Short version:
01 4Runner Sport, 3.4L, 4wd, 45k miles, pulls badly to the right. If you want to read the long version and my experience at the Toy dealership, feel free, otherwise, the short version is that it pulls badly to the right, even after being aligned at the dealer.

Long version:
Pre-last Thursday:
So my 4Runner (01 Sport, 3.4L 4wd, only 45k miles) pulls BADLY to the right, and above 60 mph there is a definite front end wobble/shake. I suspect that it needs an alignment and tire balance/rotation. I took it to the Toyota dealership and dropped it off last Thursday morning. The guy took my info and asked what was wrong. I told him it pulled bad to the right and there was a shake/wobble above 60 mph and that I wanted them to balance/rotate the tires and check the alignment. He told me that they would need to inspect it and see if it really needed aligning or not, and that they would start off with a $78 "inspection fee" and if it needed balancing and aligning, they would convert that into the $40 balance and $60 alignment.

I called him early afternoon to check on it, and he said it had just gotten in the bay and he would call back. He called back about half an hour later and said that they techs could not find anything wrong. They had taken it on a test drive and could not find any wobble (he didnt even mention the pulling). I asked him about that, and he said they couldnt try to find the pulling until they found the wobble. I re-explained to him that it was above 60 mph for the wobble, and the pulling is all the time, so they should have at least noticed the pulling. He finally said that the tech got it to wobble slightly when he hit a bump in the road, but that it must be sporatic. I told him that it was not sporatic, that it has a constant wobble above 60mph and again mentioned the pulling.

I then asked him what my options were. I mentioned that they apparently had not found the problem, so I asked him if they were still going to charge me the $78. I told him I wanted one of two things. I wanted to either come pick up my 4runner at a cost of $0 and schedule a day this week to bring it back for a more in depth look, or if they were going to insist on charging me the $78, then I was better off to sport out another $22 and get it aligned and balanced while it was there. He said he would have to talk to the shop manager. He called back and told me that they had already balanced the tires, and there were some coupons out in the mail, so they were just going to charge me $83 for the alignment and rotation/balance.

Now, to me, my 4Runner is symptomatic of being unbalanced and unaligned. So I thought that this sounded like a good deal. This is what I wanted in the first place. I went to pick it up, paid and took off. I was in a hurry to get home because I was leaving for out of town. Traffic was really heavy until the interstate, but I detected a slight pull to the right I thought. I hit the interstate and quickly realized that it still pulls BADLY, maybe even worse, although the wobble seems to be mostly gone, so maybe I just notice the pulling more.

I called today and told him that it still pulled and asked about bringing it back in, and of course he said I could. I also asked him about getting the printout of the pre and post alignment specs, so I could see how much they had adjusted things, and was told that they do not keep those numbers unless it is for a warranty claim.

So I do not know what to do. I still think it may be unaligned, however, I may be wrong and I dont know what I should do. If I take it back up there, of course they will have to "find" something wrong, because of course they signed off on it and said the work had been done, and I paid and drove away (bummer on my part ). So if I take it back, they will find a ball joint or who knows what wrong, and replace it when in all reality it may just have needed the alignment.

My other option is to take it to some other place, and get it aligned again, and get the pre and post specs and see what they say. They may say it is in perfect alignment, in which case I am wrong, and something really is worn/broken and I have to take it to get fixed. Then again, they may say it was badly out of spec and align it and it drives as good as new. However, Toyota can of course say that I must have hit a pothole or something since last Thurs evening, throwing it back out of alignment.

I am sorry to have written so much, but I just hate being ripped off, and I want my not-so-cheap 4runner to drive straight. If anyone could make any suggestions on the situation I would be appreciative. If you think it is out of alignment, please let me know. If you think it could be some sort of other worn component (steering or otherwise related) please toss up any suggestions.

Thanks!

 

Id take it to an alignment shop and get a second opinion.
Cap'n

 

A bad tire will cause a bad pull 10 to 1 over an alignment problem!

 

This seems similar to LSUMatt's prob with his 01 4runner. He had to use the hunter balancer. Or something along the words of that.

 

Get it balanced and aligned at another shop. I bought a lifetime balance/rotation from Discount tire and lifetime alignment at Firestone. I go there anytime I wanted to have my tires balced, rotated and aligned. It cost me $59 for the lifetime balancing and rotation and $129 for lifetime alignment. So far, the've done good to me.

George

 

I too used to live in Florida and used Discount Tire to balance and align my 4runner. The guy volunteered the printout of the pre and post alignment. All the specs were iven to me. Sounds like me someone got lazy at the dealership and thought they could screw someone. Get a second opinion and If it shows up to be an alignment issue then take the printout and go cram it in the service managers face while you give him the bird at the same time. Hope ya find it...

 

I agree. Get the before and after printous. I get mine everytime and I keep them on file. In fact, I was told by both service managers that I can take my truck to any Discount tire and firestone service center anywhere in the country for service since they have my info on their nationwide database.

George

 

good deal george. off subject...but i noticed you were in the navy in ne florida....jax? if so i was at VP-16 til 2001. Used to do powder coating for some guys at adrenaline offroad off blanding by Collins Rd.

 

H/J on:
Yup. I'm stationed onboard USS boone in Mayport. I'll be leaving on June 22 for San Diego enroute to Yokusuka, Japan in October.

George
H/J off

 

Thanks for the input everyone. I guess I will go find myself an alignment shop. If it is indeed out of spec, I wish there was a way to get my $83 back from the dealer. I would imagine if I take it back, they will pull the old "it was aligned when you left, you must have hit a pot hole or something since then".

 

i have the same problem with my 01 as well. I went to firestone and got it realigned. Alignment is not really an issue but tire balance always seems to give me trouble. I goto discount tires for balancing and they usually get it right after about 2-3 tries. I just tell them to get the best balancer and match balance(using adapter). I run them about 3k miles and it goes back to wobbling/shaking on freeways speed. I'm starting to think that i could be a badly designed suspension from Toyota's part or BFG AT's not really balanceable. I dread balancing my tires..................