Changed front brakes, pulls hard now.

[DIESELYJ]

I changed the brakes on an 88 F150 2wd a few weeks ago. I put a new rotor and pads on the left side.
I drove it about 200 miles and it started to pull hard to the left when i brake. I took the caliper off, lubed it up real good with lithium grease, and reinstalled it.
drove it again, worked great for a while, now it is pulling hard to the left again.

Any ideas on what might be wrong, and how i might be able to fix it?

Thanks in advance.

YJ with a 6.5L Turbo Diesel
and A.J.'s fiberglass body

[BRONCOMANIA]

Why didn`t you do the right side? Your always supposed to do both sides at the same time. Probably your left side is working great now and the right aint working worth a s#&T!

[muddybronco]

since you had the bearings apart, you might also check for slack in them... if loose they can shift and the tire will point left a little and make it pull bad. btw, interesting engine swap in the yj.. diesel makes sense in a crawler. good luck.


S H O U L D A G O T T A F O R D!

www.ArkansasMud.com

[DIESELYJ]

I know i am supposed to do both sides, but the left side caliper had froze up and had wore the one pad off and then went on to destroy the rotor. The other side was in perfect condition, so I just left it-call me lazy.
The reason that i wonder about both your suggestions is, for a few hundred miles it worked great and then gradually got worse. So if it was because i did not change the right side and the left side was working better (which does make a lot of sense) why did they both work the same when i first did it and then again after i lubed the left one up.
And if the bearings were loose would it work fine for a while and then not? And after i lub up the left caliper, work for a few hundred miles and then go bad again?

Thanks again

YJ with a 6.5L Turbo Diesel
and A.J.'s fiberglass body

[muddybronco]

IT's possible the lock washer wasnt seated quite right and then a big bump loosened up the bearings a bit, but just jack it up and try to move the tire up and down and you'll have your answer. If you have power washed the front wheel area then it's possible you washed all the grease out. I was thinking about that last time i washed mine off, i bet that's part of my drifting/brake pulling problem. Oh yeah, dont forget to check the REAR brakes too, if only one of them is working correctly then it would pull to one side somewhat, not sure how much though.


S H O U L D A G O T T A F O R D!

www.ArkansasMud.com

[BRONCOMANIA]

Like Muddy suggested, check your back brakes too(fluid on the backing plate and tire?) as mine pulls to the left also once in a while, DAMN cheap Auto Zone wheel cylinders[img]/wwwthreads_images/icons/mad.gif[/img]