Front end alignment cost??

DSDP Don wrote:
The reason you get your alignment checked on a new coach is because it's initially done when the coach is empty. I'm guessing on some of the gas chassis, it might even be done before they put the body on.

Yes, there are many that get by with never having an alignment done. The problem is.....if the alignment is out, it's then to late to save the tires. On a car, you can move them to the rear, on most motor homes (without a tag) you're stuck with leaving them in the front position. Once a tire starts to wear from alignment issues, even if the alignment is corrected, the edges that have worn, now scuff instead of riding on the road surface. Scuffing wears down tires faster than driving on them. So the wear pattern is accelerated. At the price of these tires, some common sense care pays for itself.

I simply trusted the ride-height valves to maintain the same suspension geometry, whether empty or loaded.
I would only pay for an alignment if I detected some sort of symptom.
So far, so good (Spartan chassis with independent front suspension).

10forty2 wrote:
I was just estimated about $150 for a standard front end alignment by a large truck shop. While I'm in there, I'll get him to check the rear alignment and springs as well, just to be sure...so I'm guessing that'll add a few duckies to the bill.

That is about right.

I also believe that checking the rear is necessary. If the rear is not right, the front will never be right. It does not need to be checked very often.

I was just estimated about $150 for a standard front end alignment by a large truck shop. While I'm in there, I'll get him to check the rear alignment and springs as well, just to be sure...so I'm guessing that'll add a few duckies to the bill.

Monaco RV's used to come with a free front end alignment to be used when you first loaded up your rig.

I didn't take advantage of it and at about 45,000 miles had to replace my steer tires due to misalignment. Had it aligned then and all is well now.

So check with your dealer/manufacturer to see if they offer a free alignment.

emorris,
Wear on the outside of the LF tire is normal in California no matter what the vehicle. Almost every time you get on or off the freeway you are turning right. This preponderance of RH turns wears the LF tire on the outside. If you live in the NW the heavy wear tire is the RR from driving up the road crown. We once had a customer come in complaining of excessive wear on the RF of her M-5 which did not fit with the normal wear seen in SoCal. The alignment checked out fine but the Laguna Seca Raceway sticker from the previous weekend solved the issue. LSR has 7 lefts to 4.5 rights with the lefts being much tighter than the rights resulting in much higher loads on the RF tire. You can align a vehicle all day in SoCal but you will never get rid of the LF outer wear.
Randy

I have a fleetwood class A, last spring 2014 I was quoted $525.00 at a diesel truck service center. I called arround and they all quoted $500.00 more or less I had worn out 2 front tires in less than 20,000 miles. On the recomendation of a L.A. Freightliner employee I went to Petes tire service. They told me about the FMCA deal with Michelin tires, I joined FMCA and 2 days later I had two new tires,and a front end alignment just over $1100.00 the front end had never been aligned by frei
ghtliner,or fleetwood. ( not my job man ) prior to delivery. The alignment was $119.00 plus parts. PETES road service highly recomended. All over SO. CAL.

In Springfield, Mo at a Truck shop that works on Freightliner chassis every day.
They aligned it and it required some axle beam bending.
They only charged 140.00 or so, by memory and it was made perfect.
Freightliner has a good shop near Decatur. It is listed as being Ft Wayne however.

I had rivering Goodyear tires on my last coach, so when my 07 came with Goodyears again, I had the alignment checked after six months. The cost then was $125 for the alignment on a drive on rack that was used for tractor trailers. There was an additional $50 fee for pulling and spin balancing both front tires. That was 7 years ago so I can imagine the cost could have doubled over the years. Tires rivered anyway.

Had our Spartan chassis alligned 3 years ago for $100 plus or minus couple dollars.

Here in rural Louisiana there aren't many places that do alignments on MHs. After 6 or 7 calls found someone that would do it for $240. The tech asked several questions as what problems we were having. DH answered " no problems ". Tech literally said he was crazy to have alignment done if there were no issues.
We may take our September trip (3000 miles) and upon our return see if Freightliner will give us a courtesy alignment .

Thanks for the input.
Sherry