I've got three seemingly small problems.
1. Squeaky brakes, and the rotors and pads are almost new
2. A dragging, noticable only at low speeds, sporatically
3. When applying a solid ammount of braking power, the truck pulls from side to side.

The squeaking I'm not concerned about in itself, although I'd like an explanation. The dragging, which I posted as "surging engine power" does catch my attention. I'm now positive it's some short of dragging, as it matches the rotation of the wheels, and when ideling forward the variation is noticeably consistant and speeds up when I do. It is random, although it seems to happen more when I'm getting low on gas. Could weight effect some quirk in the front brakes? The third problem is that when braking strongly the truck begins swerving slightly back and forth, like a weak fishtail effect. It's a little unnerving. It happened a week or so ago in the rain, which I dismissed as a lack of traction. Today it happened again on dry pavement. I'm going to jack it up and test the balljoints and steering as soon as possible. All these things seem to share the possibility of being brake-related. Could this all be one problem? I'm also getting a new squeak from the front left side when going over small variations in the road, probably some bushing, but who knows. I want to get a leveling kit, but I think this stuff comes first, considering the alignment issues it needs to be right. It's not an emergency, but the yellow light stops feel a little too shakey to ignore.

 

'96 302 XLT. Anyone?

 

If I were you I'd check for a warped rotor or two. This could cause the feel of side to side motion which would coincide with the revolution of the wheels.

 

I would also check for loose or worn out wheel bearings. They can sometimes cause brakes to squeal.

When you jack it up to check the ball joints, see if the wheel has any play on the spindle. If there is any play you will probably need another set of eyes or hands - one to jiggle the wheel and one to look for the source of the sloppiness.

Be safe when sticking you head under a jacked-up truck!

 

Well, when I got the truck, the brakes pulsated, and they turned the rotors. This failed, and they put in brand new ones. The brakes now feel fine, pretty good actually. Didn't think of wheel bearings though. Maybe that would explain the slight drag too. I'll take a look.