Steering wheel off center - alignment or the roads?

[parad1mg]

Just wanted to ask this here before arguing with the firestone alignment tech.. i have their lifetime alignment btw..

after doing some replacing in the front suspension (balljoints, cam angle adjusters for the upper control arms, etc..) my steering wheel just became off-centered and it kinda pulled a little to the right.. after getting BFG A/T's back in virginia, the pulling came a liiittle bit more significant around 65mph but nothing under that.. still the steering wheel is still off-center..

i probably went to firestone 6 times to get it corrected and told them on all occasions to correct the steering wheel since it was off-center but to no avail.. had the printouts of the alignment specs and all was in the "green" zone and the mechanics told me that they cant do anything else anymore since it is in spec.. drove here from virginia through I-40 and never had a "pulling" problem whatsoever.. i mean it drove straight even at 70.. but then came california roads and the pulling is back with a vengeance and its really starting to bug me it seems that i can change lanes (to the right) by just letting the steering wheel go even at 35mph!

i already tried rotating the wheels and such.. checked the tie-rods and ball joints and they are all tight and wouldnt budge.. i'm thinking of going to firestone this monday and strapping down the steering wheel straight myself just so i can factor them out..

btw, i kinda lean to the right about 0.5"-1" lower.. i know the leaning should be on the driver side but not on mine.. it's been like that ever since i got her..

thoughts?

 

[my98nnj]

You need to level out that truck before you have it aligned, that could be part of your problem.
An alignment should yield you a perfectly center steering wheel and no pulling.

 

[parad1mg]

it kinda sits levels with me on the drivers seat..

i dont think it's even big enough of a difference (level wise) between the sides for them not to be able to align it properly..

i think i'm going to insist on strapping down my steering wheel straight before they do the alignment.. :scratch:

 

[dkchrist]

The steering wheel should be centered before the alignment starts. It is mostly controlled by the length of the tie rod on either side. Last time, I had mine done the techs centered the steering wheel and then checked it at the end of the process to see that it was still straight after they made their adjustments.