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rear alignment problem


2late4u

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well just got back from having the tries rotated and balanced no problem there but went to quick lane where i bought a l;lifetime alignment service and have used it 3 times since i purchased it and they are telling me the rear is out of alignment again, i org. had it fixed supposedly with the dealership at first but it is out again and the mechanic  showed me that the rear upper lateral bar which  is non-adjustable the lower side ones are adjustable. and that is a problem with some dodges and some ford suv ,  he can order the adjustable replacement aftermarket part on Monday they want about $250 for both sides parts and the labor. i looked it up on rock auto the parts are about $70-85 each. they were telling me it takes about 2 hrs to replace them but hell its just 2 bolts one on each end. makes me want to replace them my self and then let them do the alignment which wont cost me anything, but i am not sure how hard it would be to replace them,not sure if they are under any spring pressure or what. i was going to call the dealership Monday i an sure they would be covered under my max warranty but hell thats a $100. and then they would want to charge for an alignment.and then the replacement part might be not adjustable and then later on down the road be in the same problem. CRAZY to make a part that offers no adjustment for the alignment problems... i have seen some other journey owners complain about something like this i think they called a trailer arm not sure. so either do it myself and cost about 190 -200 for parts and tax or pay them the $250 and let them do it oh well for an old fat man i guess ill pay them....LOL  P.S this problem causes cupping and or wearing out the edges of the inside or outside of the tires   at least i caught it earlier this tike as the tire shop said tires were wearing okay and no problems...

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it was to late to check with the dealer today and yes i was going to call them Monday morning actually i had the journey in there last yr for this same problem as it ruined my rear tires before i caught it, evidently what ever they did to get the rear back in line didnt last, the factory part has no adjustment, the aftermarket part has some adj ability as it is made for lifted  or bad alignment problems, the one mech said that it might be being caused by us using the rack that carries my wife's 3 wheel medical scooter, but I also had checked around before getting it and 2-3 other mechs said that it shouldn't be a problem, i know the journey has not been wrecked or damaged in any way so it might be the scooters weight.at least if the dealership doesn't have an adjustable part to correct the problem guess ill just go with the aftermarket so i wont end up with the damaged tires again, got lucky this time i caught it before any real damage done...

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How much weight is the carrier and scooter adding to the hitch? If you have too much, your problem will not get resolved and you will continue to have suspension issues, which will lead to tire issues. I know most of the carriers have a 500 lb max weight, but the whole tongue weight comes into play when adding a carrier, which I am not too familiar with. I know it makes a difference when pulling a trailer, so I would assume it comes into play when adding a carrier as well (mostly considering you can't really distribute the weight on a carrier). That would be my suspicion.

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yes the scooter weighs 164 lbs and the carrier weighs 70 lbs for a total of 235 lbs. on the hitch which is a class 3 curt hitch with a 400 lbs. tongue weight  , the dealer had aligned my journey about 6 months ago but didnt mention anything about the rear camber , have a feeling they just got it as close as they could since dodge doesn't offer a solution to the camber problems other than the org lateral arm part as far as i can find online,will be seeing for sure Monday morning. i am thinking i am going to go with the aftermarket arms as they are adj. and any future alignment adjustments will be able to be done with out going back to the dealership. after researching this problem it can be caused by improper towing ( mine has not ever been towed) accidents     (  has never been an any accidents)or alignment problems with the camber being to far out.  Probably very well could be the scooter but since its not even close to the tongue weight limit that is why  i am going to go the after market part as the wife needs the scooter....tried to copy and paste picture or address for the part but on rock auto web site this is the part   just click on the white info  box for a pic.

 

MEVOTECH CMS251168 {#MS251168} Supreme Info
Rear Upper; Adjustable; adjustment range: camber ±4°; Lateral Arm
Edited by 2late4u
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got to reading in the manual it reads that the tongue weight should not weigh more than 200 lbs with 2 people and their luggage and other weight inside the car. so i am within the tongue weight according to the class 3 hitch , i am about 35 lbs over the journeys stated tongue weight. not much over but that might be the problem i am having or driving over bad roads which i really havent been doing almost always interstate driving... also if you are carrying 3-5 people with luggage you drop down to a 100 lb tongue weight....

Edited by 2late4u
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well got the journey back and they said everything is set 100 % correct .before the camber on one of the rear side was out 2 degrees and the other one was out 1.5 degree. ended up costing me $300 total  $86. for each adjustable lateral link and the rest labor and tax i was able to talk them down about $50 off what they org wanted. they were saying about 2.5 hr labor according to their book so that means about 1 hr maybe...LOL oh well, got to keep the economy  going i guess. i am really impressed with this Quick lane dealer and they sure stay busy they even gave me a ride home and then came back and picked me up when the car was ready,and i live about 15-20 miles from the store...

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