Truck pulls hard to the left under heavy braking.

[rvitek]

Is this a problem with my brakes, or does me needing an alignment have anything to do with it?

Thanks!

 

[XPlorer4x4]

You may need to bleed your brakes. If they are not bleed properly when you apply the brakes hard one side will hold stonger then the other causing it to pull to one side.

 

[Fish Man]

this is what our '77 vette does. we are replacing the calipers, but the left one is back ordered. we replaced both rears and the right front already, and its still pulling, so its gotta be the left one. you shouldnt be having caliper problems though...

 

[dogfriend]

Check the caliper pins to make sure they are sliding ok and that they have enough grease. If you are pulling hard to the left, then your right side front caliper is probably the culprit. I would check them all (front and rear) to be sure.

Bleeding the brakes is also a good idea.

Bad alignment can also cause pulling to one side, so if the brakes seem ok, I would have an alignment done next.

 

[Majisto]

Also have your rotors re-surfaced. Probably a bad part on the rotor that is causing the odd steering problem.

 

[mrboyle]

The problem is most likely due to a bad caliper or sticky slide pins. There should be no reason to bleed the brakes, providing you have not opened anything in the system. It is not uncommon to see bad calipers on such a new vehicle, so don't over look that possibility. I seriously doubt the alingment has anything to do with the braking problem.

 

[waf]

How timely - I'm having the same problem over the last 2 months. I've had the front [July] and back [2 weeks ago] brakes both done. Replaced the front rotors and calipers. Went back to the shop yesterday and they replaced the calipers under warranty. They also returned the rotors and changed the pads again. Still pulls today but it is intermittent! Alignment is right on as verified by 2 different shops. Some responses suggest bleeding the brakes - others do not. The only thing I see left is the slide pins as noted. Any other suggestions? Thanks in advance.

 

[rvitek]

Ahh - turns out that it was the lower left side ball joint that was doing it. Was fixed under waranty with no problems.

Thanks all for the replies!

 

[dogfriend]

waf - Check the slide pins, although they should have checked them when replacing the calipers.

I agree with mrboyle, you shouldn't need to bleed if the system hasn't been opened, but in your case if they replaced calipers it is possible that they might not have bled all the air out. It wouldnt hurt to check this too.