The truck nobody complained about
Fleets align the unit a driver complains about. The one that costs the most money is usually the one nobody mentions, because a truck can be meaningfully out of alignment and still drive acceptably.
What it does instead is eat steer tires quietly, pull fuel, and never generate a conversation. The first evidence arrives as a tire invoice that looks normal until someone compares it with another unit on the same route.
Comparing units costs a fleet nothing and finds the problem. Two trucks running the same work with steer tire lives that differ by a third are telling you something, and it is not the tires.
Measuring both ends
A tractor alignment is not a front axle job. The drive axles decide what the front axle has to correct for, and aligning the steer while the drives push the truck off line produces work that comes undone.
What gets measured is toe, camber and caster at the steer, the drive axle alignment, and the relationship between them. The last one produces a truck running slightly crabbed, which is quiet, constant and expensive over distance.
A combination that still tracks badly after the tractor is right points at the trailer. Trailer alignment is offered here, and doing both on one visit answers the question properly.
Distance is what makes it expensive
Misalignment costs per mile, and long-haul work out of Montana supplies the miles.
The second loss is the casing. A steer scrubbed away on one shoulder will not pass for retreading, so a fleet with an alignment problem is losing the tire and the casing underneath it, every time, on every unit affected.
When to book
After a hard impact. When steer tires wear unevenly, whatever the mileage. When the truck pulls, wanders or will not settle. When new steer tires are going on. After suspension or steering work.
A vibration rather than a pull points at balance instead, also offered here.
About this store
The Billings store runs sixteen services and carries all nine Purcell tire categories, managed by Larry Wagoner. Belgrade offers no alignment, so Billings is the Purcell location for truck alignment in Montana.
See the national heavy-duty truck alignment page for all 40 locations.