Hey Neighbors! Not getting responses in the MA forum so thought I'd ping here.

Looks like my 86 CC/LB DRW is too big for my usual alignment shop.

Any success stories in the Lowell/Nashua area? Maybe Milford to Hudson and Amherst or Merrimack?

My kingpins have slightest play but one front tire is showing a bit of outside edge wear and I'd like to catch it before I make it worse. I've only put a couple hundred miles on it but am fixing to do, um, more.

Thanks,
- Jeff

 

Well with no responses here I'll guess you folks could use a lead too.

I found my 6.9L CC/LB/DRW was too wide or too long or too heavy for everywhere I called except for one place. Two out of three was common but not enough!

I did not try any Ford dealers as I've had gigantic alignment problems with more than one of them on past vehicles. I'll spare you those horror stories, and they don't really want to see anything beyond 5 years old anyway.

Had a great experience at Lionel's Alignment on C St in Nashua. Dave took the time to listen to my concerns and educate me on the care and feeding of an old Kingpin truck - this is my first without ball joints. I think another shop could have turned my concerns into a few hundred $ worth of work.

No affiliation other than being a satisfied customer.

Cheers,
- Jeff

 

Jeff,
Sorry no one got back to you. The NH section has been real slow and quiet for some time.

I am glad you were able to find a decent place to go.

I have had the opposite of you with alignment shops. I had 2 focus's needing alignment a few years back. Brought them to a shop a friend referred me to. After getting them back the steering wheel was not straight on one of them. I brought both to Autofair and the alignment was off on both cars. I since just go to ford for alignments. And I found that Grapone Ford in Concord has a truck only service side. Haven't used them for anything too large but they seem to be decent. I actually stick with Grapone or Portsmouth Ford for anything I cannot do.

 

With 6 decent Michelin Load E tires, and two of them showing some shoulder wear (guess one got rotated) I figured I'd better do something before putting many miles on my new/old girl.

Glad you've been well served at a couple of dealers, I found that the ones near me did not really have good cal on their rigs and each tech did their own so there was no consistency. Had two vehicles get mounts bent so alignment would "come in" on their machines, got to a big chain with modern gear and a cal regimen and found that the bent mounts were wrong.

For cars and such I've had decent luck at NTB. I used to use Sullivan Tire Nashua but caught a senior tech charging my job while working on another - twice - just one guy in an otherwise heads-up organization but still enough to send me away. Have not had anything but the best at other branches.

Didn't mean to write a book but with a couple race cars a few street cars and a couple trucks in and out of the fleet I guess I've run the gauntlet in my area.

Good to get a few recommends in a spot like this I figure!

Cheers,
- Jeff

 

It seems that almost any shop has some issues either with a single tech or the shop itself.
Last June Pep Boys in Manchester told me I needed $700 in repairs to pass inspection. Brought the Ranger to Portsmouth ford and all I needed was front pads and roters. The tie rods pep boys said were bad were fine. $60 for inspection that year but saved a lot in the long run and found another shop to avoid.

Now I am sitting at Portsmouth Ford again getting a $20 inspection and they found both front axle seals leaking. The Ranger is a 07 with 53.5k and they volunteered that the parts are covered under a 60k warranty I did not even know about. That is decent service in my book.