NavyCPO Posted April 19, 2023 Share Posted April 19, 2023 Ok so I needed to move my questions from the NEW GUY section to the proper forum now that I'm getting more familiar with the site. So when I hit the brakes the car pulls hard left. I've had this problem before on a truck I owned and I can't remember what I did that solved the problem. I just got the car and I'm going through some basic maintenance things and bought new Front Wheel Bearings and races, brake pads so I know where I'm starting from and don't know if the front bearings have ever been serviced or not, so I'm starting with brand new Timken Bearings. My thoughts are that maybe the drivers side caliper is grabbing harder than the passenger? Maybe there's something loose on the front end that when braking and shifting the load to the front wheels maybe something loose on left side i.e. ball joint??? I don't know yet and haven't been able to check all the front end stuff but the car drove fine on the highway when I drove it home a 2 hour drive. Any thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dtret Posted April 19, 2023 Share Posted April 19, 2023 Check it all real good but my suggestion is to first, before you tear down anything, ( let’s concentrate on the main issue before you start doing maintenance repairs) bleed the front brakes real quick and see if that changes anything. While you have the tires off look at the pads, through the hole in the top of the caliper, and see if the pulling side is more worn than the other. If it is it could be that side hanging up or the other side not working. If that’s it I’d replace both calipers and rubber hoses. Post up when you know. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC1of80 Posted April 19, 2023 Share Posted April 19, 2023 Replace the rubber hoses going to the calipers and while at it the one in the rear from the body to rear end brake lines. Most likely they are clogged inside . Look at rock auto for them. If I remember correctly I purchased a/c delco hoses extremely cheap. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jft69z Posted April 19, 2023 Share Posted April 19, 2023 Check and see if the caliper is hanging up. Raise the front wheels in the air, spin them and see if one is tight. Check if one wheel feels a lot hotter than the other, that could be an indication as well. I'd also pull the caliper off and try to compress the piston (like you would if changing the brake pads). If it is real hard to push back in, that's a bad sign. A good practice is to open the bleeder when doing this. Put a hose on the bleeder and dump it into a bottle. This will do 2 things for you, 1) it'll eliminate a possible bad brake hose as the reason for build up pressure. 2) This is much more critical on newer cars with ABS (but still good practice), it'll stop you from pushing any old sediment in the caliper and other crap back thru the system, (especially that nice expensive ABS unit on the newer cars). Like Dennis said, if the caliper is bad, replace both. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavyCPO Posted April 19, 2023 Author Share Posted April 19, 2023 3 hours ago, Dtret said: Check it all real good but my suggestion is to first, before you tear down anything, ( let’s concentrate on the main issue before you start doing maintenance repairs) bleed the front brakes real quick and see if that changes anything. While you have the tires off look at the pads, through the hole in the top of the caliper, and see if the pulling side is more worn than the other. If it is it could be that side hanging up or the other side not working. If that’s it I’d replace both calipers and rubber hoses. Post up when you know. Too late Dennis, I've already got the engine disabled and the car up on Jacks. I'm going to pull the tires and wheels soon and do the front wheel bearings and I already bought new brake pads for the fronts. I planned on replacing the rubber hoses but haven't ordered those yet. I wanted to get a look at the ones on it, but I'll bet they are the original lines and may be cracking. Don't know about Calipers yet, either, but I will check the things you mentioned while disassembling and see if I see evidence of the problem. I'm changing the power steering pump and the AC Compressor so she is disabled for now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cny first gen 71 Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 Before you pull anything apart with wheels off pump up brakes then take foot off pedal see if rotors spin, if rotor turns hard then open bleeder one at a time see if they spin easier if not it's most likely the hose on that side if they do then look at calipers. Could be sliders frozen or piston hanging up. At least that way your not just throwing parts at it hoping to fix it. It could be problem in master also. Spend a few minutes checking. I got my calipers from summit new not rebuilt for a decent price. I upgraded to drilled and slotted rotors with carbon fiber ceramic pads definitely worth it. Good luck with it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavyCPO Posted April 21, 2023 Author Share Posted April 21, 2023 On 4/19/2023 at 9:24 PM, cny first gen 71 said: Before you pull anything apart with wheels off pump up brakes then take foot off pedal see if rotors spin, if rotor turns hard then open bleeder one at a time see if they spin easier if not it's most likely the hose on that side if they do then look at calipers. Could be sliders frozen or piston hanging up. At least that way your not just throwing parts at it hoping to fix it. It could be problem in master also. Spend a few minutes checking. I got my calipers from summit new not rebuilt for a decent price. I upgraded to drilled and slotted rotors with carbon fiber ceramic pads definitely worth it. Good luck with it. Hi Steve, so I checked both front wheels and they both spun pretty freely, got in the car pumped the brakes up, got out, left side still spun freely, but passenger side was a little tighter, I could still spin it, but it was tighter than it was before and significantly tighter than the drivers side. This surprises me because the car pulls left so I thought if I had a tight caliper it would be on the drivers side. I'm still working on other stuff now pwr strg pump, AC Comp/dryer/exp valve, Valve Covers, but I'll be pulling the wheels and tires off soon to start disassembling the brakes and replacing front wheel bearings/races with Timken bearings. Glad I got the Valvoline Red Grease because that's what most of you seem to be using. And I didn't know Timken made grease either! I trust Valvoline products too though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbolt Posted April 21, 2023 Share Posted April 21, 2023 In my hot Florida garage the Valvoline red grease would turn way more thin over time than the Timken grease has. I had to put my grease gun in a bag to keep it from leaking all over the work bench with a red cartridge loaded. That's why I switched to the Timken grease. To be fair, I used the Valvoline for the last 30 years or so without an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cny first gen 71 Posted April 21, 2023 Share Posted April 21, 2023 If the right side caliper is hanging up (not working properly) then yes the car would pull left because the left caliper is doing more work. The right side is not working the way it should. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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