My 80 yr old father in law has a 454ss truck with 60k miles on it. It suddenly started pulling to the right when you step on the brakes and it immediately comes back to the center, it gives a jerky uneasy feeling. He is concerned specially driving the truck in winter weather. I am not 100% sure what the problem could be, a contaminated brake pad on the left side, a bad caliper what do you guys think.

Thanks.

__________________
Thanks, Juan

First guess without seeing it is a bad rubber flex line at the caliper. Next one would be a front end issue.

Your grampa is awesome for having, and driving, such a powerful truck. Hope he is able to handle it decently.

__________________
95 Honda Shadow ACE 1100.
1999 Plymouth Neon Expresso. 2.4 swap, 10.5 to 1 comp, big cams. Autocross time attack vehicle!
2012 Escape, 'hunter" (5 sp 4cyl)

Could be a brake line or a ball joint failing.

Chevys from that era all eat ball joints.

rjp

__________________
03 540I (GAK!!)
81 280E (W123)
70 LeMans Sport with pissed off Poncho 462"
1989 Silverado Step Side (under the knife- complete restomod)

Thanks for the replies. He loves cars and he still has an original Avanti from 1963. Fully restored.

__________________
Thanks, Juan

I have a 92 Chevrolet and have had problems with the floating caliper not moving back and forth on the long caliper bolt. There are o-rings on the caliper bolts that deteriorate and dirt or water could get in there to interfere with the free movement.

When you buy aftermarket replacement pads they usually don't include the set of o-rings for the caliper bolts, so they tend to get neglected. In fact, the last time I did brakes, I used aftermarket pads (Autozone) and they did not come with o-rings (the stealer wanted $350 for front pads).

In the past, I found that cleaning these bolts up, regreasing them and replacing the o-rings solved the problem. If the calipers are not floating properly, it could cause one brake to work better than the other, resulting in a pulling tendency.

__________________
1993 400E, 256,000 miles (totaled)
1994 E420, 200,000+ miles
1995 E420, 201,000 miles

If it initially pulls to the right and the corrects while still braking, the LF brake hose is restricted. It may also momentarily go left when the brake pedal is released. I had that problem on an old Blazer, a new hose fixed it right up.

Thanks for the replies, I will check the calipers and hoses.

__________________
Thanks, Juan