2018 Ram alignment help needed!

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gliderider06

gliderider06

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Hi all! I bought a 2018 Ram bighorn last month and i have alignment issues. It keeps pulling left. Had it aligned at 300ish miles, and 100 miles later started doing it again. Pulling hard enough, when you let go of the wheel you change lanes .
Brought it back to dealer again today at 641 miles and the toe was off. They realign it and 20 ish miles after alignment, it starts pulling left again (see alignment specs). With 670 miles on the truck, could the rack be bad, or something with the electric steering cause it to keep pulling left? I hate to call the dealer back to tell them it's doing it again. Any thoughts?
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gliderider06 said:
Hi all! I bought a 2018 Ram bighorn last month and i have alignment issues. It keeps pulling left. Had it aligned at 300ish miles, and 100 miles later started doing it again. Pulling hard enough, when you let go of the wheel you change lanes .
Brought it back to dealer again today at 641 miles and the toe was off. They realign it and 20 ish miles after alignment, it starts pulling left again (see alignment specs). With 670 miles on the truck, could the rack be bad, or something with the electric steering cause it to keep pulling left? I hate to call the dealer back to tell them it's doing it again. Any thoughts?View attachment 1715231682
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The fact that it goes back to doing it again means there is something wrong that they missed. (if they looked at anything but the alignment)
Something is obviously moving if the alignment was off again after a short time.
Hope it doesn't move a lot and suddenly before you get it back to the shop and find out why.
This isn't really an alignment issue so much as a suspension problem that needs to be addressed ASAP.
 
After the welding issues on the newer Jeep Wranglers(I'm guessing somebody mis-programmed the robotic welders, and the welders missed welding members together and just placed welds on top of one of the members, missing the actual joint), I wouldn't fool around, or waste any time. It deserves immediate attention. it requires close inspection, and diagnosis. It could be dangerous.
 
Freaking brand new truck and it has issues already. The dealer I use is really good. They didn't believe me when I told them it was pulling again after the 1st alignment. 3rd time they will really think I'm full of ****. I wonder if I should try another dealer?
 
I would stick with the same dealer as they are familiar with it already. Once they drive it, they will see it happened again and "should" check more than just doing another alignment. Let them know it is very dangerous to drive and if can not be fixed you want a different truck - one that is not dangerous to drive. Make sure you tell them "dangerous and unsafe". If it was to happen again after the next alignment, I would drive(very safely) into a ditch somewhere and run over something then call the dealer and tell them to come and get their unsafe dangerous vehicle.
 
gliderider06 said:
Freaking brand new truck and it has issues already. The dealer I use is really good. They didn't believe me when I told them it was pulling again after the 1st alignment. 3rd time they will really think I'm full of ****. I wonder if I should try another dealer?
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They are supposed to be the "Pros" so have them drive it and see.
If they balk at that for some stupid reason, or say they don't see anything wrong try a different dealer and tell them the story of what it's doing.
Gotta start somewhere.
Either that or like Answerbook said, take it back and refuse to drive this truck.
Using the words dangerous and unsafe are key words they freak out about a bit more than just a complaint, so it lights a fire under their asses to do something about it.
I'd almost be tempted to have it towed in because it's "so scary how it changes" for some "undiagnosed" reason.:D

Tires can cause a pull to one side as well, but you said the alignment had changed so I guess we can discount that.
Otherwise I would suggest changing the front tires to the back and see if that straightens it up.
 
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if you want to be proactive, have your wife or a friend get in and turn the steering wheel back and forth, while you crawl underneath and watch all the suspension and steering components, looking for slop in any joints. It's a new truck, so there should be zero slop.
You can park on a flat, level surface, with steering wheel straight ahead, and sight down the side of the truck, the tires/wheels should be vertical, pointing straight ahead also, and parallel front to back.
 
Keep after them, my 2017 Ram shook hard when I first bought it.

The dealer gave me all kinds of crap, because I did not bring it back for 2 months, but it only shook over 65 mph, and the speed limit was only 55 mph on the way to work.

There was no balance weights on any tires, yet the dealer tried to make it out like it was my fault, to this day they have not sent me the paper work saying they balanced the tires.
My guess is they were a new dealership and did not want Chrysler to know they did not check the truck before they sold it to me.

