'99 superduty with 70,000 miles, PSD, 4x4, auto.

When under hard braking conditions the truck and steering wheel pulls hard to the left. I have done several forum searches on this topic but no real solutions.
Repair history

*The front rotors when turned and new pads were installed @ 60,000 miles, the problem started several months after the repairs.
*New front ball joints. (Truck pulled hard before and after the repairs)
*Rear bakes have not been touched.
*Lubed the slides on the front rotors. (no luck)
*Rotated the tires (no Luck)

The problem seems to be intermittent and can pull severely at times.

Thanks for help in advance

John

 

I have the same problem jpatter.

I have an '02 SD with 18000 miles - F350 V10 CC SB.

Didn't pull to the left to bad when new - Had it aligned after I adde the front leveling kit and it drove great.

It's slowly been drifting back to the left and depending on how hard I hit the brakes, it'll take a big dive.

When I was at the tire shop getting new wheels, another SD owner was there and said he had the same problem - they could never get it to go straight no matter how many times he had it aligned - always pulled to the left....

oh well...

-superV10

 

hey, I just sent jpatter and email.

I have a 99 PSD F-350 SRW Automatic. I had the same exact problem. Had a brake job done with NAPA pads and front rotors turned. I had to think about it after I sent the email but, it was about a month or so after when my truck started pulling. Sorry, I had to go and check my records. But, to make a long story short, I brought it to a Ford dealer, a friend of the family is the service manager. He had several mechanics drive it and they thought they should start with the pads and rotors. Next, the hoses and finally at last resort the accumilator. Well, new pads and rotors did the trick. Over 7k miles and still working fine. Any more questions please feel free to email me.

I spent too much money and cannot get my tuff-country leveling kit and Racho 9000's now for a while. Ouch.

 

If it is only pulls left during braking, then it's probably not an alignment issue. I'd check the pads & rotors.

 

I have been told by folks that I think know what they are talking about, that ALL Ford products have the front alignment set to slightly pull right. This is for "sleeping driver" and "hands off steering" product liability reasons. All of my Fords pull slightly right so I tend to believe it..... if someone thinks this is another urban myth, please post with some empirical evidence.

Vehicles that pull shaprly one way or the other during braking have only TWO possible causes:

The brakes are not appling same drag to each side equally. Pads first, then rotors is the fix, almost never is proportioning valve or mastercylinder, but can be pinched crossover line on rear axle due to some numskull hitting and crimping during LIFT install

Or while braking, the steering components have out of tollerance wear that causes the wheel or wheels to point other than dead ahead.... on 4x4 this can be a whole slew of components that are worn, but mostly the rod ends or idler bushings are worn and allow the steering to go toe in/out or right/left

In each case any COMPETENT mechanic can diagnose and fix the problem first time every time.

Of course I know a guy who will look out his window at a near topless busty babe, stab the brakes, cross the line, look up, sharply steer out of oncomeing cars way , then declare that his truck pulls left and I should let go of the hand hold and stop screeming.....

 

i have no empiracle evidence to rebut the belief that all fords are slightly set to the right for alignment. i could see how that could be true.
however, i think it would be difficult to prove one way or the other, without someone taking specs from vehicles. seeing how most roads have a grade/slope to the right for water drainage, etc it would be hard to tell.
All of us are now going to let go of the wheel after we read this...but even without an off center (right-sided) alignment, we should still drift off to the right (most of the time) due to the road slope asleep or not. make sense?

 

For me this is kinda one of those pet peeve subjects we all tend to get when out forum snoopin

Of course CrazyWilly is correct, the darned road crown or the dreaded groved highway make it near impossible to test for "straight ahead" or "wander" steering behaviors.

In fact if I never went on long trips I wouldn't ever know or care on most of my vehicles.... but I do, so after 4+ hours of holding three to five pounds of either left or right input on the 'wheel then it becomes annoying.

I am only one of very many F250 owners where I work. Since I bought the Platinum that they all wanted (but could not or would not justify the $$$$$) Any who, we all chat and compare exreriances, and there are more than a few of us who troll here and the other site.

Wandering and slight pulls are a common complaint with these giant trucks.

And CrazyWilly, you are mostly true on the drift, but not in all cases....take the four lane divided highway as an example...

Many engineers crown the two lanes in the center so that half the water flows to the right into drainage and half flows left into the median section.... on these streches of road in the left lane my truck tends to track straighter than on the right lane

Of course this is just ancedotal(sp?) evidance

 

oops... i forgot about 4 lane highways!

i guess i will have to drive down the middle of the road to check it out!?

 

Lets see the issue was hard left when braking

I will always suspect pads and then rotors then steering components in that order

CrazyWilly, just paid attention to your future 250...neat truck you will like it eaven if you have to tote half ton of steel plow on the front.... Do you drop it in the summer so you can enjoy that beast in the mountains?

 

its actually a "minute mount" plow, (which takes more like 5 minutes to install/remove) so its off most of the time. you just drive into it when it snows. pretty ingeniuos (sp?). i guess it should be for $3500. I have a similar one on my '89 now and if definately puts some added weight on the front end (about 800lbs). talk about steering you in one direction or the other....it really takes some getting used to. oh, tight parking lots are fun too!

oh, and i guess we got a little off subject, huh! yes....i second that....pads & rotors!

 

Well I can tell you that with the plow off you should not notice any hard left or right pulling in the mountains of the north east. On the other hand you will need to wear a bib first time out as the V10 propells you past every dodge and chevy climbing the mountain you will be grinning and drooling something terrible. The PCM on the V10 does an excellent job of tuning for the altitude.....much power

 

its great...there are very few v10's out here (in NH) it seems. for instance...the dealer lot has 55 f250-350's and only 2 are v10s.

and besides wizzin past everyone, its nice to have a truck thats not too common.

i can't wait!!!!

 

Let me guess, it's a Ford, right? I've heard that there is a fuse you can pull to disable the "automatic lane change when braking" function, but I haven't been able to find it yet.

'86 F-350 4x4 "Betty" ... pulls right

'96 F-250HD 4x4 PSD ... pulls left

 

heres another possible cause. if your trucks are lifted , did you install a dropped pitman arm ? if not the problem is likely just bumpsteer. when the brakes are applied the front end dives and in turn causes the truck to pull to one side. i have three lifted trucks and they all do this to some extent. just something to think about.

 

I had the same problem (pull left on braking) on my 99 4x4 CC. The mechanic I take my vehicles to said sticking calipers were a problem he's seen on these trucks. He replaced mine. So far it's working well and braking is now straight ahead.