Long time no see all, I havent posted much due to work and not really needing any help. But this is stumping me.

Im about to set this truck on fire.Im at my wits end. Let me preface this that I am not a novice mechanic, but it seems no matter what I do this problem cannot be cured and has been like this for at least 6 months.

Vehicle:
96 T100 x-cab 4x4, automatic. 16" wheels and 32" tires. 240k but very well taken care of.

1. Pulls when going down the road, more the road is crowned the more horrible it is. Driving in the fast lane on a major hwy means fighting the wheel a bit and turning it about 1/3-1/2 to the right. On flatter roads its still there but nowhere near as noticeable or bad.

2. Hit the brakes and IDK if the tire follows the road but it pulls to the left, not horribly but enough to notice. Doesnt matter if you hit them softly or hard, it pulls to the left and moves the wheel a bit if your loosely holding it. Hold the wheel tighter and you can correct it a bit.

I have literally tried everything, even taking it places and they cant seem fix it. 3 different alignment shops in the past 6 months. Even took to a friend last week and we checked it on his alignment rack-all in spec. Every place says every frontend component is fine. Everything is new besides the tie rod ends which are still in good shape. Ball joints, linkages, steering box, idler and pitman arm.

Everything related to brakes is dang near brand new. Rotors, pads, shoes, drums. I just did calipers, lines and wheel cylinders. There is no air in the system. Just today I checked the pistons in the calipers and they all move fine, lubed the slide pins, greased everything up. Wheel bearings were done 2000 miles ago and rechecked again a month ago by me, no issues-torqued according to the FSM.

I have played musical tires to no avail, thinking I had radial pull. I even tried my old 31" tires on stock alloys and it makes no difference besides the larger tires cause slightly more pull due to the width and large tread.

I mean I suppose the frame could be bent-but why didnt it to it till this past year if the frame was bent?

IDK what to do anymore but sell it and move on..

 

How good are those control arm bushings? I would be tempted to pull everything apart to physically inspect it all.

 

Could there be some issues on the back end? Broken springs, bad shocks, bad bushings. If there was, it would cause the front end to point in a different direction than what the steering wants it to be. Have someone follow you and see if the back end is pushing to one side or not.

 

It is a T100 The New Coke of Toyota:wabbit2:

 

Control arm bushings are good, replaced them maybe 20k ago.

All the back components are new down to the springs. All shocks are good.

 

Frame bent?

 

Bad torsion bar? Did you crank them at any point?

 

Nope, never cranked the torsions, dont think frame is bent-I havent anything since Ive had it the truck about 100k ago. Before that it was owned by an older gentleman who just towed his small boat with it and drove it around town. Guy was so meticulous servicing it too..

It has only started giving me these problems since my first alignment with the big tires. I had it aligned awhile back and they told me the steering box was bad so I got a rebuilt one. It does have minimal play (really not much more than the old one), but Im pretty sure I aligned it fine then.

Had the bigger tires on it before no issues. Had my stock alloys and 31's no problems

It has to be some sort of brake pull. If you hit the brakes even while going slowly down a flat road it yanks a bit left.

I just dont understand when everything is new. What else would cause a pull to the left front? Bad lines, bad caliper/sticking brakes or radial pull. But if it was just radial pull the wheel wouldnt move when you hit the brakes-least on a flat surface.

IDK I keep coming back to a bad line even though they are new...

I think since the lines are so cheap Ill just replace them again. Then take it back to a qualified shop and see wtf they say if it still pulls.

 

I know I'm reaching with this one...but could it be possible to have loose crossovers? Those are bolted in fer the 4WD, right?

Is it possible that something got tweaked when they replaced stuff (ball joints/tie rod ends) on the front end? Who did the work and how well do you trust them? Snap some piccies and post them. I'm curious how close the control arms are to the inside sidewall of the tires.

 

I very much doubt thats the case as the truck drove fine after all the BJ and frontend work. Infact after I did the work i sent it off to alignment and they got it dead on nuts perfect. Shop who did the work is a personal friend of mine and I trust the guy who did it.

At this point after much thought my alignment problems began after replacing the steering box. I wonder if something isnt adjusted right or perhaps the box is no good.

I made an appt next tues to go to a very reputable shop Ive dealt with before. After explaining my ordeal he said he would seriously try and fix it. They aligned my truck the last time and told me something was bad in the brake system. So replace all of that and alignment is in spec you woulda thought it was good.

