Brakes pulling to the right

96K miles 2015 TRDOR.

I had warped rotors and worn tires, so took the truck to a local shop, got pads, rotors and lines redone, with Toyo AT3 265/75/16s put on. Drums were not touched.

Shop owner is awesome and took me on a test drive, because he was concerned about the brakes pulling right. They do, but only during hard breaking and only it seems at the beginning of the braking sequence. It’s not terribly significant and if I have my hands on the steering wheel it’s not noticeable. I have to brake hard with my hands of the wheel to see the truck really pull right. In normal breaking everything tracks straight.

Shop owner is concerned about a bad ABS actuator sending too much pressure to the right side. Now, I don’t know anything about the ABS but I would think the ABS valve would only moderate when ABS is actuated? His other theory was that it may be an issue in the drum brakes in the rear. I have to take it back for the alignment and he’ll get I’ll the drums at that time to take a look.

There are a lot of threads on this but none I found with this issue right after a new brake job.

Owner said brakes bled fine. No check engine light but I have not attempted to pull codes.

Thoughts?

 

Drum brake self adjusters don’t self adjust very good. You need to manually adjust them yourself. If this hasn’t been done on a regular basis, I've seen the wheel cylinders over extend, the pistons pop out, brake fluid leaks out causing slipping.

Take a look at the back side, the bottom of the backing plates, you might see brake fluid.

You should pull the drums & look. Get a bunch of brake cleaner first, 6 cans should do. Too much is better than not enough. If you don’t see leaks, take a peek behind the wheel cylinder rubber boots. You can use some small needle nose pliers, just barely pull them outwards, if brake fluid is in there, plan to replace them. If the boot pops off, it isn’t that difficult to put it back on. Wash all that brake dust off, don’t breathe the dust. I hold my breath, stand back and spray it with brake cleaner to wet it, then get closer and blast it clean. Check how much meat is left on the shoes and the condition of the drums. If they look glazed shiny, I scuff them with emery cloth as evenly as possible. If they’re grooved, they should be machined.

Adjusting, theres a specific procedure. Something like tighten until you can’t spin the drum, back off 15 clicks. Before you put the drum back on, you can use the opportunity to stick your adjuster tool through the hole to see how you need to do it. Also how you'll need to push something against the lever to get it off the star to be able to back off.

 

Thanks — the shop is going to pull both drums when I take it back. Not something I want to fuck with. I needed the truck for tomorrow and shop closes for the week on Fri. They still owe me an alignment. Hoping the issue is in the drum.

 

I’d test your front left caliper. One of the pistons is probably stuck. Seen this a few times.
Your rear would have to almost lock up to pull you to the side.

I got over 200k on the drums on my last taco and only changed them when I had to change a rear wheel bearing.

 

Calipers are new as well…

 

Then you need to adjust the rear brakes.
If I were to guess, the left rear is way out of adjustment.

But, it’s a guess.

 

Yes, like I said, the drums will be inspected when I bring the truck back next week.

I started this thread to see if there was any validity to the thought that the problem could be a bad ABS actuator, or if there were any ideas for possible issues other than the rear drums.

 

While it’s not impossible, I highly doubt it would be a bad abs module.

 

Oh I forgot to add: 265/75/16 rub on the miniature mud flap forward of the front tires, when in reverse and fully turned. This is on a 2” suspension lift. I was quite surprised. Luckily I can remove or trim the flap.