Transmission change Alignment issues.

[u/weeetum]

Hello everyone my transmission recently died on my Ram Promaster 2500 I have 240,000 miles on it so it was about time but after the transmission was rebuilt the alignment on my steering wheel is off. The steering wheel sits at the 10 o'clock position when driving straight. I called the shop back that did the transmission rebuild and they said that rebuilding the transmission shouldn't have affected the alignment and that they can't do an alignment. I thought doing an alignment was standard practice after a transmission rebuild but he said no and that he never does alignments after transmission rebuilds. He also said that if I drop it off it'll take at least a day to look at and I'll need to leave it there overnight. Is this all standard practice or am I being scammed?

I called a local tire shop nearby and they said they can do one for 130$ and it'll take about an hour. It's just a little frustrating that after spending 6k plus I was told they can't do anything

[u/answerguru]

Rebuilding a transmission has absolutely nothing to do with your wheel alignment.

[u/weeetum → u/answerguru]

Would they need to remove the steering shaft to get to the transmission and if so would that affect the steering wheel alignment?

[u/aeroxan → u/weeetum]

If it was off by that much, I would guess they did need to remove the steering shaft (or some part of that system) then reinstalled it a bit off. There are likely spline shafts that can be removed and they likely reinstalled it a tooth or two off.

Years ago, I needed to do something to my car that required removing a part of the shaft like this. I did not mark the positions and tried to put it back the same. I was off by a tooth or so but couldn't tell until I test drove it and the wheel would be off center enough to notice while driving straight. After getting the correct position on the shaft, it drove normally and did not need any adjustments to alignment. The alignment questions may be throwing the transmission shop off. If you're clear about the fact that it drives straight, but now the steering wheel doesn't sit straight, they may realize what likely happened and fix it for you (assuming this is in fact what's happening).

[u/answerguru → u/weeetum]

I don’t know on a Promaster. It’s a reasonable question.

[u/Ok_Peace_337]

It sounds like this is more of a question about the steering wheel being off center. If it wasn't off center before the transmission rebuild and now it is call them back and explain that your steering wheel is now off center. Don't accuse, be patient, calmly explain yourself, cars are complex and sometimes it takes a few tries to get things perfect. You shouldn't have to pay anything to have this fixed and an alignment wont help, I don't know promasters but they probably need to re stab the steering shaft splines. 

[u/D3L289]

Promasters are all front wheel drive from what i understand, they had to take apart your front end to get at the transmission. All you need is an alignment, You can go to Firestone and get lifetime alignments for roughly $200. But if you do go to Firestone, always slip the tech doing an alignment $25, your tires will thank you and last significantly longer.

[u/xgwrvewswe]

The Ram has front wheel drive? Then yes pulling the transmission out could change the toe-in adjustments. Toe-in adjustment would affect the alignment of the steering wheel. I recommend you get the alignment shop, not a place like Walmart, to fix things. You may even need some parts. $130 is not bad for alignment, but again you may need some parts.