New Rotors driving me nuts! Video quiz!

[Afboy143]

Hey guys,
Ever since I installed these new R1 rotors, its been a nightmare. For some reason, my truck always pulled to the right/passenger side! I have been out there countless times replacing or modifying things to hopefully fix it but nothing works! I have

-Changed the passenger side caliper and brake hose
-Had the system completely flushed and bled with new brake fluid at a shop
-Installed new bearings
-Everything has been greased with Valvoline Synthentic bearing grease

I thought maybe the rotor might be warped so I switch them today and the truck still pulls! I jacked the truck up and did the hand spin test and the passenger side doesnt spin NEARLY as freely as the driver side. I have replaced everything I can think of and I am out of ideas. The ONLY thing I can think of is the brake pads are bad???? But they are brand new (got them when I replaced the rotors) Check the attached video out to see what I am talking about and shoot me your ideas! -SIDE NOTE the truck does pull right when I brake. I dont know what to do anymore ahhhh!!

 

[vroomzoomboom]

dose it do that with out the caliper on? try taking just the caliper off and see how it spins. might be a dum suggestion, but i wounder if the wheel bearing might be too tight?

 

[team]

did you clean all the slides/pins and mounting surfaces (wire brush them) and then put high temp. caliper slide grease back on?

 

[dogfriend]

The truck will pull right if the passenger side brake is working but the driver side brake isn't. I would check out the caliper on the driver side. Make sure it is sliding on the pins and that both brake pads (inner and outer) are making the same contact.

If it was pulling before you ever messed with the brakes, it could be an alignment issue.

 

[ZNathan130]

Are you caliper pistons both flush with your pads?
Maybe the passenger piston is fully effective, but the driver side isn't... Just a thought!

 

[Carguy3J]

I would also check your front suspension (ie control arm bushings/mounting bolts), as well as your sway bar bushings and end links. If any of this is bad, the weight transfer that occurs only under braking could cause it to pull one one way or the other. Does it only pull when you apply the brakes? What if you accelerate hard, then lift off the gas w/o touching the brakes? If it pulls under that condition too, I would look more towards what I just said. If it's absolutely only under braking, then yeah look at wheel bearing preload (how tight the axle nut is), and make sure that all the calipers (front and rear) are greased, clean, and sliding properly. There is also a chance it could be something in the ABS pump that's sending more pressure to the right, or less to the left. (or a kinked metal brake line, or collapsed rubber line)

 

[Afboy143]

I would also check your front suspension (ie control arm bushings/mounting bolts), as well as your sway bar bushings and end links. If any of this is bad, the weight transfer that occurs only under braking could cause it to pull one one way or the other. Does it only pull when you apply the brakes? What if you accelerate hard, then lift off the gas w/o touching the brakes? If it pulls under that condition too, I would look more towards what I just said. If it's absolutely only under braking, then yeah look at wheel bearing preload (how tight the axle nut is), and make sure that all the calipers (front and rear) are greased, clean, and sliding properly. There is also a chance it could be something in the ABS pump that's sending more pressure to the right, or less to the left. (or a kinked metal brake line, or collapsed rubber line)

This sounds more like it! If you watch the video, as you see just by spinning the wheel by hand how much looser the left side is compared to the right. I know the axel nut is tighted to the same lb on each side. Ive narrowed it down to a brake problem. There's new pads, new brake line, and new caliper on the right side so that cant be it. How can I find out if the ABS pump is bad? It's just that right front tire that doesnt spin freely when the caliper is on and pumped up. Its driving me nuts!!!!!!! Could a bad master cylinder cause this by chance as well?

I really appreciate all the help guys btw

 

[Afboy143]

dose it do that with out the caliper on? try taking just the caliper off and see how it spins. might be a dum suggestion, but i wounder if the wheel bearing might be too tight?

It actually doesnt happen with the caliper off. It spins freely without the caliper which made me narrow it down to a brake problem. The caliper, line, and pads are all new so that cant be it.

 

[dogfriend]

It actually doesnt happen with the caliper off. It spins freely without the caliper which made me narrow it down to a brake problem. The caliper, line, and pads are all new so that cant be it.

Did you replace both calipers? Or just the passenger side? If it pulls right, that means the left side is not providing the same braking force.

Also, if you have a dial indicator setup, check the runout (side to side movement) of the rotor(s) as you turn the wheel(s). Just because the rotor is new, doesn't mean it isn't warped.

 

[Afboy143]

Did you replace both calipers? Or just the passenger side? If it pulls right, that means the left side is not providing the same braking force.

