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gordon1

Front Wheel Aligment

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About how much should a Frieghtliner front wheel alignment cost. it is on a 06 Alpha seeya with 28000 miles.My old tires had a wear pattern on the outside rib like tire was out of line on bottom tucked in. Other side had 4 flat spots on tire at 90 degrees from each other. I had new tires installed and thought a alignment would be in order There was no parts used to align the wheels.

The bill came to 550.00 for a alignment A bit pricey for a 2 hr job I thought.

Thanks Gordon

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Gordon,

Did they have to bend the axle (i.e. change camber on solid front axle)?

Did they have to change/add caster shims (requires separating axle from chassis mount to install/remove shim)?

If not, yes that does sound expensive for a check and likely toe adjustment.

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I have 08 Fleetwood/Freightliner and had it aligned at a heavy truck suspension shop in Omaha (not Freightliner dealer) in 2012. Don't know what they had to do, but the bill came to $69.50 for an hour of work. Really improved handling so they did something. Sorry for the bad news.

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Gordon,

By chance were your tires manufactured by Goodyear? There have been issues with front tires wearing like you're describing - rivering. It has nothing to do with alignment or balancing.

Tire_1.jpg

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Gordon welcome to the FMCA forum.

If your tires look like the picture posted by Elkhartjim, that has been a common thing on Goodyear tires. Goodyear 670 tires were standard for Alfa. We had that problem on our 06 See Ya and it is not alignment. We had ours checked in early 2012 and alignment was fine. Put on 6 new Toyo tires and went to Alaska in the summer of 2012 - a little over 11,000 miles since and the tires still look great. Absolutely no abnormal wear.

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Do you have a "before and after" print-out so you can see exactly what was changed? If so, post it-- that will give us a lot better idea of what work was done.

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i have found the work sheet but it will not upload to site the before and after numbers are close to each other. There were no parts installed. A bit of background on this post I had purchased 6 Michelin tires.

When the old Goodyear steer tires were removed I noticed the left tire had a wear pattern on the outside edge of tire like it was top of tire was out and tire was running on out side of tire instead of the tire running flat on all the threads the other had flat spots like the pics in this post. I had 28,000 miles on factory tires.

I decided to get a alignment. Booked appointment at First Truck Freightliner in Edmonton Alberta Coach was on rack for parts check $152.00 the wheel brgs were loose. They could not do align till they were tightened. I asked them to set them and they said it had to go to there motorhome shop across town-- they didn't do motorhome mechanical repairs there. There would be a 3 day wait for app. I asked if I could take it to a shop that does heavy eqip and truck repair that did work for the company I worked for. They said that would be alright.

I went to them and had the bearings checked they wrote on the invoice rt bearing in spec left adjusted but tech said left was a hair loose not a worry in his opinion but he reset it..Went back next morning and got the align done bill was $324.00 When i got the invoice I asked the shop manager about the bearings the other shop said were set properly. He replied Freightliner has very strict tolerances and it was just the other shops opinion. The shop that had that opinion is a licensed shop to do provincial inspection of tractors trailers.

The people at First Freightliner were very fast to pass and blame other people. I tried to get the wheel liners off to polish them a couple days later could not move the 3 nuts on liner tried with a half inch L bar and a snipe Back to Freightliner. 3rd time shop foreman said park coach he would remove nuts used a 1/2 inch drive impact and they would not move-- got a 3/4 inch and they came off. I asked how they could have been put on so tight and he said the tech probably ran them up with a impact and got it a bit tight. I replied 6 times too tight. Response was oh well I left there close to $500.00 dollars less and they did nothing wrong.

I will try and e mail owner of Freightliner in Edmonton I talked to Freightliner Chassis and they said that shop was not a corporate owner shop there hands were tied. I could leave neg feedback but it would stay on First truck computer only. I was hoping Freightliner Mother corp would checkout the cost of a alignment they must have some guide lines.

Thanks Gordon And Erna Kachmarski

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