Hi all,
I'll apologize in advance for the lengthy post.
I've been having a strong pull to the left when braking for a couple years. Since then the rig has had a ton of work done. A lot of what was done was to try and eliminate the issue but it's still pulling, albeit not as strong and less frequent but it still happens and scares me because when it pulls I have to correct at the wheel and when I correct and then the steering snaps back the truck wants to go right cause thats where the wheel is pointed.
The massive mistake I made was lifting the truck and having a bunch of work put in before the braking/pulling issue got resolved. Not sure where to go from here, I've gone to a couple different mechanics and after a bunch of work they say "when you lift a truck sometimes issues like this come up and you just have to live with it."
The trucks been through a lot but long story short is, the truck was totaled in 2016 and I ran out of cash so I sold it to a friend, a year later he sold it back. When I got it back it had this issue along with a horrible steering problem.
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This is the work that was done before the pulling issue, but the truck was in possession of a friend:
Front brake hoses
Bilstein 5100s
Moog Upper and lower control arm bushings
ball joints
This is the work that's been done since the pulling was an issue, trying to get it in order:
1st Mechanic
Steering column yolk
Extend rear brake lines
Toytec 3" springs
Lower diff
Pan hard bar drop
2nd gen tie rods
Tundra brake upgrade, rotors, pads, calipers
SRS F5s and tires 285/75/R16 Yokohama Geolanders
Rear brake cylinder, and shoes
Rack and pinion
Power steering pump - Pump ran dry about 15 miles after rack job
2nd Mechanic
LCA bushings (again)
ABS actuator unit
- didn't fix anything
Brake pads (again) - made a world of difference
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Troubleshooting done. Steel braided lines swapped from side to side, calipers swapped, ABS replaced
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After the pads were replaced for the second time, the pull became way less frequent, almost non-existent. However, now I took it on my second road trip since all the work was done and I had to emergency stop on the freeway and it pulled, scaring the crap out of me. Afraid to take it back to a shop and expect a different response. I'm not very mechanically inclined but these are the possible causes I can think of. Hard steel line kinked or bent (but if this were the case I don't the issue would be intermittent), possible frame damage (but it didn't do this after it was totaled), maybe the M/Ts are biting when the weight shifts forward causing it to go with the camber of the road (but it has pulled before when going straight).
Has anyone seen this issue before or maybe has an idea of what could be causing this? Any help is appreciated.