Damn BDRAG that sucks. But like it was said, people that generally work at quick lubes do so because they didn't learn or develop skills to do something better. Can't expect much. Unfortunately I see the whole auto industry turning that way. More and more good techs leave for a different/better career while being replaced by idiots.
gcmj45acp, did the steering wheel stiffness and lack of return-ability ever get fixed? Although the alignment was probably shit, I bet the problem came from the new ball joints themselves. If they were the wrong ones or installed wrong the steering knuckles were probably bound up making it hard for them to turn. It was a common problem on the Superdutys. The factory torqued the ball joints incorrect and after some time the trucks would have the exact symptoms you described.
I need to learn how to subscribe to threads so I know when people reply to them. The steering was "fixed" by the shop manager but, it never did drive right until I gave up a weekend to fix it myself. At the time, Dodge dealers in my area were all working bankers hours and closed on weekends so I could never get it to a dealer. Worse yet, a second NTB shop had told me that the steering was stiff because I was running "big tires."
That was the point where I gave up and decided to do it myself. I had a copy of the factory manual so I rented the tools and bought the parts to do in the driveway. I spent an entire Saturday with my front-end torn apart, cussing up a storm, beating the the truck to an inch of it's life, and freaking out the neighbors who were taking bets on whether or not I'd light up the truck with my M249 right there in the driveway.
You are right about parts being over torqued, I don't think NTB knows what a torque wrench is because everything had basically been torqued by a nuclear air wrench set to, "break-the-************-off." I think the ball joints (NTB said they were MOOG) were also too big so to cover my bases, I'd ordered a new set from the dealer directly. By Sunday afternoon, I'd gotten the truck buttoned up and steering felt fine. I had just enough time to get it to a different alignment shop (Brake Check). It's been fine since I did the work and while I had put 45,000 miles on the truck since I'd worked on it, I had a hard time accepting the Firestone manager's contention that I'd already worn out the factory parts that originally lasted over 100,000 miles. If they had been worn out as he claimed, I don't think he could or would have done the alignment.