 

Do you have ABS? Could the master be bad? Maybe some debris got caught up in one of the hard lines or at the brake line junction?

I know there's a tool that can measure the amount of force the brakes apply per wheel...not sure how common that tool is or how expensive it is to obtain.

 

Yea rear has abs. I dont think the masters bad, it seems fine. However it was odd ever since I replaced the rear axle I had poor brakes-adjusted the pushrod finally brakes are better.

Ever since I have had this truck the brake calipers have given me issues tho. Constantly locking up, none ever lasts more than 3-6 months. But in all cases I physically verified the pistons locked, pistons arent locking up in this case. Maybe it has something to do witht he master IDK. I must have flushed all the fluid out 3x by now having changed all the calipers multiple times and the lines now.

IDK anymore, Im gonna let the shop have a crack at it. Its probably something very simple and stupid I have overlooked. Whatever it is, if it cant be cured Ill be dumping this truck and buying a ford probably. Need a larger truck anyways but I will say a payment is gonna suck.

 

I have the same issue, but my truck is lifted and the t-bars are cranked my trucks pulls to the right when braking and wanders either left or right depends on the road, but it is annoying as fcuk, calipers are not seized, everything aside from the steering box is new on my 4runner, alignment is as close to spec as can be since the lift throws off everything on the front. Ive aligned it close to 3 times and it still does this (i work at a shop ).

But aside from my rant how are your tire pressures? A low tire can cause a pull and make a car wander.

 

Pressures are fine, I even played around from 30-45psi in all tires just to be sure.

Your similar problem is probably due to the lift, if I had one then Id be understand that was my issue. But no lift and everything being new im like wtf is going on here.

 

Have you considered using a reverse brake bleeder?
http://www.brakebleeder.com/

 

just throwing this out there since ABS was mentioned.. I had brake bleeding issues were the ABS controle valve had to be engauged to properly bleed the rears on a european car.. my truck is too old to have any fancyness like that

Also Motive Power bleeders are worth every penny IMO

 

Control arm bushings are bad. Looking over all my receipts I realized, I only replaced the drivers side lowers and that was about 3 years ago. Pass side is bad and drivers side uppers are bad.

Shop I took it to looked over it with a fine tooth comb and determined the bushings bad. Bushings arent too $$ but labor is. I do not have a press to do it myself nor the time for the truck to be down b/c its my only transportation. 800 bucks including parts and labor But the mech at the shop threw in the alignment, is going to check a host of other things and guarantees this is it. I sure hope so. This summer a timing belt is due and other than that the truck should run for another 200k easy.

 

At least you found the problem.

What are the chances of gitting a spare set of control arms and installing new bushings in those? Install the control arms when you git the chance. Would you be looking to install the Energy Suspension polyurethane control arm bushings vs the OEM rubber ones?

About $45 plus shipping and tax fer part number 8.3108 and should have bushings fer both upper and lower control arms. I believe you have to reuse the metal sleeve.
http://www.energysuspensionparts.com...sp?prod=8.3108

You should be able to find extra control arm sets using www.car-part.com.

A machine shop should be able to press the old ones out pretty easily and press in the new set. I remember reading a forum thread/watching a video on YouTube about burning the old bushings out first.

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f166...t-t100-151380/

Apparently...the polyurethane ones squeak.
http://www.ttora.com/forum/showthread.php?t=62864
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...acement-94700/

Also...it's common fer the adjustment cam bolt to git rusted in place as it's not lubed with grease to keep it from rusting up. You might have to git replacements fer those, too.

 

Thanks very much for the help Bam. But in the end I just paid the shop to do it. I didnt have much of a choice as right now the trucks my only vehicle and I needed it back asap and between work, school, etc there was no way Id have the time to do it either. Im waiting for them to call me today and say its done hopefully.

The poly bushings woulda been nice but I know all about how they squeak, had another car with them once and they drove me crazy. Had to lube them like every week!

 

This is turning out to be a very expensive month. Everything was done, it drove excellent-hell better than ever. Cept the truck kept pulling left. Took it back, played with it with them for awhile. Noticed the truck will drive straight than randomly want to go left or turn left slightly. Hmmm. Then mechanic noticed turning left to right-right turn is harder...hmm.

Conclusion, the power steering box is bad. I bought and put a cardone reman on myself 2 years ago..cheap pos junk. New ones not cheap, I dont have the time to do it myself and they said it would be done tomorrow afternoon. At least if it isnt right instead of being SOL its their problem..