Truck pulls left when hitting the brakes.

[MandAtaco]

2000 4Runner 4x4. I bought the truck bone stock and drove it for about 2 months with no issues.

Saturday and Sunday I installed
-Icon coil overs
-Camburg upper arms with new uniballs and bushings
-Passenger side lower arm with new bushings
-inner and outer tie rods
-new lower ball joints
-poly rack bushings
-new updated rack guide
Rear
-891
-billy shocks

Basically everything is new! I roughed in the alignment after just to get it to the shop. I drove it around for a little bit and noticed its darted to the left when you hit the brakes, I just assumed it was the bad alignment.

Today I took it down to the shop and had tires and the alignment done. When I picked it up, they marked it as the brakes pulling. Sure enough, when ever you hit the brakes it darts to the left. It drives great, tracks straight, etc. but the harder you hit the breaks, the more it pulls.

I thought maybe with all the work I had done, Id knocked something loose in the caliber and it was sticking. It took a lot of force to compress the Pistons and when I had my wife hit the pedal, one piston came out, and the other were slower. It needed brakes anyway so I went ahead and did the 231 upgrade.

Still pulled after that. So what the heck am I missing? It will dang near change lanes on ya if your not careful!.

 

[RunnerPDX]

Assuming you bled the brakes really good once you were done? Proper brake fluid with no noticeable blockages in the lines...Did you inspect your brake lines? the two front ones are rubber and I've replaced one of mine already...

 

[MandAtaco]

I forgot to mention, all 3 rubber lines were replaced with stainless lines from wheelers off-road 2 months ago when I bought the truck.

I feel like I've bled the crap out of them. Is there any tricks to getting air from the ABS unit or something?

 

[nevada]

2000 4Runner 4x4. I bought the truck bone stock and drove it for about 2 months with no issues.

Saturday and Sunday I installed
-Icon coil overs
-Camburg upper arms with new uniballs and bushings
-Passenger side lower arm with new bushings
-inner and outer tie rods
-new lower ball joints
-poly rack bushings
-new updated rack guide
Rear
-891
-billy shocks

Basically everything is new! I roughed in the alignment after just to get it to the shop. I drove it around for a little bit and noticed its darted to the left when you hit the brakes, I just assumed it was the bad alignment.

Today I took it down to the shop and had tires and the alignment done. When I picked it up, they marked it as the brakes pulling. Sure enough, when ever you hit the brakes it darts to the left. It drives great, tracks straight, etc. but the harder you hit the breaks, the more it pulls.

I thought maybe with all the work I had done, Id knocked something loose in the caliber and it was sticking. It took a lot of force to compress the Pistons and when I had my wife hit the pedal, one piston came out, and the other were slower. It needed brakes anyway so I went ahead and did the 231 upgrade.
Still pulled after that. So what the heck am I missing? It will dang near change lanes on ya if your not careful!.

so you replaced the calipers also?

 

[RunnerPDX]

If you're not sure it's the brakes, grab an infrared thermometer, head out and give your brakes a workout. Test the temps of the rotors after... the side that pulls will be hotter and that will confirm that you've got pull from the brakes specifically and not something else.

Assuming the calipers are new, I wouldn't over look those new lines. Depending on the install after you put the calipers on, you could have something plugging the line.

When you put the calipers on, how hard was it to adjust the piston position? The condition of the caliper pistons looked good?

 

[JayRolla]

Ive been fighting this too since I lifted. I have done all steering components, all brakes, rear, adjusted them many times and still pulls left. Only thing left is a adjusting my rear panhard bar. I believe the rear end is off enough to cause the pull, especially at high speed on say highway when needing to stop quickly. If you have 3" rear lift and stock panhard bar this could be the issue.

 

[IBallEngineer]

2000 4Runner 4x4. I bought the truck bone stock and drove it for about 2 months with no issues.

Saturday and Sunday I installed
-Icon coil overs
-Camburg upper arms with new uniballs and bushings
-Passenger side lower arm with new bushings
-inner and outer tie rods
-new lower ball joints
-poly rack bushings
-new updated rack guide
Rear
-891
-billy shocks

Basically everything is new! I roughed in the alignment after just to get it to the shop. I drove it around for a little bit and noticed its darted to the left when you hit the brakes, I just assumed it was the bad alignment.

Today I took it down to the shop and had tires and the alignment done. When I picked it up, they marked it as the brakes pulling. Sure enough, when ever you hit the brakes it darts to the left. It drives great, tracks straight, etc. but the harder you hit the breaks, the more it pulls.

I thought maybe with all the work I had done, Id knocked something loose in the caliber and it was sticking. It took a lot of force to compress the Pistons and when I had my wife hit the pedal, one piston came out, and the other were slower. It needed brakes anyway so I went ahead and did the 231 upgrade.

Still pulled after that. So what the heck am I missing? It will dang near change lanes on ya if your not careful!.

A lot of potential issues here. But I would caution you NOT to overlook alignment issues. Can you post the final readings? Also, even though you replaced the rubber lines with stainless, don't assume they aren't part of the problem, it doesn't take much to collapse the inner liner on any hose.

Caster and Scrub Radius variance from left to right can GREATLY increase a minor brake pull. That's why I'd want to see the final readings.

Also, you can't rule out the rear brakes!

Here is a link to some good technical info on this topic.

Pulling You In to Brake Diagnostics - Tomorrows Technician

 

[gamefreakgc]

If it's lifted, is there any chance one of the brake lines is overextended and starting to collapse due to a kink/pressure in the line?

Seems like the issue is flow or pressure to the caliper that won't compress. I'm guessing the calipers were replaced with reman'd units, not just used junkyard units?

 

[ajonesnv]

so you replaced the calipers also?

Yes the calipers were replaced.

