Pull to the left when braking

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Robj

Robj

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'70 Swinger with 4 wheel 10" drums.

The brakes always pull to the left. Normal braking I really don't notice it too much and just automatically correct without thinking about it but if I take my hands off the wheel it will definitely start making a left hand turn. When braking hard it wants to head left and it takes a very obvious correction to bring it back straight. It feels like it's in the front because the right side nose will dive a little bit.

I've since replaced the brakes and the master cylinder because I was getting pedal fade too. I've gone back around and bled the system (and bench bled the master cylinder) and readjusted the brakes twice. I don't see any leaking wheel cylinders. I have a great firm pedal now and the car stops really well but I still have the left pull. Can this be a weak or hanging up wheel cylinder on the right side?

This is my first adventure with front wheel drums- I've had two guys tell me it's pretty common with them but like I say, I've never dealt with front drums before. I can't exactly say I'd like to just live with it.
 
Start buy getting the drums turned, and shoes fitted to them. While there, get alignment checked, loose parts can do the same thing. Worn out of round, scored,grease contaminated brakes can't be adjusted to work correctly. Start there. Even almost perfect brakes will seem to pull with loose front suspension parts.
 
green1 said:
Start buy getting the drums turned, and shoes fitted to them. While there, get alignment checked, loose parts can do the same thing. Worn out of round, scored,grease contaminated brakes can't be adjusted to work correctly. Start there. Even almost perfect brakes will seem to pull with loose front suspension parts.
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x2
 
Good luck "getting the shoes fitted." Very few shops/ parts stores have arcing machines anymore, and many "parts guys" don't even know what they are

If the drums are unevenly worn, or even if they have been turned, and one is somewhat larger than the other, you won't have even braking. You may be on the way to looking at new drums

What happens if the drums are turned too large, is that the shoes now fit a smaller circle than what the drums actually are, now that they have been turned. This means that the shoes are only using a SMALL PART of the lining to actually do any stopping -- the rest of the lining is simply not doing anything, and WORSE, the lining that IS doing the work is getting overheated and glazed, and very soon THAT part of the lining won't stop the car, either.

Now add to this that IF you had the drums turned, and IF one of them is turned out to a somewhat larger diameter, this means that one shoe is making better contact in the drum than the other --hence, pulling.

If you did NOT have the drums turned, you might as well have them checked, turned if possible, and replace the shoes AGAIN.

If you DID have the drums turned, have them checked for diameter. If they are past the throwaway figure (used to be .060" over the factory dimension) OR if one is larger than the other get the small one turned out if safe, or start looking for new ones

Pulling brakes is a VERY dangerous condition. You really should not be driving the car in this shape. REALLY



Shoe arcing machine.

I've spent way too many hours behind one of these asbestos dust generators:

You adjust the thing for the diameter of the drums, and run the shoe back and forth through the "arc" of the shoe, against the sander. When you're done, the shoe has WAY less lining, but it 'does' fit the drum

Arching_mopar_shoe_to_fit_drum_Large_.JPG
 
1. get 2 new drums. they are not as expensive as you would think.
2. the auto adjuster on the front right side is not working correctly. i'm guessing that the left side is tightening up adjusting as it should, but the right side is not... making it a bit looser. there could be several reasons maybe that backing plate is bent, or the adjuster is froze up, or something along those lines.
3. if you want to be sure and safe get a full kit for each side with all new springs / adjusters / even new brake cylinders. reason i say this is because one bad pull in the rain or in heavy traffic you can mess that car up bad :(
 
Robj said:
'70 Swinger with 4 wheel 10" drums.

Nobody has mentioned this yet, but make sure the brakes are assembled with the primary and secondary shoes oriented correctly. If wrong, it would have a bad effect due to the self-energizing feature built into them.
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kosmickuda said:
nobody has mentioned this yet, but make sure the brakes are assembled with the primary and secondary shoes oriented correctly. If wrong, it would have a bad effect due to the self-energizing feature built into them.
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^^^this^^^
 
You need to make sure all the brake lines are in good condition. if they are original lines, you could have a rubber hose that is bad or a steel line that is rusted and clogged. and usually which ever direction it's pulling to the problem is on the other side.
 
we had one of those archers in Auto shop in '84 We couldnt use it unless the teacher inspected the shoes we were working on so as to determine if they were asbestos laced or not.
 
We have a winner. This would be my first suspect. Old rummer brake hoses break down from the inside out and act like a check valve causing a brake pull. Happens a lot on older cars.

mopwr2004a said:
You need to make sure all the brake lines are in good condition. if they are original lines, you could have a rubber hose that is bad or a steel line that is rusted and clogged. and usually which ever direction it's pulling to the problem is on the other side.
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mopwr2004a said:
You need to make sure all the brake lines are in good condition. if they are original lines, you could have a rubber hose that is bad or a steel line that is rusted and clogged. and usually which ever direction it's pulling to the problem is on the other side.
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X3. Also make sure the wheel cylinder isn't frozen and that the pistons are the same diameter in each side.
 
Yeah, nobody knows about fitting them to the drums in this area. It's a lost art in this world of disc brakes. Just going to replace everything on both sides and start fresh including the lines.

Thanks everyone for all the great advice.
 
whatever you do get this fixed.

If you don't think this is important try stopping hard on a wet road, but make sure there is nothing around when you do it, because you could loose control of your car and end up out of your lane or worse.
 
My 74 Dart does the same thing! Mine are just about done with, hopefully I can get my disc brake swap done soon so I can drive mine again. If at all possible please throw away the drums on the front and go disc. Rear drums are fine but all the way around is a death trap.
 
1mopar4life said:
Rear drums are fine but all the way around is a death trap.
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"AHEM" I think maybe you are being just a little too dramatic. There were LOADS of cars and trucks built before the advent of disk brakes that managed to stop OK.

Both my 64 426 and my 69 RR had full manual, 11" drums. I'll admit that you would not want to "overuse" them, but in the time I had those cars, I managed to NOT run into anything. Neither car ever gave me ANY problem with pulling, either.

My Dad had a 60 and a 63 Poncho Cat and Bonneville before I went into the Navy in 68, and those cars never had any problems stopping.

Biggest problem with either car was you COULD fade them on a hot day if you got a little rambunkshus on a windy, fun road.

To hear some of you guys ***** about drums and ignition points, it's a real wonder we ever got out of the '60's
 
..brakes can be funny
..i had a duster with drum brakes front and rear and it stopped great
..i had a dart and although i could lock them up,i never knew where it would go
..when i had one that pulled like you describe a wheel cylinder was leaking slightly and contaminated the shoe..it would grab.
 
I'm just sharing my experience because it has been less than stellar, I'd hate to lose any of our classic car brethren due to not so good brakes. Modern cars stop distances are so much shorter and their so much more responsive that by the time you get on the brakes with an older car youll be eating their rear bumper and your steering wheel or worse. Back in the day all the cars had similar stopping distance so it evened out.
 
I'm just sharing my experience because it has been less than stellar, I'd hate to lose any of our classic car brethren due to not so good brakes. Modern cars stop distances are so much shorter and their so much more responsive that by the time you get on the brakes with an older car youll be eating their rear bumper and your steering wheel or worse. Back in the day all the cars had similar stopping distance so it evened out.
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Dito.

Hang back in the pack...
 
I had the same problem (pulling left) with an old Barracuda about 20 years ago. I tried everything, replaced everything until I finally replaced the strut rod bushings with the newer Moog setup. It did the trick. They're not easy to replace but well worth the effort cause the factory bushings are almost always worn out. Good luck.
 
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