When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
First:
Truck veers left when braking, hard or medium application of brakes. Lots of good meat left on pads, 38k miles. Rotate pads?
Second:
Sixty lbs in the tires (I want 80 for fuel economy), highway speeds 50+, making a curve on the Interstate, hit bumps. The front end will scamper to the outside of the curve. I know this and am always ready for it, never enough to leave the lane I'm in. Do I need an off-road stab bar?
Third:
Normal acceleration from a stop, less than a half tank of fuel. It feels like the rear wheels are jumping up and down or shuddering, kind'a like a washboard effect but VERY VERY slight. I'm baffled on this one.
Id check for a frozen caliper on the right side brakes, front and rear to solve the first problem. As for the second, I dont really understand what you are asking, is the front hopping to the outside of the curve? If so, maybe new shocks are in order. The third problem, shuddering under acceleration, sounds like a bad U-joint, or one that is on its way to being bad. Hope some of this helps.
First:
Truck veers left when braking, hard or medium application of brakes. Lots of good meat left on pads, 38k miles. Rotate pads?
I had a pretty bad pull to the right and finaly found the problem on mine. It was those slide pin deals that the caliper bolts too.. they were rusted inside. If you pull the caliper off, then remove those pins and clean them very well, and clean the hole they go into, you can then use some lube (make sure you get caliper lube from a parts store that is made for the high heat!) and slide them on back in. Do all four in the front, put everything back together and see if that helps. I did both sides and it solved my problem. I used a shotgun barrel brush deal to clean the rust from inside.
It could be bad brake pads, switch the front left side to the right side and the right to left to see if it pulls the other way. This would indicate if it is the pads.
The second sounds like "bump steer". Could be worn linkage or the bearings are going south, Steve. The steering stabilizer is always a good idea.
The third sounds like normal axle wrap, although there have been members here that have found that the driveshaft was out of balance - and some have found their carrier bearing to be worn. Have you checked the ubolts the hold the diff in place? They could be loose. I would check all those, inspect the carrier bearing and, if it gets worse, check into getting the driveshaft balanced.
But, if it is subtle, then it could be just plain axle wrap.
Steve,
2wd or 4wd? As for the shudder, check the carrier bearing, the rubber around some of them goes away pretty fast. The 6.0 liter trucks are notorious for this problem, but the 7.3's and even the gas trucks do it to a certain extent. If it is a 2wd,
they need all the shock they can get, as Cadillac suggested. Buy some Bilstien 5100's,
best shock on the market for factory height superduty's.
p.s. A bunch of trucks (especially 6.0's) were going back to the dealer for the 'shudder', if the rubber looks good around the carrier, you may end up shimming the carrier between 1/8 and 3/8 of an inch. Every truck is different. The longbeds generally take less shim than shortbeds.
My truck has been hopelessly hopping down the roads for about 2 years and I've finally had it. It's going to the driveline shop next week for new u-joints, driveshaft rebalance, and shims in the carrier bearing, and possibly a new carrier bearing as well (if needed). I need to eliminate all the possibilities of just blaming my crappy ride on my wonderfully designed pro comp lift. Note sarcasm!!!
Tires are good, this was all happening before they were rotated last week.
Got the truck from the dealer with 85 lbs in all tires. I dropped it to 60 for a better ride but now considering bringing it up to 80 for fuel economy.
I'll run a tank through and see if it helps, if not, I'll bring 'em back down.
I have to recommend NOT swapping brake pads from one side to the other, as the pads and rotor become a matched set of friction surfaces after bedding in and develop distinctive wear patterns.
At the least, the unmatched pad/rotor combination would result in an unsuitable result to judge by, as braking characteristics will be skewed. In the worst case, braking abilty would be significantly compromised.
Rezvani's Latest Post-Apocalyptic Monster Is a Ford F-150 Raptor Underneath
Slideshow: Called the Fortress, the 850-horsepower pickup combines Raptor underpinnings with military-inspired features, survival equipment, and a starting price of $285,000.