So, a quick sysnopsis. 1999 Ram 2500 Diesel Quad cab 4x4 131k 2wheel ABS

Truck was having braking issues, sticking calipers and a hard pull to the LEFT. Took it to the dealer, they quoted me $1800 for brakes. No thanks, so I did them myself.

New: Calipers, Pads, Rotors, Drums, Shoes, Wheels cylinders

All back together, and now the truck pulls to the RIGHT. WHAT?!

Took it to a Diesel truck specialist. They tell me brake hoses are shot. Read about that issue on here, so I order some EGR Brake lines. They also mentioned the track bar, and a few tie rods are starting to go bad. No problem.

New: SS Brake lines, all 4 tie rods, Track bar.

TRUCK STILL pulls to the right!!! Worse than before! And to top it all off, I now have a leaking drivers side axle seal.



Anyone with any sort of advice? I don't know what else I can possibly replace, and I am tired of having shops tell me what MIGHT be wrong. Ball joints feel nice and tights, no movement what so ever.

FWIW, i though master cylinder, but then it wouldn't pull to the right, since the MC controls both front brakes at the same time. Thanks everyone!

 

Since you replaced tie rods, would be a good idea to get an alignment done. Even if you got measurements down pack, may be original problem now exaggerated by new tight parts. Just a thought.

 

Is it when your braking or just going down road?

 

Just when braking.

I do need an alignment, and that is in the works, but I am thinking it will not fix the pulling problem. It only happens when I brake, and its especially bad when pulling a trailer.

 

One less worry, it's very common for the axle seal to appear to leak after the brakes have been worked on.
What happens is if the u-joint is allowed to hang down from it's normal position the seal gets deformed and oil leaks into the axle tube.
Once the axle is back in it's normal position the seal seals right back up but the oil that got past is trapped in the tube to slowly leak out.
It may take 500 miles or more to finish leaking. You can speed it up by parking the truck tilted towards the leak.
Overfilled differential will also cause a leak. Factory spec is 3/4" below the bottom of the fill hole.

As for the pull, perhaps your tires were worn funny before the pull was fixed and are causing the problem.

 

Axle seal is actually leaking. I read about it being a little past the seal, so I cleaned the tube and reassembled. Its leaking for sure. That should be covered under warranty.

Tires are worn even, and I rotated them front/rear anyways, so that doesn't seem like the likely culprit.

 

Pull when braking is usually due to a sticking caliper opposite the pull. Make sure that the caliper slides smoothly on it's shims. Careful observation is called for. Get a lifetime alignment from Firestone so you can run it up on the machine every time some crappy front end part wears out.

 

Drivers side caliper has been replaced, twice. The slides are working just fine.

I plan on getting an alignment tomorrow, along with the seal replacement under warranty.

 

Have you bled the brakes properly?

Joe

 

If it is worse with the trailer on there there could be an issue with the porportioning valve.

Joe

 

Was the shim that is behind the wheel and in front of the rotor/hub face still there? If it pulls only when braking its in the brake system. Check and make sure its bleed good. After that jack it up on both sides and have 2 more people there, one in truck pushing peddle and the other on the other side. Have them push the peddle and you and someone else try to roll the wheel. Once they let off peddle you both should release at same time. If not its in the hoses. Check for drag on brakes and make sure its equal right after this. Thats all I can help you with....sorry

 

Also, I know its a shot in the dark but check and make sure one of your REAR axle seals is not leaking onto your drums/shoes. I had this on a chevy of a customers and faught it for a few days. It will cause the one wheel to grip more and cause a slight pull.

 

adjust the rear brakes, its not uncommon for this to happen, best advice is to jack one side up at a time and high as possible, remove axel bolts(leave axel in and dont take the wheel off) tighten the star wheel(brake adjuster) until the rear wheel locks up!, then back it off till you have a slight drag, you will need to push the self adjuster bar off of the star wheel in order to loosen the brakes, I've found a small bent screwdriver pick works best. re-instal axel bolts, and repeat on other side, leaving the axel in keeps most all oil in the hub and jacking one side higher allows the diff oil to fill the hub, this ensures that the hub is not starved for oil whenyou are done, just remember to jack the opposite side up when finished so that the last hub worked on gets filled with oil.
simple test to see if brakes are adjusted properly is to (engine running) apply brake pedal once and note height from pedal to floor, then pump brakes, if brakes are out of adjustment the pedal will rise, and even without looking you will feel it. If properly adjusted the pedal when pumped will not seem to "rise"

 

I was wondering if the rear brakes might be causing the problem, but when i brake the steering wheel wants to turn as well.f

Is there a special prcedure to bleed the brakes? I just did the old pump 5 times and hold, pop bleeder, close bleeder, release pressure, repeat.

 

There are all kinds of ways to bleed the brakes but one of the best ways is to completely flush the system and pumps per brake isnt going to do it unless you do it many many times. The problem with this way of bleeding is that air wants to move up not down so sometimes you cant get all of the air out. I would remove as much from the master cylinder and buy one of those hand pump duhickies and reverse bleed the system from the bleed nipple up to the Master Cylinder. Just drain the master cylinder as it fills up. We have a special air tank that we converted into a forced bleeding deal and it works really well.

Joe