Alignment issues!!!

[djshyc]

I recently brought my 94 explorer in to get an alignment. my steering wheel was leaning constantly to the left . in order to drive straight and keep from veering left i had to hold the wheel toward the right. the mechanics said i needed to relace a ball joint on the right side. They told me that Id still need to get a left side camber kit to make it 100%... $330 later and no camber kit put on because iI was going to get a second opinion, I left the garage and my steering wheel was now leaning to the right and i was still veering to the left just as much as before !!!! Needless to say their expertise is somewhat questionable. So then i brougth it to midas. They looked at it and told me i need to replace all of my remaining ball joints eventhough the other garage said the remaining ones were fine. My explorer seems to lean to the left a bit too. Could this be something to do with my problem? Midas says there is no camber kit on my vehicle!!! I dont think that any of these garages seem to know whats wrong with my truck! or what theyre talking about. so somebody please help!!!!! I need a clue here.

[chr97]

You may not have a camber kit if it is stock height. They use those when you put a lift on. If you have a coil spring around the shock check to make sure it is not week.
It sound like the alignment was probable done inproperly and you soyuld take it to a 4 wheel drive specialist and have a four wheel aligment done.

[explorerguy30]

Originally Posted by chr97

You may not have a camber kit if it is stock height. They use those when you put a lift on. If you have a coil spring around the shock check to make sure it is not week.
It sound like the alignment was probable done inproperly and you soyuld take it to a 4 wheel drive specialist and have a four wheel aligment done.

I had the exact same problem with my 98 explorer. i took it in for excessive vibration in the front end thinking it was due to my tires needing balanced or the allignment. As it turned out i needed a 500 dollar ball joint repair on both sides. I too took it and got a second and third opinion and all three places told me that Explorers are notorious for the ball joints going bad and every place was within 10 dollars of each other on the estiment.

[djshyc]

SO i brought my explorer into another garage. They said that it sounded like the other two garages were just trying to "take me for a ride". So i had them take a look and they ended up aligning it !!! They adjusted the eccentric washers that adjust the camber on 91-94 eplorers. of course the other garages didnt just go and do this!!! cuz appearently it was a very plain as day thing once i actually looked under the vehicle to see what was what. Its just an offset washer on the top of the knuckle!!!
So it seems problem solved and I got my $60 back from the 1st garage who "took me for a ride".......