I have a friend at work with a 2003 Lightning. He has taken it into the shop three or four times because he says it is pulling to the right really hard. He is used to a vehicle pulling a little because of alignment or the bank of the roads here in Arizona but both dealerships he took it to can't find anything and they have even changed the tires twice. Do any of you know what may be causing the truck to do this. Any help will be really appreciated. If any of you are curious I posted this last night on both SVT forums but no one has given me an answer yet and I'm trying to get an answer before he quits Ford all together.
The right calipers could be dragging. The rear-end could be off center or off track (one tire is farther back then the other) Alignment off. Tie-rods, ball joints, pitman arm joint worn??
A friend of mine had a Honda Passport that had a similar problem. After a year and a couple sets of tires of going back and forth with the dealer they determined it was some sort of damage that was caused during shipment. I.e. strapped to tight or in wrong place or whatever. They replaced some parts on the frontend and it went away. Wish i knew more specific info but i wasnt involved in it at all.
If it's got a "hard" pull, there should be an obvious problem. He may want to take it to a real wheel alignment place as opposed to the dealer. I used to be a Ford dealer tech myself, and I can honestly say none of the other guys in our shop could align a skateboard. Since Lightnings are my everyday business, here's a few things to try... First, rotate the tires and see if that helps. We have huge meats on these trucks, and the slightest tire issue can cause that. Rotate the tires front to back, and see if it still pulls. If that doesn't do it, take a look at the lower control arm on the drivers side. Look at the rear of the bolt that attaches the arm to the frame. The frame hole is slotted, it's not a round hole. This allows the bolt to move side to side sometimes, and is the cause of what us Lightning owners call "the clunk". It doesn't usually cause alignment issues though, but if his bolt is actually loose, that will through him out of spec. Hope this helps, and tell your buddy to visit my website for go-fast goodies www.lightningparts.com
My 96 Honda odysses was the same way 3 alignments later 1 at the dealer I traded it in after owning it 6 years I bought it new and itwas never wrecked it was a good car But my II tracked down the road a whole lot straighter.
Dose the truck have a limited slip rear end? If so, maybe one set of tires taller than the other. (More air in one side than the other) or (One side of the truck bed loaded heavier than the other..... Big tool box on one side.)
I was talking to her this weekend, it is a fairly new L, nothing in the bed, has had several sets of tires installed
