Ok, I've got a 93 chevy half ton I am trying to straighten out. It has been getting progressively worse for pulling to the left under braking.

It started out as a problem only on hot days, but lately it is all the time. I have replaced: Shoes, Pads, Calipers, Drum hardware, Rear Wheel Seals, Turned drums and rotors, and bleed countless quarts of fluid through it.

When I started working on the brake problem I did not observe any noticable play in the steering joints or ball joints, considering it is a 9 year old truck.

Yesterday I checked all the front end components again, and the balljoints and wheel bearings are fine. There is absolutely no play if you try to wiggle the tire top to bottom.

But now if you wiggle one tire right to left, while the other is held still, there is approximately 3/4" of movement at the outside edge of the tire. You can see this movement in the steering linkage as each rod end will move slightly. This is all with the IFS, 2wd in the air, and the suspension fully extended. I do not have access to an alignment rack to scrub the tires while the suspension is loaded.

My question is, could the play in the steering be causing the brake pull? Is the amount of play observed at full extension of the suspension out of line?

This is one of those times when it is bad to be a better fabricator than you are repairman. I don't want to cough up $450 to have someone fix this, or $150 worth of parts and $50 worth of alignment, if it is not going to fix the brake pull, as the truck steers and handles just fine.

Thanks in advance for the help.

BTW... It has 160K miles,

And the guy at autozone says he thinks it's the proportioning valve, but I do not know of anything that proportions right and left. (I thought about MAKING there be one though).

Any clues???????????????/

does it have 4 wheel abs? is one side side hanging up(dragging)? this would result in glazed pads and a discolored rotor. when you installed new pads did you force fluid back through the system or release the fluid through the bleeder?always release the fluid through the bleeder.my educated guess from here is a damaged combination valve because of fluid forced backwards through the system.

Those trucks are notorious for wearing out idler arms. But I don't think that would give it a brake pull. The prop valve idea is bunk also.
I would replace both front brake hoses. I have seen them cause a braking pull a couple of times.

it may have been done but what about the air pressure in the tires. it maybe a simple thing but still overlooked.

Drew

Thanks for the help guys, I have replaced tires since this nonsense started, as well as rotating and checking inflation, with no effect on the problem.

I looked at the brake system last night again, and there is a relay box and a device that looks like a pulsator valve on the rear outlet to the master cylinder. This jives with my understanding that it has RWABS only. There is no mechanical or electrical device other than a simple hard line plumbing "T" that effects brake bias right to left.

I have gotten feedback from another guy that he had a 200K mile chevy 4x2 which had a worn out idler arm causing brake steer, and he had a similar saga of replacing shit to finally get it straightened out.

Any more ideas? Keep 'em coming!

Mike

to check the idler arm,jack up the truck and move the tire left and right while watching the idler arm.when they are bad it will have up and down movement(not good).my wifes safari van went through 3 of em in 160 thou.napa used to have a line of "fleet duty" front end parts,wouldn't hurt to ask if they could locate one.

My dad has a '92 chevy 2wd 1/2 ton. We had a HARD pull to the right. The right side wheel was covered in brake dust. Ended up being the rubber brake line to the caliper. The liner had collapsed and would not let the fluid return to the master cylinder. Hope that helps.

Originally posted by toploader4x4
My dad has a '92 chevy 2wd 1/2 ton. We had a HARD pull to the right. The right side wheel was covered in brake dust. Ended up being the rubber brake line to the caliper. The liner had collapsed and would not let the fluid return to the master cylinder. Hope that helps.

Thanks,

Last night I replaced the inner and outter TRE's, Idler arm, and Pitman arm, and it had NO EFFECT on the brakes, but it does pull to the right all the time now (need to get it aligned still)

I also greased the calliper mounting pins and the parts where it slides against the steering knuckle. Also no effect.

So just for shits and giggles (cause I was pissed) I put some chain lube on the driver's side rotor.... it made the truck stop Pretty darn straight, but it is kinda unpredictable now :)

Oh well, tonight I will look at brake lines,

Anyone think it could be an A Arm bushing?????

Hay dude go with the brake line on the other side
from the pull!!!:smokin: