82 f150, 4x4, stock suspension, 33" tires.

So before we go into detail to much here, I am going to eventually do a SAS on this truck, but who knows when time/money will allow for that to happen, so for now, just need some input from you guys to see what can be done with this setup.

Recently, I replaced the radius arm bushings with new polyurethane bushings, put in adjustable camber eccentrics (had to drill and chisel the old ones out) which wrecked the upper ball joints so put in new upper & lower ball joints to go with it, before that, had replaced the spindle bearings, seals, wheel bearings, basically rebuilt the entire front end.

I did the alignment in the driveway using my angle finder and got it pretty close, I'd take it for a drive and it would feel ok then start pulling again. So I took it to the alignment shop. The alignment shop had the truck for a week, they ended up putting a different adjustable eccentric in on the drivers side to get the truck where they wanted it. Get the truck back, felt decent for a few rides, then starts pulling to the left again.

It's frustrating, I'm not sure why it's pulling and being such a pain in the ***. I have a set of 33 x 12.5 15 bf good rich mud tires with at least 90% tread all around and I don't want to wear through them abnormally.

Question for you guys is, is it pretty much useless trying to keep messing with the alignment on this truck, are stock suspensions with over sized tires prone to problems no matter how good it's setup? Could the squishy nature of these tires be causing the truck to wander even though everything may be set to spec.

Again, a SAS will come eventually but I'd still like to drive and enjoy my truck, any input would be appreciated!

 

Pulling isn't always alignment, often it's sticking brakes.

 

I'll have to check them, truck has had new pads, rotors, lines flushed & bled within the past two years, I've only drove the truck a few hundred miles since all the brake work. I do have a sneaking suspicion that my booster needs to be replaced, I'll have to check those front calipers again!

 

Most often a sticking caliper.

 

Got to jack up the truck this morning, passenger side turns very freely (maybe to freely?) and the drivers side does not. Remanned ford brake calipers at autozone are 20 bucks, so if it needs to be replaced, it'll be a cheap fix!

 

From video looks like you answered your own question. I can hear pads dragging on a driver's side. And sounds like bearing on passengers side.

 

I'll have to take the hub apart and check them out, but that other sound on the passenger side, took me a minute to figure that out, there is a pebble or something along those lines inside the tire!

 

have someone step on the brake pedal while you are spinning the passenger side tire. my bet is it will keep spinning because the caliper is seized.

 

Had my father hold the brake pedal, passenger side caliper is operating as it should, I couldn't get the wheel to spin when he had the brakes applied.

I replaced the drivers side caliper, bled, now it's sticking way worse than before, something else is going on in the system but I am not sure what.

 

check the rubber hose from the frame to the caliper. it sounds like the inner jacket is collapsed and letting fluid to the caliper under pressure, but not letting it return back to the master.

easy way to tell: pump up the brakes until it sticks and the wheel will not turn.
crack loose the bleeder. it should let off pressure and the wheel now spins. then pump up the brakes until the wheel stops turning again, and crack the line loose at the frame side of the soft line. if there is no pressure and the wheel is still locked up, the soft hose is bad.

 

Treid cracking at the bleeder, and at the frame, it did not release the pressure in either instance, the wheel would not turn. I replaced the hose, re bled, and the wheel still wont turn. The hard line coming from the distribution block is free of any kinks, leads me to believe that either something is wrong in the distribution block (not sure if that's the proper name for it) is bad or the caliper I just purchased is bad.

Anyone know the proper name for this distribution block thing where all the lines go into?

 

if opening the bleeder did not release pressure so you can turn the wheel, it sounds like you got a bad caliper.
i do not used rebuilds because you have no idea if the underpaid crackhead did the work properly or not.
even buying new units is a crapshoot anymore with so many inferior parts coming from china.
try removing the caliper and compressing the pistons. they should move in freely. if they bind, there is your problem.

 

The piston moved back in fairly easily using a C-clamp. I am out of daylight here so any further investigating will be done tomorrow. This new caliper makes it about 4 times harder to turn the wheel. I have to put a pry bar between the wheel studs to get it to turn.

 

Most stuck calipers are not the piston but the caliper bracketry and how it retains and moves the pads. Basically the pads getting jammed against the rotor and bracket. I don't remember enough about the specific details of those calipers to help further.


Addition
Pay special attention to how well the pads move with the portion that has the piston removed. Pay attention to the little parts, the retention and anti rattle clips and use a sticky silicone grease where appropriate.

 

Sometimes you have to file of rough edges and some of the coating from pads to let them move freely in slides.