Heavy-Duty Truck Alignment
Heavy Truck Alignment Near Me
When you drive thousands of kilometers every week, your suspension and steering components will come out of adjustment, leading to problems with your alignment. When your trucks and trailers are out of alignment, then you need to spend extra money on tires and fuel. You could be spending an extra 2% in fuel, and reducing the life of your tires by up to 20% by running your equipment out of alignment.
What is a Truck Wheel Alignment?
A truck wheel alignment is the service in which skilled technicians adjust the axles and wheels to ensure proper angle and tracking for commercial vehicle safety. Proper alignment helps the truck steer straight, improves handling, and puts less wear and tear on the vehicle's suspension system and tires. Heavy-duty truck and trailer owners should be particularly concerned with their alignment, as heavy loads, long distances, and poor road conditions can worsen issues that may have started as minor.
Risks of Misaligned Wheels
Misaligned wheels can cause uneven tire wear, poor handling, increased rolling resistance, and higher fuel consumption. Drivers may feel the truck pulling to one side, vibration while driving, or notice that the steering wheel is slightly off-center when straight. If the issue is neglected, the misaligned wheels can put additional stress on steering and suspension components. Misaligned wheels also reduce the life of your tires and make the vehicle hard to control.
Common Causes of Misalignment
Heavy-duty trucks and trailers can lose their alignment through regular use, road conditions, worn components, or sudden impacts. Common causes include:
- Hitting potholes, curbs, or road debris
- Worn suspension or steering components
- Carrying uneven or excessive loads
- Minor collisions or impact damage
- Replacing tires, axles, or suspension parts
- Frequent driving on rough roads or job sites
Annual inspections can catch these issues earlier, and suspension maintenance helps avoid uneven tire wear or handling problems.
Truck and Trailer Alignment Services
Fleet and Commercial Truck Alignment
Our commercial vehicle wheel alignment service helps protect your fleet and improve overall performance. Proper alignment can extend tire life, improve fuel economy, reduce tire wear, protect mechanical components, and support driver safety and comfort.
Truck alignment should be performed every 12 months and involves adjusting wheel angles to the manufacturer’s specifications and centring the steering wheel for better control. Poor alignment may cause uneven tire wear, pulling, loose handling, or premature component wear. Our certified technicians align buses, semi-trucks, tractor-trailers, and commercial fleets, helping ensure each vehicle is ready for short and long-distance travel.
Professional Semi-Truck Wheel Alignment
Professional semi-truck wheel alignment ensures your tires meet the road at the proper angle, helping improve tire life, fuel economy, drivability, and vehicle safety. Correct alignment also reduces wear on front-end suspension components and lowers operating costs.
Your truck may need alignment if it pulls to one side, has uneven tire wear, a vibrating or off-centre steering wheel, recently had new tires installed, or was involved in a collision. Alignment is also recommended after 20,000 to 40,000 kilometres. Dieseltech adjusts suspension components and tire angles to help heavy-duty trucks travel safely and efficiently.
Trailer Wheel Alignment
Correct trailer wheel alignment helps your vehicle travel safely, efficiently, and with less strain on its components. Our Dieseltech technicians perform a thorough assessment of your trailer tires and axles to identify and correct alignment problems.
Proper trailer alignment can extend tire life, reduce fuel usage, improve drivability, and decrease stress on the suspension system. Our state-of-the-art facility is equipped to service and repair heavy-duty trailers of different sizes. By having your wheels and axles professionally aligned, you can improve trailer performance, reduce unnecessary wear, and help prevent avoidable maintenance costs.
Semi-Trailer Alignment
Proper semi-trailer alignment allows you to maintain a straight line when travelling with your trailer and provides you with better traction, which will help in saving money on fuel by reducing friction between your tires and the road. When one axle is misaligned, it can cause pulling, make your tires wear unevenly, increase your rolling resistance (which consumes more fuel), and put additional pressure on suspension components. We use the latest technology available for Coquitlam semi-trailer alignments, and our technicians also look at all other components that could be contributing to this issue. For safety, improved handling, and reduced overall cost, consider having your trailers aligned regularly.
OEM-Accurate Truck & Trailer Alignment
We have installed a Hunter Engineering alignment rack, which is pre-programmed with OEM alignment measurements for all major truck and trailer makes and models. Our rack also gives instant feedback on the adjustments required to set your alignment back to perfect. Don’t wait for your suspension and steering components to break, call us to book your alignment check and adjustment today!
Alignment Benefits
Vehicle alignment is crucial and serves a variety of functions when operating a heavy-duty vehicle. From handling and steerability to performance, stability, and safety, a misaligned vehicle is a recipe for disaster. While there are many benefits to proper alignment for heavy-duty trucks and trailers, safety is of the utmost importance.
A truck that is properly aligned means that every wheel moves in tandem with the other, allowing the driver to be in control of the vehicle instead of the other way around. Not only this, but you’ll get more life out of your tires with proper alignment. And since commercial truck tires are no cheap investment, fleet owners will save money by maximizing the lifespan of their tires.
- Extended usage
- Enhanced fuel efficiency
- Increased mileage
- Better tread
- Reduced component wear
- Improved driver comfort all stem from optimized alignment.
To protect your heavy-duty vehicles from misaligned tandem axles, our Dieseltech technicians are here to help.
Warning Signs of Misaligned Diesel Trucks and Trailers
If you skip proper vehicle inspection procedures and regular maintenance on your diesel truck or trailer, misalignment will eventually become apparent, often beginning with:
Cupping
Tire cupping is a type of uneven wear that appears as uneven dips or scalloped patches around the tire. The primary causes of cupping are improper alignment of the tires or wheels, worn suspension parts, or unbalanced tires. Cupping creates vibrations, which will increase the harshness of the ride.
Feathering
Feathering occurs when one side of the tread block feels smooth while the other feels sharp. Most feathering is due to an improper toe angle of your front end and can lead to premature tire wear.
One-Sided Wear
Uneven tire wear is most commonly referred to as one-sided wear, meaning the inner or outer edge of the tire wears faster than the rest. It often indicates an incorrect camber angle or another alignment problem.
Scheduled Maintenance Helps Prevent Misalignment
Regularly maintaining your vehicle's suspension system will help to avoid alignment-related problems and ensure optimal performance. When you visit our truck service shop for routine service, we check for signs of wear on your tires, steering components, suspension parts, bearings, and bushings. Early replacement of these components can help alleviate uneven tire wear, poor handling and excessive stress placed on your vehicle.
Our fleet maintenance services provide a structured program designed to maintain all aspects of your heavy-duty vehicles, including alignment-related issues, to ensure safe operation and minimize repair expenses associated with premature component failure.
Why Choose Us for Alignment Services?
Dieseltech Truck Repair & Fleet Maintenance offers top-notch heavy-duty alignment services for commercial trucks, semi-trucks, trailers, buses, and fleets. Our team of experienced technicians are fully equipped with computerized laser systems and specialized tools to accurately assess your vehicle's wheel and axle angles and detect any suspension problems. We offer a wide variety of solutions designed to improve the longevity of your tires, overall performance, fuel economy, and your driver's safety, while reducing potential downtime and operating costs.
