Truck pulling to right after rebuild

["Whitey Ford"]

So i finally got all new brakes, rotors, calibers, bearings, king pins, leaf spring bushings, tie rods, new caster shim ect all in. I took it for a ride and noticed it was pulling pretty hard to the right and pulled harder when i hit the brake.

SO i took the brakes apart and cleaned them real good, pushed the piston back in in case it was sticking, swapped the front tires and went for another ride.

Its still pulling to the right, not as bad. when i hit the brakes it seems to be good now. However, its still pulling to the right when driving. It also gets a nice shimmy when i get going a little faster.

I did rememebr when putting everything back the right side shock was pretty bad. In other words i could pull and push the shock in and out and it would stay. I also noticed the truck is leaning to the right.

Do you think the shock would cause this? Im getting new tires before i bring it to the alignment shop so its all done right and at the same time. Mine are getting bad anyway.

[Gary Seymour]

You didn't say if you replaced the brake hoses or not, but they can collapse inside and hold pressure on the caliper.

Does each wheel spin freely off the ground?

Otherwise I would say if the toe-in is not right it could pull too. I think there should be 1/16" toe-in. You can get a close check with a tape measure - width of tread accross the front of the tires should be 1/16" less than the same width measured in the back of the tires.

[charliemccraney]

Incorrect toe can cause the shimmy. The average alignment shop won't be able to do much with a solid axle truck. You can do the toe yourself or with a buddy.
Set your toe and replace the shocks and see if the problem goes away.

["Whitey Ford"]

Sorry yeah all hoses, hard lines, MC, everything is brand new.

I got the toe in right, well at least damn close but Im bringing the truck to a chassis shop that can do straight axles. Im going to get the new tires, shocks and retry.

[cwindsor]

I had some problems may not be related but might help...

Jack the truck up in the center... Spin the tires... See if they spin about the same, Also see if they are stopping at the same spot on the tire.

This will check for caliper drag and a wrap in the rotors.

also check the bends in the hard lines to make sure when you bent them you didn't bend to tight.

["Whitey Ford"]

WIll do....ill check that out too. Im going to get the new shocks no matter what

[Toyz]

If the truck is leaning to the right, there-in is probably the source of the problem. My top-of-head guess is wrong spring on right side, or right spring on wrong side
Paul

["Whitey Ford"]

god i hope not. i actually marked which ones were which when i removed them so hopefully they were switched.

[longcabjohn]

Also check left it may not be working


Johnny

[6166 Junkyard Dog]

One thing which is most important is that you did get a master cylinder for disc brakes as well as a proportional valve for drum/disc set up

["Whitey Ford"]

yeah junkyard i got all of that good to go. All new lines, MS, prop valve, bled several times, rechecked wear all of ti. They work damn good now. I rechecked them after it started pulling in case i had a caliber dragging.

Right before i started this rebuild the truck started pulling real bad to the right. I mean like liteally within minutes. I had a vibration and something going on so i strtaed heading home and then BAM...started acting real bad. Its then i said, hell im going to redo the whole front end from brakes to king pins. Its alot better but its pulling. Not as bad but it is.

Im going to change the tires out and change the shocks. Its the only thing NOT new under there now.

[azjake]

Here are a few ideas from an ex-front end, frame, spring and brake tech with 25 years experience.

If you have a pull when braking, it is usually a brake problem. If pulling all of the time, the cause could be many things, from worn parts to poor alignment. Improper toe setting will never cause a pull, but will cause a wandering condition (or darting from side to side) and wear! Incorrect toe settings will cause tires to wear faster than any other alignment setting. If the camber is off excessively from side to side, it may cause a pull, but improper caster settings is usually the cause of most pulling problems.

Excessive positive or negative camber setting will cause tire wear. The front tires will also wear on the inside and outside edges if not rotated often enough due to cornering when driving.

When I worked at an alignment shop in Illinois and Arizona, we would set the toe on radial tires at zero or just a hair toe-out and 1/16" toe-in on bias ply tires. These setting would give both good handling and tire wear under most driving conditions.

Also check the square on the axles. Make sure that you do not have a bent or broken centerbolt in the front or rear springs which will cause your truck to dog track and cause excessive tire wear and poor handling.

Jake

PS,
I really doubt if this is your problem, but I had many customers in the past complain of a pull to one side or the other in their vehicles when they dropped them off for repair. While test driving before I pulled their vehicle onto the rack, I would notice that it never pulled, but that the steering wheel was not centered. When the customer was driving, they would see the steering wheel not centered, would turn it back to center and the vehicle would no longer be going straight! I had to explain that the steering wheel needed to be adjusted back to the centered position and that the alignment was not causing this problem.

[Toyz]

Jake's got a good point; if this happened suddenly, definitely check tracking and rear end mountings. Something changed to cause that drastic immediate pull. If you had not already swapped the tires, I would be inclined to think "slipped belt". It still could be, but not as likely if the front wheels were swapped. Sometimes a "slipped" belt will not be obvious until the tire is de-pressured.
Still a mystery as to the uneven height, if you are certain correct springs are in correct positions, and seated correctly.
Paul

[azjake]

You can always swap the front tires from side to side and see if the handling changes. If it does, you have a tire problem.

Jake

["Whitey Ford"]

Yeah i swapped the tires and it continued. I did jack up the tires and grab the tires for slop and WOW there was like 2" of slop side to side. The pitman arm was moving like crazy.

I also noticed the passenger caliber was holding on to the rotor pretty bad. So i guess its a bad caliber. I pumped the brake and the caliber just got stuck int he out positiona nd i cant get it back in.

I think this was more of my issue but the steering box was pretty bad if it moved that much .

I went ahead and removed the steerign box too since it was obvious that there was too much slop. Now i need to find someone who can rebuild them.

[azjake]

Are you sure that the steering gearbox needs rebuilt? It may only need an adjustment.

Jake

["Whitey Ford"]

The adjustment screw was all the way in...does that mean anything? I just figured all of the adjustment was out.

[azjake]

[quote=""Whitey Ford""]The adjustment screw was all the way in...does that mean anything? I just figured all of the adjustment was out.[/quote]

There are two adjustments you can make to a manual steering gearbox. You can adjust the worm gear and the sector shaft. The worm gear should always be adjusted first and the sector last. There is a certain procedure that must be followed when adjusting a steering gearbox. The screw you are referring to is where you make adjustments to the sector shaft. If it is in all of the way, you may be out of adjustment and need a new gearbox. However, someone may have tried to adjust it improperly and it is adjusted too tightly. Both of these adjustments should made by an experienced tech. Also, it is easier to adjust steering gearboxes while they are in the vehicle, at least it is for me.

If you want to bring your steering gearbox and/or truck by, I will adjust it for you. Of course, it would be a bit of a drive...

Jake

["Whitey Ford"]

hahha yeah i wish you were closer cause i would. i think im just going to get a rebuilt steering box since so much is new already i guess i will redo this as well. get another 40 years out of it ya know.

However, i do have a question which i was going to start a new thread on.

How the hell do i take the box out of the shaft? Its a automatic column shift...cant figure out how to take it apart...or at elast get the box and shaft out.