Pulling to left when braking **back and game over! :( **

[Rippers]

I've changed all the shoes and adjusted a couple of times, changed all four rubber flex pipes and changed the brake fluid for DOT 4 and bleed a couple of times yet it still pulls to the left under braking.

My understanding is that would be the front right hand side at fault?? Could it be a slave cylinder at fault? they don't appear to be leaking and I tested to see if they worked by getting my wife to press the pedal whilst the drum was off and they pushed the pistons out?

Any ideas guys?

I've had one of those days when I've worked my arse off on the van and got absolutely no where :lol:

 

[Rippers]

GSF sell the front cylinders a lot cheaper then I thought at £11.80 each are they any good thou?

 

[sharky71]

sounds like brake cylinder faulty or could there be grooves on drum???
have you tried it on the brake thingy ma jig at the mot testers??

 

[Dave.P]

could be a ball joint causing it, ive had that on my bug

 

[aspro]

Faulty shock?

 

[sparkywig]

Tyre pressures?

 

[Resto-raider]

Did you adjust the brakes the right way?

 

[Dubble-trouble]

I had a similar problem when i bought my van. When i drove it home I struggled to stay on the road while braking as it was pulling so much.
All advice was telling me a hard pull like that was going to be a front brake problem. It turned out to be a rear brake which was acting slower than the other 3 causing a pull to the opposite side. Replaced both rear wheel cylinders, adjusted brakes etc and problem gone. I also always bleed brakes with an eezi-bleed to make sure all air is expelled from the system (plus you can do it single handed). Good luck with yours. Ian

 

[K@rlos]

Left hand hand brake could be dragging.

 

[Rippers]

The pull is quite brutal actually at lunch time I asked my wife to reverse back 20ftvand drive forward and slam the brakes not holding the wheel and it spun almost a whole turn of the steering wheel left as if the brakes aren't doing anything on the right hand side.

I nipped down to GSF at lunch time and bought all four front wheels cylinders and I'll have a look at fitting them tomorrow.

I don't recall having this problem before I changed the shoes and hoses but the left hand side hose was buggered and leaking so it could have hidden the fact the right hand side was weak too..

I jumped up and down on the front side steps and the van returned to level within one bounce so I'm guessing the shocks are ok? Although the front suspension does creak, I'm going to pump a load of grease in this weekend.

How do I test the ball joints are ok?

 

[Pete B]

Had loads of grief last year for the mot regarding brake imbalance.
Long story short, new solid and flex lines, wheel cylinders properly re-furbed ,new fluid obviously, recent & fully functioning master cylinder, drums well within limits for round. I had replaced the brake linings a couple of years earlier, german stuff used.
Anyhow, keeping it relatively short, bugger all would get a balanced reading, even adjusting too much on the poor side and vice versa.
Popped down to GSF and got a cheapo new set of shoes, fitted, and all problems dissapeared instantly. Can only presume there was a problem with the make up of the old lining material?
Never known anything like it in 30 plus years of messing around with mechanics :lol:

 

[Foz]

Also had the same problem. Brakes were fine, then suddenly an horrendous pulling to the left when I braked, to the point I had to literally fight the wheel to stay on the road!

Was only on the first push of the pedal, after which subsequent braking evened out ok. But if I didn't brake again for a further 5 mins, then braked, same would happen again!

Got all the brakes checked over by a mechanic, who couldn't see anything wrong with them!
Happy to say it seems to have cleared itself, tho I never did get down to the route cause of it all.

I never take braking for granted in the bus now.


--------------------------------
Own a Bay?......Feel the love!

 

[ozziedog]

Have you tried measuring the drums ?? Just thinking if one is slightly larger than the other, it may not take too much wear on the shoes before the drum is too big to work as the shoes can`t reach it when worn a little :? Or try swapping the drums over to see if it reverses the problem. Or possibly if the shoes are exceptionally old or were contaminated once upon a time by a previous owner with fluid or some type of cleaning agent .

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Or possibly none of the above :mrgreen:

 

[Rippers]

Its really doing my nut in now

Just to recap, all the shoes front and rear are brand new, the rubber flex pipes front and rear are brand new, the brake fluid is brand new and has been bleed loads and loads. I have adjusted the shoes numerous times, I do this by jacking up the wheel, and turning the star adjusters each in turn till the I can''t turn the wheel any more then backing off a click or two ( making sure both top and bottom do the same ) I then pump the pedal a few times and double check the adjustment.

As it was pulling to the left I took the right hand drum off to inspect, all looked ok, although the shoe closest to the front looked like it had only just been grazed no oil contamination or anything like that, so I changed both the brake cylinders, re did all the adjustments and took it for a test drive and whilst its not quite as bad it definitely still pulls to the left.

Following the above advise I'll try swapping the drums over is there an actual procedure to measuring the drums to see if they are ok?.

One last point I drove it for a few miles and felt the drums after and the left hand side was was definitely warmer which says to me it a brake problem still

I'm not convinced the shocks are gone no sign of leaking and bounce test is fine, but I may just change them as they are old and it eliminates one more thing. I also changed the grease in the beam today (proper crap job lol)

 

[ozziedog]

Might be worth taking the drums to an engineering place to have them measured if you don`t got nuffink to measure them with. I`m still liking the drum swapping first though. One other little thing you may want to have a look at, have you checked every inch of the regular brake pipes by sight and by feel for a little bump in the pipe as it`s easily done by a jack or a stone or a tree root etc etc etc :shock: A lot easier if on a ramp if you can get on one. I just thought if one of them drums is a wrong un, you may see it if you place them next to each other and give em a real good staring at.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Mark them up so you know where you is starting :lol: :roll:

 

[*Sam*]

When you rebuilt the brakes did you check that the springs attached to the shoes are all in good order and feel relatively the same in tension.

If one is stronger than the other then it could cause a braking issue as you have described due to one set of shoes requiring more pressure than the other to work.

 

[Rippers]

The springs were in good shape and very strong still when pulling the shoes on

 

[*Sam*]

Ok, and they felt equal ?

When you bleed the system, do they all bless at the same rate ?

 

[Rippers]

they both felt really strong, not sure what you mean by bless at the same rate?

 

[*Sam*]

Are you bleeding the system by pumping the pedal or via a pressured bleeding system ?