Brakes-slight pull to right

[djtejas]

My K5 brakes have always had a slight pull to the right.
Over the past two years, I have installed new calipers, new brake hoses, master cylinder...but still have the slight pull to the right.

It's even had this pull over the years with two different axles in it...and both had new ball joints, tie rod ends, drag line ends, etc.

Has anyone ever had issues with the combination valve? Any possibility of this being an issue? It has 200,000 on it and everything else is practically new.

thanks for any info...

 

[DeviousK5]

Are you chewing through pads more so on the pass side? Still sounds like caliper to me even if they are newish.

 

[76zimmer]

Do you have any wheel locking up before others?
It could be a bad rear wheel shoes too.
If they are contaminated with fluid, misadjusted, or just old and cracked they could pull the vehicle off center.

 

[k20]

Well if you still have stock push pull steering, the frontend will dive under braking, effectively turning the wheels.

 

[djtejas]

not really going through pads any faster...wear seems to be really close on each side...it also did the same exact thing with the old calipers.

it is a very slight pull; not enough to cause any lockups...it's just very annoying to have to turn the steering wheel a tad to keep it centered.

i have all new components in the rear brakes too and i've even checked them out to make sure the self adjusting components are working...seems to be keeping them adjusted.

one of my thoughts was the rear brakes not working evenly, so i put the rear up on jackstands and let the rears turn and hit the brakes...they stopped evenly...might be a little more difficult to do the front that way since it's an open diff...i have a locker in the rear, so they turned evenly...

thanks

 

[djtejas]

Well if you still have stock push pull steering, the frontend will dive under braking, effectively turning the wheels.

i thought about that too...i do still have the stock steering...some day i would like to go cross over

i also seemed to notice it just a little more with different tires too...my old tires had more of a rounded shoulder and the new ones are more squared...they are the same size...32x11.50x15...i moved tires around, but that didn't make a difference.

anyone ever notice tires making a difference in pulling during braking? or with the stock steering?

thanks

 

[noJeepshere]

K20 nailed it. The stock steering is very susceptible to bump steer, especially if you have lifted the truck. When the position of the body relative to the axle increases (ie. axle droop) the steering gets pulled left, and when it decreases (as in hard braking) the steering is pulled right. If you lift a truck and don't do anything like a drop pitman arm or some other correction, you eventually lose all ability to turn right. My neighbors truck was like that with 4" of lift, could hardly turn right to save its life.

 

[djtejas]

K20 nailed it. The stock steering is very susceptible to bump steer, especially if you have lifted the truck. When the position of the body relative to the axle increases (ie. axle droop) the steering gets pulled left, and when it decreases (as in hard braking) the steering is pulled right. If you lift a truck and don't do anything like a drop pitman arm or some other correction, you eventually lose all ability to turn right. My neighbors truck was like that with 4" of lift, could hardly turn right to save its life.

maybe that's what it is...i only have 2" of lift, but maybe that's enough

will cross over help?

thanks

 

[k20]

crossover will help, I had the stock steering on mine and had the right pull on mine too. Then I went taller, and it got worse, went x-over and its pretty much gone. Now it just pulls around like an old truck will.

Do you have a dropped pitman or steering arm already? That could help, take some of the vertical factor out of the steering linkage.

 

[noJeepshere]

maybe that's what it is...i only have 2" of lift, but maybe that's enough

will cross over help?

thanks

I think crossover should be done on anything that will be street driven and wheeled. It's just a much better design all around.

 

[djtejas]

thanks guys...i've been kicking around the idea of cross over and might just do it this year.