Hello, just registered as I bought an H3 Alpha earlier this week. I love the vehicle. Just two issues:
1. To get it to track straight I have to turn the wheel slightly to the right - already have a service appt scheduled for wheel alignment/steering wheel centering.
2. The second will likely be harder to diagnose so I am asking if anyone has had a similar experience. At speeds of less than 45 MPH, I can feel an occasional bumping on either the gas or brake pesal. It is random in nature as if there is something maybe knocking around somewhere underneath the car.I haven't found it yet. At first I thought that maybe I had a wheel that was not seated properly but that isn't the case. You can't hear it but you can feel it. It goes away at highway speeds.

 

I don't have an alpha but I got mine brand new and i did run across that problem but it disappeared after a little while. Maybe it just took some breaking in to work it out.

 

The first issue is absolutely not right and may be the cause of the second problem. It could be something as simple as a wheel alignement or as serious as a bent component of the steering assembly. Clearly should not be brushed off and I would make clear that you are concerned about the steering column. Take a look at the "sticky" posts at the top of this forum. One is "Front End Rattle" - read through all of the posts and get familiar with the complaint, the problem and the solution.

The three aspects of a vehicle that should be TOP priority since theyhave most impact on safety are (not necessarily in this order):
1)brakes
2)steering
3)tires

Any other failure you can live with - a failure of any one of these and you might not. Your's is a steering issue and therefor a safety issue. Make certain it is fixed right.

 

Being that it is a brand new truck....

I would check the front tire pressures.... it will give ya a pull every time...

 

It's not tire pressures. I'm pretty certain its the alignment but I have noted the concerns listed above and will certainly talk to the service folks.

On the knocking in the pedals, I missed that sticky being new to the site but that is exactly the symptom. It didn't start until after about 15 miles this morning. This is a new 2008 so the 2007 problem described in the sticky thread has clearly not been solved.

 

You know, you're absolutely right and it didn't even occur to me. I am one of those guys that can feel a 1/2 lb difference in tires and check mine pretty regularly (and usually everyone else's in the family since they don't ever seem to do it themselves).

If it is not a tire, he has to get it checked sooner rather than later. You should have seen the results of a tie rod failure at WGI - luckily it was in turn 8 (just after the bus stop which we were running) and telemetry showed he was only going 93mph.

 

I have an appointment Monday at 7:00AM.

The steering wheel off center to track straight is pretty slight and it requires little to no steering input to keep it there and the vehicle tracks straight hands-off - it's just that the steering wheel is a couple of degrees to the right so I think the wheels were aligned in the factory with the steering wheel not in the top dead center position. I've had this happen on a couple of other new vehicles in the past and it's something I'm very picky about. Most would not even notice the 2 degree or so offcenteredness - sorry if my initial post came off more severe sounding. Tire pressures are all the same.

The second issue is clearly the intermediate steering shaft issue - the symptoms are EXACTLY as described. Hopefully the dealer won't be oblivious to this (Kachina in Scottsdale) but I'm guessing they know about it since Lund knows about it and theya re the same company.

 

Same here.... wind, tire psi.... it's almost never anything serious...

glad you made an appointment.... that's what warranties are for....