Help from Uganda. 80 Series pulling left...

[baggy]

Hi guys,

I'm running a 93' 80 series (HDJ81) out here in Uganda and struggling with a problem that three separate mechanics are failing to solve. In summary, the car continues to pull hard left when travelling on straight road with no input from the driver. It will practically go around a mild left bend by itself. We've put in new Toyota tie rod ends on the front and replaced the steering box too. We've used multiple different alignment shops, had the wheels balanced multiple times and I've even replaced all four tyres for brand new ones, but still no answer.

If anyone has any ideas, I'd be incredibly grateful as right now I'm stuck for an answer to solve this, well at least good (and some bad) mechanics are!

Let me know if you have any other questions and I will answer them as best I can. I'm running Icon shocks and slinky springs from Julien at Overland LC, but this problem is much more recent than when I fitted these some years back now.

Cheers in advance.

Chris

 

[Ben Stratford]

Have you checked the brakes chris? Most of these issues that i have had are seized calipers. Hopefully its something simple.

 

[Higgy]

With Ben on this one, Next time your driving and experiencing it pulling to the left just try the brakes gently if it seems to worsen the pulling left .. then id go for seized/sticking Calliper It doesn't have to be grabbing much to start pulling it one way or the other... Good luck

 

[Waldamar]

With Ben on this one, Next time your driving and experiencing it pulling to the left just try the brakes gently if it seems to worsen the pulling left .. then id go for seized/sticking Calliper It doesn't have to be grabbing much to start pulling it one way or the other... Good luck

Agree, plus if it is a binding caliper one should be hotter than the other. Failing that has the vehicle suffered a thwack you don't know about? Any other drivers? Possibly somethings bent............... good luck

 

[Jake the Peg]

Another easy pointer for brakes is if one wheel is blacker than the other! Can you see your brake pads through your wheels, do the look thinner from either side?

Do a visual check around the truck and see if anything looks different to either side. I'd assume tyre pressures are checked and are the same / correct

Measure form the centre of front and rear hubs on both side to make sure the wheelbase is the same for both sides, and also check if your tyres are rotational, and fitted to the correct direction

Can you jack up both front wheels, is the steering action smooth and free, are the hub swivel bearings greased and free?

cheers

 

[baggy]

Cheers all for the quick replies, much appreciated. We are going to investigate the possibility of a seizing caliper this coming week and see how that goes. She is pulling left a lot under heavy break (although sometimes it feels like it goes right), so this make sense.

@Jake - the wheels are painted black, which doesn't help matters (!), but we can check the measurements and check out hub bearings - thanks for that. I had it front end overhauled recently and everything greased up too. Tyres pressured checked too which hasn't made a difference.

Here goes...

 

[Chris]

Agree with all of that, but we don't know your truck's history. It could possibly be the top and bottom kingpin bearings . If it's been parked a long time (many are) with the wheels not straight ahead, then you might have some Brinelling in the outer races that effectively snaps the steering over to one side. Most people get this in the straight ahead position so they don't notice it.

With the steering arms disconnected, you can rotate the hubs. If there's any wear, you'll feel the hub almost spring into a locked position. They must be smooth all the way through rotation. People get their tracking done whcih puts their wheels out of sync with the bearings and then wonder why the car doesn't drive straight anymore

 

[Jake the Peg]

Baggy, just wipe your fingers round wheel, if the brake is sticking you’ll get dirty fingers!

Cheers

 

[clivehorridge]

Apart from what has been said, the only other reason for pulling one way is alignment IMO, which should show when taking measurements as advised above.

Check the bushings on the radius arms, both on each arm at the axle and the one at the chassis mount.

My money will be on the sticking caliper no.1, worn bushings no.2 and Cris’ kingpin bearings no.3.

The most common reason is odd tyres and/or pressures, but you say they’re recently new and the pressures checked.

 

[Grimbo]

Don't forget to check the rear axle links and bolts , rear steer can feel like it comes from the front .

 

[frank rabbets]

With Chris on the king pin bearings. Usually they wear is in the correct dead ahead position and partially lock the steering there. If the car has been driven a long way with incorrect tracking and then the tracking is corrected the grooves in the bearings try and spring the steering back to where it likes to be thus causing a pull to one side, or one side then the other.

I would go for a 5 mile drive without using the brakes, park up, and see if one front side is hot.

You could jack the front axle up and start the engine to power the steering up. obviously the steering, when turned should not feel biased. If it is biased the fault is in the steering system including front king pins.

 

[AndyCook]

You can also check for sticking brake caliper by jacking up the vehicle and turning the wheels by hand, if one is harder to turn than others, could be sticky pistons

 

[baggy]

Cheers all for the advice and input from this great community. We finally diagnosed it as a sticking brake caliper as many folk pointed out and she's now running straight once more. Thanks once more.

 

[frank rabbets]

Crikey.......a correct result..

 

[Higgy]

Crikey.......a correct result..

I think that was a 100% hit rate Frank... Staggering