Also, if you have a dial indicator setup, check the runout (side to side movement) of the rotor(s) as you turn the wheel(s). Just because the rotor is new, doesn't mean it isn't warped.

I only replaced the passenger side caliper since it doesnt spin as freely as the driver.

Could the reason the driver side spins more freely than the passenger side be that the driver side isnt applying the correct amount of force onto the pad to contact the rotor?

 

[dogfriend]

Here is my understanding of how disc brakes should normally work:

When there is no braking (you aren't pushing on the pedal) the pads should "float" above the rotor(s). They will be touching but the rotor should turn fairly easily. Ideally, the rotors are completely true with zero runout from side to side. In reality, there is usually a small amount of runout but the calipers are able to "slide" back and forth on the slide pins and can compensate for a small amount of runout.

When there is braking (you are pushing on the pedal) the pressure from the brake fluid forces the caliper piston(s) out and the pads are forced against the rotor(s). The caliper will slide on the slide pins to equalize the force between the inner pad and outer pad. If the caliper piston sticks or if the caliper can't slide, you won't get full braking force on the rotor.



It seems from your video that the brakes may be dragging on the passenger side (rotor not completely true and/or caliper not sliding on the slide pins?). On the driver side, it seems like you don't have much resistance at all (caliper piston retracted and pads not touching rotor? )

Its hard to troubleshoot from a distance. :

 

[tsilney]

I am assuming you put new pads on as well? I had a problem on my 98 Sport with pads I got from Autozone. They were bigger than the caliper could handle (or they gave me the wrong ones) and they drug on one side heating up the rotor and causing the car to pull to one side. I returned them and got a set of pads from NAPA and they worked fine. Just a thought.

 

[Afboy143]

I am assuming you put new pads on as well? I had a problem on my 98 Sport with pads I got from Autozone. They were bigger than the caliper could handle (or they gave me the wrong ones) and they drug on one side heating up the rotor and causing the car to pull to one side. I returned them and got a set of pads from NAPA and they worked fine. Just a thought.

This is an interesting idea as well. I will trade the sides of the pads this weekend to see if they work well. What pads did you buy at napa that worked fine?

 

[tsilney]

This is an interesting idea as well. I will trade the sides of the pads this weekend to see if they work well. What pads did you buy at napa that worked fine?

I am not sure. It was just their standard brake pad for a 2wd sport. I did the same thing, changed the bearings and rotors and could not figure it out util I put the old pads back on and it worked fine. Might be the rotor is to wide as well? I am not familiar with R1 rotors. It was a few years ago and I no longer I have the truck. Sorry. Good Luck and hope you find the problem.

 

[Carguy3J]

"Dogfriend" hit on a good point I was going to bring up. Beat me to it.... about the rotor runout/dragging/etc...

Another thing occurred to me: even if everything is fine, the passenger side will have a bit more drag, as the ring gear/carrier is on the passenger side of the differential. With an open diff (not a locker), if you are just spinning it by hand with the wheels off the ground, the passenger side has to turn the whole carrier/ring gear, whereas the driver side would just be turning it's own spider gears.

You might also want to check the following things:
1.) caliper mount brackets- Are they tight? Are they warped maybe? If you removed it to do the caliper, is there debris between the mount surfaces, cuasing it to be "****ed"?

2.) Same on the rotors; is the rotor/hub mating surface clean? If you had a bent wheel stud, it could make the rotor not seat all the way even. (or the bolt pattern and/or holes on your new rotors could have been machined slightly off?

You could try putting stock rotors back on to see if it fixes it.

 

[CobraMountaineer]

Sounds like to me that the drivers side is a worn out caliper. and or the pins are slightly bent on the passenger side. That would cause that also. I would look at the caliper on the drivers side being worn, and not braking as well as the right. The right looks normal, the left looks loose, telling me that the caliper is worn out.

Spin

 

[Carguy3J]

Oh yeah, one other thought....... You said that you replaced the caliper. Are you SURE, that you bled them fully and got all the air out of the system? A little bit of air can do strange things to the brakes, especially with ABS.

 

[Afboy143]

Hey all,
Thanks for the suggestions! They are greatly appreciated as I have been battling this for over a month (work and school full time so I barely have free time)

Carguy- Im going to hit everything real good with brake cleaner. I hope the mounting bracket isnt warped. If the new caliper on the driver side doesn’t work, Im going to try this next.

Cobra- that’s what I was thinking. That left side just spins entirely too freely so I wasn’t sure. I ordered a new driver side caliper off rockauto.com. We shall see what happens

Carguy again- after I put the new caliper and line on the passenger side, I actually brought it to midas to have them professionally bled out. Still had the same exact problem