brake pulling

[Bruce W.]

Hey Guys, having trouble on my 57 with brakes pulling to the left on hard stop, here is what I have done so far: replaced the wheel cylinders, brake hoses, brake shoes, had the drums turned. I noticed when spinning the wheel that there is a slight wobble in the wheel. Looks like the drum is slightly bent.
Here is my question, could that cause the pulling to the left, thanks for your help.
Bruce

[Frank D.]

Re: brake pulling

Hey Guys, having trouble on my 57 with brakes pulling to the left on hard stop, here is what I have done so far: replaced the wheel cylinders, brake hoses, brake shoes, had the drums turned. I noticed when spinning the wheel that there is a slight wobble in the wheel. Looks like the drum is slightly bent.
Here is my question, could that cause the pulling to the left, thanks for your help.
Bruce

Takes 5 minutes to swap the drums side-to-side and see if the "pulling" migrates over...

[Harry S.]

Re: brake pulling

If there is no change after doing what Frank suggests think about. Does it pull to the left and feel like the steering wheel is being jerked out of your hand or is it s slow pull to the left and the front end dips? If that happens it could be in the rear brakes. Is there a wet shoe in the right back or does it need the left side adjusted. I'm fighting this right now on my 63. I'm replacing rear drums tomorrow, if that fails I'm replacing the rear shoes next.

[Keith R.]

Re: brake pulling

I am having the same problem Bruce. The car used to stop straight with firm braking action and now it is a slow pull to the right and the nose dips left front. The left front tire locked up momentarily today this afternoon. I swapped the drums and hubs left and right as Frank suggested and it is still doing the same thing. Wheel cylinders have been re-sleeved by Apple Hydraulics and the drums and shoes look good. I would not have guessed as Harry suggests that it might be caused by the rear brakes.

[Gary B.]

Re: brake pulling

Did you swap the wheels, a bent wheel could be the culprit. Swap front to back. A bent wheel will work on the back. How are the tie rods? Worn tie rod would cause the wheel to initially pull.

[Harry S.]

Re: brake pulling

I replaced my rear shoes this past fall and it fixed the problem.

[Keith R.]

Re: brake pulling

Thanks Gary. No, I did not swap front to back but I can give that a try tomorrow. The tie rods and tie rod ends are all new but I'll double-check that and the rest of the suspension when I get it up on the lift. Thanks for the advice.

[Keith R.]

Re: brake pulling

Wow! Would not have guessed that might be the fix in a thousand years! I wonder why the rear brakes may affect a pull to the right or left?

[Frank D.]

Re: brake pulling

I am having the same problem Bruce. The car used to stop straight with firm braking action and now it is a slow pull to the right and the nose dips left front. The left front tire locked up momentarily today this afternoon. I swapped the drums and hubs left and right as Frank suggested and it is still doing the same thing. Wheel cylinders have been re-sleeved by Apple Hydraulics and the drums and shoes look good. I would not have guessed as Harry suggests that it might be caused by the rear brakes.

Front brakes do like 70% of the braking so a "pull" is more severe when they have problems, rear brakes will pull too, just not as dramatically and the rear rubber hoses are always suspect.

If you had a "lock up", one of the hoses may have "hour glassed" internally and your foot pressure will force fluid through it one way and apply the brakes but when you let off the fluid can't return naturally.

If you loosen the bleeder screw right after the lock-up and fluid comes out under pressure then that's a good sign the hose is at fault.

I fought a locking up right rear brake for weeks and after fighting all sorts of typical causes, including replacing seized parking brake cables, it seems the rear spindle was galled, heating up the brakes and making them grab.

[Thomas H.]

Re: brake pulling

I fought this for a while on my 60. Bleed / adjusted brakes, swapped drums, new rubber hoses, rebuilt cylinders - final root cause - brake shoes! They must have gotten some fluid on them at one time. Once I swapped them out for new ones car stops nice and straight.

Tom

[Edward J.]

Re: brake pulling

Bruce some of the friction materials that the companies use today are not quality controlled, drum brakes shoes are not made in large quantities today, there are some but few companies that make a quality brake shoes. The results of brake pulling is a common problem with cars with drum brakes more than ever. The best bet is to find a NOS set and make sure the drums are still in spec. And the adjustment is especially important. Checking for air is the system is also just as important,and replacing the hardware is a good idea.make sure the drum and axle facings are rust free. This can cause a wobble in the wheel when spinning.

[Keith R.]

Re: brake pulling

Does it make a difference in performance if the brake linings are bonded vs. riveted?

[Edward J.]

Re: brake pulling

Factory shoes were riveted. I had some luck with Wagner quiet stop brake shoes, they do have a value line but do not use.

[Gary B.]

Re: brake pulling

Bonded work fine, market went to bonded as rivets would cut into drum, more likely to destroy drum. My father had the brake drum turning machine in our town so I did a lot of brake jobs growing up. Have only had bonded on my 62 for 40+K miles of driving.

[Gary B.]

Re: brake pulling

To do a good brake job with shoes at the outset, you would use an oversized shoe and need to sand the center portion of the shoe to increase the radius to fit the worn or turned drum as the drum now has a larger diameter. Now having said that, we sanded the shoes so our customer had real solid brakes when leaving the shop. The easy way and the way I did it on my cars with shoes was to use standard shoes and soon after some use, the shoes would bend slightly to fit the drum.