Bad to worse (pulling)!

[Railing68]

I have had an Ls 1 12" swap done for quite a while with pretty good results, except some brake drag on the drivers side and that I am only able to lock up the passenger side front brake on HARD application.

I recently had the drum hub (Drvr side) additionally turned down which stopped the dragging issue due to the hat of the rotor not seating 100%.

I also re-plumbed the drivers hard line and replaced the caliper thinking that was the issue prior to realizing the hub was the Drag causing culprit.

To give the correct time line on what I have done,

1. re-bent hardline, rebled and brakes worked well.
2. autocrossed car 2weeks ago and brakes worked well but dragged on drivers side (drag could only be noticed by wear on the rotor and jacking up the wheel).

3. turned hub and replaced driver side caliper and turned rotor.

I drove the car today after reassembly and I am getting a very hard pull to the passenger side.

The brakes were bled thoroughly and pedal is firm.

I am very frustrated due to fact that the brakes were working well aside from the dragging prior to all this work and now the Pulling has been amplified x 20. My first thought is air in the drivers side caliper but; pedal is firm and system has been bled, and passenger side always seemed to get more pressure.

Why would one side with more hard line get more pressure to the caliper?

Please help, it has to be something simple, the symptoms I had have now gotten worse (aside from drag)!

I have a vacu-bleeder and have used it before and still not made any real difference.

It is like to drivers side is not hardly getting any pressure compared to passeger side now!
SS

[Madspeed]

Its not that one line is longer than the other.
you should work your wy back from the caliper.
If you have a brake pressure tester you can read the line pressures at each caliper bleeder.
(If you were close to me I could help you as I have all the test equip)
so you need to have somone at least push the pedal with the bleeder open and see if you have a good flow,
if you do then you caliper is not sliding and clamping the rotor.
if you dont then you have a possible bad hose to caliper, remove the hose from caliper and have somone push pedal again,
if no flow then move up to the hardline and remove the hose and test again,
if no flow then your T fitting might be plugged w some POS.

Let me know Iif this helps or PM me Ill try tohelp out best I can

Ken F @ Madspeed

[Vegas69]

You are not supposed to only turn one side. You must turn both front rotors at the same time. Also you need to check your rotor thickness to see if it is within specs. If one side is to thin that can cause a pull as well. Check the rotor thickness and if they are within spec lightly turn both and it should fix it. If they are not within spec replace them.

[Railing68]

Thanks for the reply,

The rotors were new Baer Eradispeeds (1000 miles), and they are within a couple .thousandths, only reason I turned one is because of drag issue.

The main reason I changed the hardline was due to tight bends and short length of the previous line Changed from 13"-20" line and it didn't pull with the new line and old caliper. I

I did everything in a fairly systematic fashion.

But now it wants to change lanes when brakes are applied.

The T-fitting is the next logical thing, but I really don't understand how the calipers aren't getting even pressure.

All this work and $ I am worse off than before, I can't drive this car until this thing is right.

The Flex lines aren't that old less than a year.

What could cause a pressure differential?

Bends on the lines?

I can have the other turned but I have a feeling that the pressure issue will still exist
SS

[Jim Nilsen]

Both sides not being equal might mean that it is the other side not working the same which you already know but maybe the other side is the one with the problem? Just a thought when things just are not getting solved by looking at one side only as the problem.

For what it is worth I understand your frustration. I have had problems on machines that finally went away when everyone decided to finally just tear it all apart and put it back together even though there was no apparent reason for the problem that could be seen.

Jim Nilsen

[MonzaRacer]

OK if you have a pull you first jack it up , open the master cyl lid, open the bleeders one at a time and see if you have similar drip rate .Since this is a PT car I will assume that your bleeders are clean and un crud encrusted.
Another thing to do is carefully push all pistons back into calipers and see if they are stiff, If you had some minor trash get into one you may have one piston dragging.
Also try to lide your calipers back and forth (ie do your calipers float on pins or are they fixed? If they are fixed carfully check to see if they are not in a bind (ie bent/warped mounts, improper shimming).
Also if you have bad flow from bleeder then remove hard line and see if it drips more or less evenly, if not go check your lines/t fittings etc for a restriction.
Another thing isare they dragging at rest or just dragging differently at braking?

[BirdMan]

I work pt in an Advance Auto Parts store and some GM vehicles have experienced a deterioating brake hose as is crumbles/restricts only on the return sequence, not on the out/pressure sequence as you can put more pressure on it. I would try replacing all hoses, even on the rear whether you are having trouble there or not. Sometimes if a rear is dragging it will control the pull to that side and air in the system will not let all the pressure get to the caliper/cyl as AIR compresses.

[Vegas69]

The reason I think its a rotor problem is because he didn't have the problem before he turned the rotor. Some rotors are not turnable as well. Normally crossdrilled rotors are not. Check with Baer.

[Madspeed]

The reason I think its a rotor problem is because he didn't have the problem before he turned the rotor. Some rotors are not turnable as well. Normally crossdrilled rotors are not. Check with Baer.

Dam how did I not think of that

[Conekiller13]

I've turned cross drill rotors with no issuses many times. Anyway, it shouldn't be a rotor issue, He said he machined the hub not the rotor because the rotor wasnt seating properly.

Does the car still have drum brakes in the rear? Are they properly adjusted? When the car pulls does the steering wheel turn or does the car just pivot? If the steering wheel turns when it pulls You have a differance in brake force in the front. If the car pivots Your problem is generally in the rear. If has drums in the rear make sure Your drums are within .020" and the brakes are adjusted equally.

I would start with procuring a brake presure gauge and verify You have equal pressure left to right. If You do not, then back track up the system untill You locate the source if the difference.

[MonzaRacer]

Sounds like a either a partially collapsed hose holding preasure or something keeping preasure on that side.
If you have regular bleeders oep them up and you should get a steady drip at ablout same speed on both sides. If not you have a restriction some where.
If you have custom stainless lines it may have a blockage at the crimp end.
if you unhook the steel line from the hose it should drip at near same rate on both sides, and it works better if you open the master cylinder.
Good luck