 

[ajonesnv]

If it's lifted, is there any chance one of the brake lines is overextended and starting to collapse due to a kink/pressure in the line?

Seems like the issue is flow or pressure to the caliper that won't compress. I'm guessing the calipers were replaced with reman'd units, not just used junkyard units?

None of the lines are over extended and the calipers are new.

 

[Koch13351]

If you have a rear axle seal go out, the diff oil goes right to the brakes. I'd check the passenger side drum and see if there's any oil or grime in there. Mine did this to me and pulled to one side. Then the other side went out shortly thereafter and now it brakes straight again haha

 

[MandAtaco]

If you're not sure it's the brakes, grab an infrared thermometer, head out and give your brakes a workout. Test the temps of the rotors after... the side that pulls will be hotter and that will confirm that you've got pull from the brakes specifically and not something else.

Assuming the calipers are new, I wouldn't over look those new lines. Depending on the install after you put the calipers on, you could have something plugging the line.

When you put the calipers on, how hard was it to adjust the piston position? The condition of the caliper pistons looked good?

The thermometer idea is a good one actually, I will try that. I didn't compress the calipers when I put them on because they were new. Maybe I will check that.

Ive been fighting this too since I lifted. I have done all steering components, all brakes, rear, adjusted them many times and still pulls left. Only thing left is a adjusting my rear panhard bar. I believe the rear end is off enough to cause the pull, especially at high speed on say highway when needing to stop quickly. If you have 3" rear lift and stock panhard bar this could be the issue.

I thought about this also, I have a drop bracket coming, but didn't think that the little bit it's pulled to the side would make the "rear stear". But maybe.

A lot of potential issues here. But I would caution you NOT to overlook alignment issues. Can you post the final readings? Also, even though you replaced the rubber lines with stainless, don't assume they aren't part of the problem, it doesn't take much to collapse the inner liner on any hose.

Caster and Scrub Radius variance from left to right can GREATLY increase a minor brake pull. That's why I'd want to see the final readings.

Also, you can't rule out the rear brakes!

Here is a link to some good technical info on this topic.

Pulling You In to Brake Diagnostics - Tomorrows Technician

I don't have the numbers, and I should have asked for them. Worst case I guess, I will have it redone and see if that changes anything.

If it's lifted, is there any chance one of the brake lines is overextended and starting to collapse due to a kink/pressure in the line?

Seems like the issue is flow or pressure to the caliper that won't compress. I'm guessing the calipers were replaced with reman'd units, not just used junkyard units?

Yea, they were remand units, not junkyard units. And the lines are for sure not kinked or stretched.

If you have a rear axle seal go out, the diff oil goes right to the brakes. I'd check the passenger side drum and see if there's any oil or grime in there. Mine did this to me and pulled to one side. Then the other side went out shortly thereafter and now it brakes straight again haha

Brakes are dry, but I did have one that had tighned up on me from when I had installed new shoes 2 months ago, I readjusted it when I put the rear stuff on. Not sure why loosening it up would NOW cause it to pull, but I'm going to check those out again tonight.

Thanks for all of the suggestions.

 

[MandAtaco]

I checked the temps when I got home from work and they were within 10 degrees of each other, in fact the drivers side was a hair lower. So I pulled all the brake lines on the passenger side and blew them all out, they were clear. I bled the brakes again, full bottles worth of fluid and it came out smooth. The brakes are good. I'm really leaning toward something in the alignment.

I said before I installed a carquest, lower arm on the pass side (the only non Toyota part on the entire front end) and now I'm wondering if that could be my issue. The drivers side cams are almost centered front and back, the passenger side is all the way pushed out in the front, and just a hair off center in the back. Why would those be so off from side to side, and front to back? Could that cause the geometry to "change" as the front comes down under breaking load?

Thanks.

 

[D Farms]

check your rear axle control arm bushings.

 

[MandAtaco]

I'll give them a close look tonight.

 

[MandAtaco]

I checked all the rear out tonight and everything looks good.

My dad came over tonight just to get another set of eyes on it and another perspective, he noticed something I never picked up on. When you hit the brakes, obviously the truck darts left, but the steering wheel rotates right, like it's trying to correct itself.

Along with everything else I've done, that definitly proves it's not the brakes.

I've already cut the destroyed bushing out of the original OEM A-arm, Im going to source a replacement OEM bushing for it and probably end up putting that arm back on the truck. It seems like the most natural place to start. Thoughts?

 

[Koko4]

I have the same pull (don't remember if it's to the right or to the left, but I want to guess it's to the left), and I also just installed a lift. The guy who said something about the panhard bar really could be on to something..

I didn't think my pull was as pronounced before the lift. BUT then again, I also got an alignment directly after the lift, so the two could be related.

 

[MandAtaco]

So I'm trying to do as much homework on this as possible, while looking through google images of all things, I came upon this thread.... http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-g...ter-front-suspension-work-need-some-help.html

If you read the bottom post on page 1 by [MENTION=45449]coinball[/MENTION], it's exactly the issue I'm having, with exactly the same aftermarket part. Needless to say I'll have OEM bushings on the way tomorrow.

Sorry for posting so much of this up, but hopefully it'll help someone else down the road.

 

[MandAtaco]

Got it FIXED! Sure enough, it was that Dorman lower control arm. I pressed in some new OEM Toyota bushings into my old arm and it brakes as straight as an arrow now! Check out this video I made showing the differences....

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NTq-YMegMjU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Thanks for all the help and advice with this, hopefully it'll help someone else down the road.

Mods: Can we change the title of this post to DON'T BUY DORMAN LOWER CONTROL ARMS!

 

[Unner]

Wow, I can't believe how much play was in that new one versus the old with almost 200k miles. Why did you replace that arm in the first place out of curiosity?