Forum Discussion

Hunk_of_Cheese's avatar
Sep 28, 2021

Where to get steering alignment done for a class A?

I've got a class A motorhome on 2014 Ford F-59 commercial chassis.

The front wheels are each wearing excessively on the outside edge, with feathering across the width of the tire, and the steering seems too flighty IMO where the vehicle wants to wander in the lane and requires constant steering corrections. It won't track straight on a straight road with no wind; it rapidly wanders off one way or the other. (I've never driven any other motor home though so maybe this is just normal?)

Last summer I took the RV to three (3!) different places and couldn't get it properly aligned.

The first place was a truck shop that said their drive-on-top alignment tool was broken today.
The second place was a truck shop that said their attach-to-wheel-from-the-front alignment tool couldn't reach as the wheels are set deeper in the wheel wells than commercial truck would do.
The third place was a ford truck dealer who happily claimed to align the tires. But I noticed no change at all in the driving and the bad wear pattern has continued getting worse, in the same way, since it was aligned.


I haven't found any RV place that will do tire alignment. All the RV places I've called only want to work on the house, not the truck.

How do you all pick a good shop to work on your mechanicals?

Currently I'm located East of Seattle.


Edit: I got the bad alignment done with the truck fully loaded for travel. I'm running at about 12,000 lbs on the rear axle, which is max rated load, and about 6000 lbs on the front axle (1000 lbs short of 7000 lbs max rated load on that axle)

22 Replies

  • Assuming no worn parts (we don't know how many miles on it, or if chassis lubrication has been done as it should) there isn't much to a front end "alignment" on that chassis.

    With its solid front axle, CAMBER can only be changed by bending the solid axle.

    Caster can only be changed by adding/subtracting solid metal shims (and caster is really not a significant factor when it comes to tire wear)

    Toe- IN is really the only normal "adjustment". And, it can be checked with nothing more than a tape measure. No exotic machinery needed.

    Yes, to check rear axle to frame alignment to insure that the coach is not "dog tracking" which can also affect tire wear, is a little more complex.
  • You may want to find folks that work on tour busses. The reason I say that is here in Branson MO is a great place for all chassis work. They started out mainly for tour busses and are now more RV chassis folks. They have an alignment set up for larger busses etc.

    Good Luck