And another thing is, I noticed the other day the front tires are wearing in a strange pattern, so something is not 100% up front, the truck only has 4K miles on it.
 
gliderider06 said:
Freaking brand new truck and it has issues already. The dealer I use is really good. They didn't believe me when I told them it was pulling again after the 1st alignment. 3rd time they will really think I'm full of ****. I wonder if I should try another dealer?
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Have they switched tires from side to side radial pull ,won’t show up with alignment?
 
Biff said:
Have they switched tires from side to side radial pull ,won’t show up with alignment?
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As far as I know, they have not. I thought about doing that myself today, but at the same time I don't want to touch it. The dealership needs to fix it.
Thanks Paul
 
gliderider06 said:
As far as I know, they have not. I thought about doing that myself today, but at the same time I don't want to touch it. The dealership needs to fix it.
Thanks Paul
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I agree the dealer should fix it. That's what warranties are for. However, if you've raised, lifted, levelled, or lowered it, that should be your problem not theirs.
 
rustycowll69 said:
I agree the dealer should fix it. That's what warranties are for. However, if you've raised, lifted, levelled, or lowered it, that should be your problem not theirs.
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My Ram is, as it was built. I added running boards and a cap on the bed. I only drive it when my 2yr old son is with me.
If it is a tire pull, switching them to the rear won't really do anything will it? Eventually they will get rotated back up front again, and have the same problem I'm having now, no?
 
gliderider06 said:
If it is a tire pull, switching them to the rear won't really do anything will it? Eventually they will get rotated back up front again, and have the same problem I'm having now, no?
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Rotating tires front to back and/or swapping the front tires left to right is a tool you can use to determine if it's actually a radial tire pull or something else....

What doesn't make sense is the Ram driving straight for miles after an alignment & then starts pulling again? Hmmm...
 
If tires are showing wear, something is moving. Find another dealer and expect nothing less than perfection including a new set of tires.
Your dealer dropped the ball and let a new defective and dangerous truck on the road.
Its up to you,take it back and give it to the manager/owner to drive for a few days.
 
Well, the dealership I am using for service is not the same dealer I purchased from. 2 reasons, purchasing dealer is 30 miles away and not as good as where I usually get service from and they are only a few minutes away from home. I think you're right and that I need to go to purchasing dealer tomorrow and talk to the manager. (I like the sales department there) they have always been good to me. Hopefully they will continue to be helpful.
 
gliderider06 said:
Well, the dealership I am using for service is not the same dealer I purchased from. 2 reasons, purchasing dealer is 30 miles away and not as good as where I usually get service from and they are only a few minutes away from home. I think you're right and that I need to go to purchasing dealer tomorrow and talk to the manager. (I like the sales department there) they have always been good to me. Hopefully they will continue to be helpful.
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Im sure they will step up. 30 miles is our nearest any dealer,next ones are 50.
To find a problem anothe dealer couldnt fix? Its like putting forth a challenge-a duel of sorts. Good luck.get it towed. Roadside assistance...
 
It's possible you have a bad caliper or hose acting up with temperature. That's what stuck out in my mind after 20 miles. Does it pull when you first get in it "cold"?I just had 2 Grand Cherokees (2011,2014)come in this weekend with out of the blue pulling and both with seized right front calipers.
 
It does pull when cold. All the time. The more I drive it, the more it pulls and pulls harder. I drove it to the purchasing dealer yesterday. Sales manager was extremely helpful, service dept sucked ***. Told me to bring it back Thursday. I refused him and told him where the truck is parked is where it will sit until they fix it and it is unsafe to drive. Still told me to bring it back... had no car for me to drive... Sales mgr stepped up and gave me a recent trade in to drive home. I showed him videos of how hard it pulls and changes lanes W/I 5 seconds and he agreed I shouldn't drive it. I told service they really need to go over it well and find the defect because vehicles should not lose alignment.
We'll see what happens.
 
Brakes is something to consider,especially if they find nothing wrong with alignment.
A step in the right direction.
 
You might give the District or regional manager a call. And just let them know how you're being treated by the service department.
 
Thought I would update... 2 more alignments and it still pulled after 40ish miles. Kept bringing it back and dealer put an "a" tech on it and had to call Chrysler engineering... since so many alignments were done on it, front wheel only, the dealer had to farm it out to a place that could do a 4 wheel alignment. After that was done, they had to plug in and zero the computer. What I was told that after an alignment is done to the newer vehicles, the scanner tool needs to be plugged in to zero the steering. Mine was never done, at any time. After an alignment the truck was seeing the "zero" and kept toeing left 1.22* every time, where it thought the zero was.
Weather thats B.S. or not, the truck drives straight now.
 
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