0.63 before and 0.11 actual). I have no idea what these numbers mean, so can someone help me understand what he could referring to? I have the print out here in front of me.
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I may be wrong, but iirc the drag link does not effect the toe in. If you wheel it much you will eventually tweak the tie rod, have someone show you how to do a "parking lot alignment" all you need is a tape measure, pipe wrench and a helper. It sure does make the drive home much better.

Fred
 
I would just adjust the drag link at home and be done with it. Those guys are jerks over there.
 
uncc civilengineer said:
I didnt take the time to read all the posts in the thread but that's next to impossible to fix.... about the only thing you can do at this point is go full hydro or hydro assist... happens w/ all lifted Jeeps...
needless to say every single time I took my XJ to the shop for an alignment that's how the wheel came back... no one takes the time to drive a little bit, hop out adjust the collar, drive a little more, adjust, and so on til perfect... Finally started doing the ole backyard alignment on it myself... Oh yeah, adjust it too much and the unibody will crack
:driver:
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You are the first person to say that it is next to impossible to fix. How did you fix your XJ's once it came back like mine?
 
BigClay said:
You are the first person to say that it is next to impossible to fix. How did you fix your XJ's once it came back like mine?
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I kid , I kid.... easily... just loosen the drag link collar and adjust... drive it a little (slowly) working back and forth... adjust again.. keep on until it's where you want it.
 
Had the same (not a 180degree f up)with a place in raleigh. Told me they were going to charge me 65 bucks to do it. Just walked out. Guess they forgot I hadn't paid. Screw not getting what you pay for especially when alot of places around here charge you more for oversized alignments anyways.
 
Chris_M said:
View attachment 16186
Adjusting this one piece is all it takes to correctly center the wheel. Loosen two nuts, turn with pipe wrench, tighten two nuts, and done.
I'm gonna assume when they 'aligned' it, they left the draglink at whatever length is was before the lift, and just adjusted the tierod to correct the toe-in. Did you use adjustable arms? and was the caster checked, and/or adjusted? The ZJ caster is adjusted with a cam bolt at the axle end of the lower control arm. I had a shop tell me 'you can't adjust the caster on a solid axle truck, sorry, we can't help you.' This was After they tried to chrge me $75 for an alignment on a ZJ with only a BB. I raised hell, and asked if i needed to show them how to do their job for them. SO, I didn't pay a damn thing, and have been doing my own aligments on my jeep ever since.
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Thanks man, I finally had a chance to get the ZJ in the garage today, and this was super easy. All I did was loosen those two nuts, turn it with a pipe wrench and viola, I was able to center the steering wheel. I can't beleive the guys at Merchants on Battleground here in Greensboro, were so incompetent that they could not do this. I have never bad mouthed a shop before, but this was ridiculous. I have no experience with steering at all, their "ASE Master Mechanic" couldn't even do this. Pathetic. I am sending a link to this thread to the corporate guys because this was just ridiculous. These guys at this store must be incompentent.

Thanks guys for all of your help, and I will never be going back to any Merchants if this is the kind of service they provide.
 
right on man! i worked in shops for a while and all it is that there trying to cover up BS they screwed up on. also to everyone else with advice ...... ive learned more here than at ase shops.
 
If you paid anyone to do an alignment on a solid axle Jeep you got ripped. There's hardly anything to align. If you have adjustable lowers then you can add more caster otherwise set the toe (doesn't apply to YJ's) and straighten the wheel and that's it. Correcting the the toe in and steering wheel should be included in TJ lift installation.
 
Kevin Lawler said:
If you paid anyone to do an alignment on a solid axle Jeep you got ripped. There's hardly anything to align. If you have adjustable lowers then you can add more caster otherwise set the toe (doesn't apply to YJ's) and straighten the wheel and that's it. Correcting the the toe in and steering wheel should be included in TJ lift installation.
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It was on a ZJ, but it is still the same setup.

As an update, I sent an email to corporate about this situation, and sent a link to this thread. They obviously forwarded it onto the manager of that store, becuase I got an email form him a day later. In his email he asked me to call him, and left a number. I called the number the next day, and it was a freaking fax number. I though maybe they share a line and the fax machine (or credit card machine) was runnign at that time. I ended up calling the number three more times at various time of day. Then I called it again the next day and same thing. I then responded to the guys email and told him that I tihnk the number was wrong. never heard back from him. About a week later I responded a second time and told him I wanted to speak with him, and could he send me his real phone number... never heard a response.
 
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