Brakes pull to the right

[Dartman]

Hello all; This is my first post on this site.

My brakes have been pulling to the right since I've had the truck. I understand there has been a history of '99 Dodge trucks brake pulling problems. Had emailed a guy from this site. He lubed the calipar bolts and sleeves and didn't have any problems since. I put new pads on, lubed the bolts and sleeves with molibnium based anti-sieze, and bled them. Also polished the caliper to spindle mating surfaces with 600 bokus cloth hoping to stop any binding. They stop pulling for about next 40 miles. All city driving. Then started to pull again. Took it to the dealer about one year doing this. They wanted to sell me a brake job. Said the pads were worn bad but evenly. Told them to put it back together and I would do my own brake job. Once again, the brakes quit pulling to the right for about the same distance as before. I am going to install a new set of pads again and wait for it to start pulling, then take the truck back to the dealer. Only have a couple more months on the warranty and want to see if they can fix it. If they can't fix it, I am planning to go after market components.

Any suggestions?

Stock '99 2500, 4 X 4, 5 SPD, Cummins

 

[LEggers]

Its a real big long shot but check your tire presure.

 

[Sojourner]

Other possibilities: weak right brake hose to caliper, bad right caliper, or could stand new caliper pins. At five years old your brake hoses are due to be replaced anyway, if you haven't already done so. On my recent brake job @51K I installed new caliper pins on all calipers and lubed them with the 2,400 degree lube from EGR. Not even a hint of pulling.

 

[YEEHAW]

Does it pull to the right all of the time or only when braking?



Mine pulled to the right all of the time and even more when braking. I would clean and lube the calipers during pad changes and it would fix it temporarily, just like yours. I took it to the dealer when it was under warranty and they said it was the tires. I swapped the front tires (285 BFG AT's) and it pulled left while driving and right while braking. Talk about needing to pay attention while driving I replaced the tires and wheels - went with H2 wheels and 315 BFG's. It drove pretty good but would still pull when braking. I replaced the rotors with Raybestos severe duty slotted and drilled rotors, new calipers, stainless brake lines, and flushed the fluid. I also put on a Moog replacement trac bar. Now I can put it on cruise control and get in the back seat :-laf Stops straight as an arrow. I've got about 15k miles on this so far.

 

[Dartman]

Thank you everyone for the inputs! My truck only pulls when I apply the brakes. Looks like I am on the right track for my system... ... ... . Except for the part where I wanted to take it to the dealer. Today I bought a set of Raybestos Pro Grade ceramic pads PN: PGD0479QS. I wanted to try them out. Will rebuild the calipers also. I have checked out a few brake system sites and EGR was one of 'em. I like the looks of their calipers in the side-by-side comparison with the OEM's. Figured I'd end up going aftermarket. Will take some time though. EGR equipment is a bit pricey.

 

[Paychk]

Did you use molybdenum both times? There are several types of brake lube, some contain moly/silicone and some are 100% silicone. You may want to try the 100% silicone type.

 

[jpcnhear]

Brake Pulling

I have a similar problem and it wasn't the brakes. Actuallly I am still having the problem. When you chandged your brakes did you end up rotating your tires at the same time. With mine, it seems to be when the tires wear a little is when the pulling starts. Check to see if your tires are scalped. This is a sure sign that there is an issue with the stearing system. I did install the EGR clipers as well as ceramic pads and high performance rotors. None of these has solved the issue. I am about to install a bullet proof stearing sytem with the hopes of solving the problem.

 

[Dartman]

I was going to use silicone (that is what the maintenance manual calls for) but when I removed the calipers, there wasn't any lube left on the caliper mounting bolts except just inside the seals. At the time I figured this was due to the heat. Not sure now. Might not have put enough on grease at the factory. The molybdenum stayed on.

 

[dseabaugh]

I had the same problem with my truck. Had the tsb done where they change the geometry of the front end by putting a shim behind the right front wheel. After several sets of brakes, I learned that it would not pull as soon as I put new brakes on, but would quickly started trying to make a Uturn when I put on the brakes as the miles added up. I found the slot the caliper sets in was a taper. I took one swipe across each caliper braket with the side grinder to give more clearance and that cured it. I had always cleaned the slot with a file each time I changed brakes, but that only takes off a thousands or so. Last weekend I put on a new set of front pads after 50,000 miles and they had worn perfectly and there has been no more brake pull. Since then I have had several people tell me that when they checked theirs, that the caliper or bracket was sloppily machined ( probably in some 3rd world low wage shop the republicans outsourced over seas to increase stock holder profits) and grinding to even and increase the clearance fixed the problem. I am sure I ground off too much on the left side but, it was the most even worn of the two.

 

[Joe G.]

The rear brakes can cause this. The socalled automatic adjusters work when they want to. So adjust the rear brakes manually and see if that has any affect.