adamdinat

My 79 pulls right when driving and left upon braking. When I bought the car the half shafts and spring had been replaced. The drivers side was was toed out. I replaced the trailing arm and strut bushings this winter. I used a Vette brakes Polyurathane kit for the trailing arm bushing. This uses shims between the washers which makes for a fat stackup on the trailing arm. My drivers side has no inside alignment shims and is at 0 according to the shop which aligned the car. The passengers side and front are aligned to spec. The car has a rebuilt Power steering controller which I am not sure was set up correctly. It leaks pretty severely and I will be replacing that. The brakes seem fine with all wheels turning freely on when up on a jack.

Is this miss alignment causing the handing issue or should I be looking elsewhere before going back into the TA.

There are plenty of shims on both sides of the inside of the bushing stack. How much shim is need to create the toe in of 1/8" from wher it is now at zero?

mrvette

In the rear you should have about the same amount of shims on either side of the t-arms on each side...within an 1/8 inch or so....
get it on a lift, and check for RUST and/or accident damage on the frame, for sure really carefully where the t-arms go into the frame, the rails and thwarts, and then go over the front suspension super carefully, looking for damage or repairs from accidents..... and be sure the Ball joints and control arm bushings are tight and secure....easily told by them looking concentric with the end bolts, you can see that rubber easily....check tie rod ends, and of course that idler arm for vertical slop....

may even check wheel bearings for play...front and rear....

GENE

adamdinat

What are some of the signs of accident damage?

I checked things pretty carefully with the car on jacks this winter. Its rusty to be sure but the frame is pretty solid in the problem areas. I did not see an signs of welding replacement of body parts. Everything is uniformly filthy under there. The TA bolts and shims were pretty rusted and the shim pocket was full of dirt. These had defintely not been off since the car was young if at all.

goofygrin

it could be brakes still... if a caliper line is old and moldy it will cause wierd pulling problems on braking.

nicecurves79

i would think that the problem is most likely in the alignment or the brakes. since you seem to have had it aligned look into the brakes first. or could be an element of both.

mrvette

Except Adam says it changes direction when braking.....I suspect front end problems more than rear.....

personally I find every old car I ever work on....I totally scrape and degrease everything completely clean, take a day off in the driveway, jack the damn thing up, pull the wheels, and buy a case of degreaser and carb cleaner, and wire brushes, putty knives, and have at it...might get a couple of cans of paint thinner also, with paint brushes AFTER the heavy crap is cleaned off....
this way you can actually SEE the rust, damage, parts, bolts, nuts, etc....
and you can spot what's actually happening....
I think off hand you have either broken frame mounts on the front suspension, or badly worn/aged front end parts....something is shifting, in the caster or the car would not constantly pull....needing stredy correction to the wheel....you may want to see if that controll valve is neutral also...but that would NOT by itself cause the car th shift directions when hitting the brakes...
you may have a combo of two problems, that valve setting for newtral steering with engine running...there is a dust cap then a bolt on the end of that valve...it's needing adjusting with wheels off and up in the air, engine running...see if the wheels turn by themselves...that's indication of that valve being out of whack...very carefully adjust for completely neutral....might drop the end of the steering assist cylinder off that frame mount if the feel of the thing is problematical to you....that way you get completely centered really easy....but takes extra effort to pull that shaft out of there....

wonder if in fact the brakes are not grabbing???? entire another story then...

GENE

Let 'er eat!

My was doing the left upon braking - new front calipers and hoses fixed that..

Mack

Mine was pulling right and then "darting" to the left when the brakes were used. The right front brake hose wasn't letting the caliper bleed down after the brakes were released. I changed the hose and bled the front and the problem went away.

ddecart

Has it been on an alignment rack? If so, what are the current settings?

My car did a similar thing. It would lead one way (lead as opposed to a pull...kinda like the difference between a slice and a fade in golf) under accel and the other under decel.

Had it aligned by a good shop. The thrust angle was off a touch and that made all the difference in the world.

MYBLU71

If your rubber brake hoses have not been replaced, I would recommend that. I was having a pull during braking and also the rear wheels were getting hot even after a rebuild of the bearings and new spindles... The hoses are collapsed inside and not releasing pressure from the calipers.. could be your problem.
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