:confused: I have a 72 Mav with a I6 200, C4, manual, Drumms all the way around. The problem is the front brakes. When I am driving forward the car pulles hard left. When I back up the wheel spins to the right. I have good shoes, short ones to the front. I have checked the lines for blockage, none. I have bleed the entire system, twice. Neither front wheel cylinder leaks. I took the front right wheel cylinder and sanded the cups and the wheel cylinder itself due to a little rust. I took the springs from the left side and put them on the right thinking I might have a week spring. I have cleaned both self adjusters. I have adjusted the front brakes to where the right side will barely rotate one time and the left side spins freely and it still PULLS to the left. I dont think its the proportioning valve otherwise it would spin the wheel to the left when I was backing up. I am already bald and am beginning to pull my scalp out. Thanks for any help.
How about a bad master cylinder? If one of the two wells is leaking, the leaking one would give no pressure and the other one would be at full strenght. The dual well master cylinder is divided to control the brakes in an X fashion. one well controls the left front and the right back brake and the other controls right front and the left back brake. Jack up the rear end and see how your back brakes are working. Tony
Brakes Go find a dirt road out in the middle of nowhere, haul butt in reverse and slam on the brakes. Do this several times and it will self ajust to make up for previous wear on the brakes. Might help you a bit, probobly not but worth a shot.
Be sure to bring a whiplash collar along as you will definitely need it when you are done with the "haul butt and slam the brakes " method of brake adjustment!!!
Still need help Tony, the master cylinder has 2 lines which run to the proportioning valve, si I think that this would take out your X theory, and I already have whiplash from the 10 times I have done this back up method and slamming on the brakes. Thanks but I need more help. :confused:
Master cylinder Larry, You were right, my X theory is wrong--Sorry! A total of 5 lines are attached to the proportioning valve: 2 from the master cylinder--1 front well 1 rear well 1 line for the rear brakes 2 lines for the front brakes 1 left side 1 right side Tony
Just a thought, have you checked the drum for being out of round etc.? Also remove the shoe's and insert them into the drum and with a feeler gage, check that they are contacting it squarely. One other thing is the front end itself, bushings, ball joints, tie rod ends and such, something loose there will cause this condition also. Back in the "old" days when drums were turned, the shoe's, after being relined(rivited on) were ground on a machine to obtain the correct radius to fit the drum perfectly. I still would bet on worn front end piece causing upper or lower control arm to move out of alignment violently, but I have lost a lot of bet's in my day too. Good luck.
I think Old Guy is on the right track. I'd look at the bushings at the forward end of the lower control arm strut rod first, then the upper and lower control arm pivot point bushings. When was the last time you had the front end aligned ? Hope this gives you some help.
Thought I would give you the heads up on the "haul butt and slam the brakes " method. It not necessary to haul butt or go to a dirt road. The method is actuated every time the car is put into reverse gear. Once you put it into reverse, just step on the brake, provided all your springs and linkage is correct, it will self adjust. Speed or excessive pressure is not needed. To keep adjusting it, take it out of reverse, put it back into reverse, step on brake, then take it out, put back in, brake, etc. ( not all cars have self adjustments, my 86 mustang doesn't)
still looking I looked at all my bushings on the control arms and the radius arms, they are a little dryrotted on the radius arms but everything is tight. What I failed to mention earlier is that I had this fixed and it worked for about a week and a half and the problem came back. I told you everything I did but I cant pin point the one thing I did to fix it. I am currently changing out the right front wheel cylinder. If this doesn't fix it I will start taking off bushings and looking at them. Thanks for all the help so far and I will keep you posted, and if you have anymore ideas please let me know.
Larry, follow the brake line from the front right hose all the way back to the distribution block and see if the line is crushed, or bent over somewhere. The right side is not being applied. Jack up the front and have someone apply the brake to the point of just locking the left, hold it, then go to the right side and see if you can turn the wheel. The right hose could have a blockage that you can't see by just bleeding because there can always be some fluid under pressure that gets to the wheel cylinder. Keep at it, you will find the problem. Some of these guys will give up some of there hair..
There is an easy way out of this. Goto a any shop for a free brake inspection. Have them find out the problem and tell them you are bringing it back on payday to get the work done. Then go home and do the work yourself. Give someone else the headache.
AAARRRRGGGGHHHHH It wasn't the wheel cylinder, and every parts store around here that I called does not carry and can not get radius arm bushings. I hope I dont have to go to the dealer. I am going to rebuild the left wheel cylinder tomorrow and see what that does. Stay posted and see if I cause myself bodily harm with further frustrations. If this doesnt work then I guess I will have to suck up my pride and take it to a someone who gets paid to figure this out.
Larry I had manual drums on my 73 and changed them out to power discs. Everything you need to do this is readily available and this site has aritcles to do it. The guys on this site walked me right thru it. I cannot believe the difference the discs make. Something to consider. Tony PS my X theory applies to GM products--Thanks to Earl B for the clarification and the info
No Longer FRUSTRATED Well I figured it out, before I tell you what it was I just want to thank everyone for helping me out. Tony, I plan on going to disc's in the future, I just dont want to rush it, I really want to make sure when I do it I have all the right parts and I prep for the change due to this being a daily driver. Now to what caused this furthering of hair loss. As you know I replaced the right wheel cylinder with zero results, then I got me a rebuild kit for the left side and priced radius arm bushings as someone had suggested. After rebuilding the wheel cylinder and putting everything back together I was having problems with keeping the adjuster lever on the adjuster. So I looked at the right side and surprise, surprise, surprise. The adjuster lever was bent, I took some pliers bent it to the correct shape and finished the job. NO MORE PULLING. I guess thats why they say to use the acronym KISS, Keep It Simple STUPID!!!!! Again thanks to everyone for all their help, and be sure of it, this wont be the last time you here me ask for help.
