Why does nobody talk about how hard it is to find a good alignment rack these days

I stopped by a shop in Raleigh last week that had a Hunter machine from like 2002 and they refused to touch my lifted truck because it 'wouldn't fit'. Drove 20 minutes to another place and they had a brand new machine but the kid running it had no clue how to adjust caster. Maybe it's just me but I feel like everyone brags about their diagnostic scanners but nobody maintains their alignment equipment. Has anyone else run into shops that just don't want to mess with lifted or modified stuff anymore?

3 comments

3 Comments

kai_burns737d ago

I had the same problem in Charlotte last year. Took my F-150 to three different shops before I found one with a Hunter machine that was less than five years old. The first place had a rack that was so out of level it would have been a waste of money. It really seems like shops will spend thousands on fancy scanners but won't drop two grand to keep their alignment equipment up to date.

green.noah7d ago

Those Hunter machines are definitely the gold standard but I gotta say even the older ones work fine if they're calibrated right. My buddy runs a shop and he's still using a Hunter from like 2010, just pays the $300 a year to keep the software updated. The real issue is probably more about shops skipping the calibration checks than the age of the machine itself.

the_jake7d ago

Whoa, it's usually more like four grand for a decent rack setup.