Panic stop = HARD pull to left
 

Got the new truck finally, and got it registered. Been doing some driving and if you REALLY panic stop the truck it'll throw the front end left like no tomorrow. Knew about this when I bought it, but for the price I couldn't pass it up. Could this be just a bad caliper? Any specific suspension components that might do this? It seems like all the threads I found after searching were trucks that pulled to the side while driving, and all went to the right side.

Thanks,
Shawn

Fill in the info for the truck in the users control pannel , so we know what were looking at .
jack the ft. end up and grab the wheel on the top-bottom and see if lose , same with side-side , then spin the wheel , with the brake off then on ,
when grabing the wheel it should be tight , when spining the wheel it should be lose before & after braking .
Anything outside of that maybe the problem .
Aslo look under to see if you can find any fluid leaks .

Jack the suspension up, grab top of each tire, check max play in the wheel-bearings.

Pull the wheels, look at outside AND inside rotor surface condition, brake pads, etc.

Left front causes pull to right, right front causes pull to left - due to caster, camber and tow-in settings.

Then check tie-rod ends and the various suspension components

If 4wd, check for spindle play

Fill out your sig for troubleshooting help specific to your truck configuration.

Thanks guys. That's next on my list as the truck wouldn't start this morning because the terminals and cables were corroded and shot. Couple new positive and negative cables with pre-installed terminals, and we'll be all set. I get back to guys in a few hours after I get the front end checked out. Oh, it looks like a lot of the suspension components have been replaced as everything has zerk fittings and is greaseable.

Thanks,
Shawn

Track bar?

I'll bet you its a collapsed rubber brake line going to one of the front calipers. I'll bet its the right side line.

That brake line idea sounds incredibly possible. Collapsed from the inside, or is it noticeable on the outside?

The update goes as follows. Jacked both sides up and did some poking around. Both wheels spin freely, and stop reasonably well when the pedal is pushed. Both release fine after the pedal is released. No top to bottom play, but there is a small amount from pay in the steering box it looks like. Is there any adjustment to the steering box somehow? All balljoints and bushings look good. All have zerk fittings like I previously noticed. Track bar seems to be OK as well, it's a Moog part.

Also discovered the truck has a pacbrake still installed, which would explain what the switch on the dash is. How do you activate it? Just flip the switch? If that's all, than the brake doesn't work. Finally, the front shocks are destroyed. The bottom mounts rounded out the insides of the shocks. I ordered from RSX's from Sam's off road, should be here in a few days hopefully.

Thanks for the help so far guys, I'm gonna pop the wheels off tomorrow for a better look.

Look for rusted pited rotors , the hose , its on the inside that is the tricky part , a flap of rubber peals off on the inside [ so you can not see it ] and acts like a valve , releases the pressure slower in one direction or will not apply pressure in the other direction .
You may need to remove and blow in both directions to confirm .
Look at the brake peddle up high and see if there is an after market switch that may activate the packbrake , the sw. on the dash may be to lock up the TQ , You never realy know how some one scinned that cat , like they say there is more than one way .

Rotors passed the visual inspection with the wheels on. Look fairly new as well, although they shimmy a bit. Might take em off and bring em to my buddies shop to have them cut tomorrow. How expensive are the brakes lines? After 150k miles I'm thinking I'll just replace them anyways. Gonna do the same with the calipers. Autozone is charging 80 bucks for a PAIR of loaded calipers. Too good to pass up if you ask me.

Shawn

Rear brakes will cause a good pull, too. Don't overlook them.

Good idea. Completely slipped my mind. I'll give those a check in the AM as well.

Thanks so far guys!

Front and back brakes looked and functioned normally. All front pads wore evenly on both sides of calipers, rotors all looks as if they have been used (aka no pitting or rust). Spinning any of the 4 wheels and pushing the brakes stops the brakes fine. My buddy is going to be doing an inspection tomorrow so he's gonna nose around and see if one of the calipers or lines is bad tomorrow.

Shawn

Like I said check the track bar, it probably wears out more than any other suspension component and will cause severe pull when braking if worn.

Crawl under the front and watch the driver's side end of the track bar while someone turns the steering wheel back and forth. If you see any play at all it's shot.

Theres some play in the steering, but best I can tell is it's from slop in the steering box. Could a bad track bar disguise itself as a sloppy steering box?

Thanks again,
Shawn

The flex lines are cheap, i just did mine for the same reason a couple months ago.Just be sure you get the right one for the left side.If you have Rear Wheel ABS only you need the line that has a tap in it for the right side line to hook up too.If you have 4 Wheel ABS then there is no tap.I think they were around the $30-$40Cdn mark each and they cleared up my pull.

Passed inspection with flying colors this morning, and all of the mechanics there couldn't believe how solid the front end was in comparison to the other 3/4 tons they've seen. No one could really explain why the brakes were the way they were. Everything looked and functioned normally, again. The slop in the steering box is normal apparently, too.

I think I'm just gonna throw new lines and calipers on. How much of a pain is it to get the rotors off while I'm at it? If I'm doing the job, I think I'm just going to do it all at once.

Like I said in the earlier post, sounds just like a collapsed line. My truck did that EXACT thing and it ended up being my right front brake line. It also made my right front brake pads wear way quicker than the lefts also, because it couldnt release fully.

yes, the steering box can be adjusted. i did it on my 97. if i remember correctly, there is a screw (allen head i think) with a locknut on it on top of the gearbox. loosen the locknut and turn the screw in (clockwise) until it gets tight, then back it off just a little bit so there is no drag/binding. it's kind of a trial and error thing until you get it to where it is snug without binding. it was a long time ago that i did that, so i might be incorrect in which way the screw turns. i had no manual or instructions, i just kinda figured it out on my own. it's not to hard to do. makes it drive like a new one once you get it figured out. hope that helps. [coffee]

All is well now. Replaced the passenger side rubber brake hose, and bled the lines. Truck stops much better and doesn't pull anymore. Just gotta replace or have the rotors on it cut as it vibrates pretty bad :(

Shawn

Hint- if the passenger-side failed, the driver's-side ain't far behind, if you can ascertain my meaning............

My caliper would hang on either the anti rattle spring or pin that the caliper slides on. Anti rattle was worn & bent & pin was dirty. Cleaned the pin & replaced the spring with pad change & no more pull. Less $$ than caliper.

Yea, that was one of the things I checked. The caliper definitely wasn't sliding smoothly so I lubed the heck of that while I was investigating my issues.