UBJ Blown and outer tire wear. OME 881 & 5100. What gives? (Was Front End & Brake Conundrum.)

It's possible for iy to be drawing microscopic bubbles past a wheel cylinder seal. It should have cleared up eventually. Try putting a 1 foot long piece of vacuum hose over the bleeder. Crack the bleeder open and let it gravity bleed and see if it clears up.
You will get alot of air noise when bleeding the brakes. This is do to the pedal moving so much farther then normal. It has to pull air into the inside of the chamber.
It will be a little soft then build up solid. If your rear brakes are out of adjustment it will take longer to get solid. Also the tundra upgrade makes the pedal A little lower.
You can do rears without bleeding the brakes if you don't change wheel cylinders. I recommend you change them when doing the brakes.

 

Alignment redone. Not much of a change and after driving some more the problem is still there. Really no change.

It will take some time to see if my front tires are still feathering

Frustrating

My next move is to install a plug to cut off the rear hydraulics completely to rule them out.

What else???

 

Using some hoses to bypass ABS Controller.

 

Did you ever get the rear one to bleed clear fluid?

 

Spend yesterday working on my other project.


New alignment done Saturday. I love how they did not even bother to look at the rear. I pointed out the fethering to them though on the fronts.


Honestly i have not driven it enough after the alignment to asses any change.

Thanks @Dirty Pool I am not there yet. This is probably my truck just complaining for all the 4x4 work i did the last 6 months.

@mechanicjon.

- Regarding bleeding not yet but we did spend time bleeding brakes on our VW and got similar results so i think it is the hose sucking air from the side. Will bleed once more time though and change out the hose.

- Regarding bypassing the ABS. I thought i already ruled that out by pulling the large connector at the brake manifold in the engine bay. I also was prepared to pull the ABS fuse if anything went weird on my trip but nothing went any weirder than it already is. Do you stil suspect ABS here?

 

I've seen the valves inside cause a problem before. Although vert rare. Usually going out and making the abs cycle with some abs stops will clear it up.

 

Nice VW!

 

Thanks. My other car addiction. Have worked on them now for 30 years.

A few others i have owned. Some have been in magazines and books. Some were just nice to own. Those were the days. Carefree when i could work on cars all day long.







Anyways....

"Thank you to our sponsor and this trip down memory lane."

"Now back to our regularly scheduled program."

Problem solving...

 

aww man, I always wanted a VW beetle. knew someone back in college had one, so cool

 

Finally got to drive my truck last night. My son has been driving it this week. His report was that the pull to the right was still there. After driving i agree but it is different.

It was pulling right and then the wheel would jerk left. Now it seems to be just a pull right. Only change so far is the alignment.

I have a brake line isolator coming. Next step is to remove the rear brakes from the system to see if that changes things.

 

Had a little time today to look at the truck. What was bothering me was still the feathering of the front wheels and the rear brakes. I do have a brake block off plate now but no time. Here is what i did.

Jacked up rear of truck. Put into drive and hit brakes. Both brakes appear to engage at same time but there is no load so i do not think it is a real test. I also pushed and pulled the rear wheels. Slight axial play on drivers side. None one passenger. Does this mean bearings?

Jacked up the front end and did the same push pull with engine on being VERY careful. Had my son hold the steering wheel and brakes. This was interesting. With the wheels straight things seem fine. As i turn the wheel either way to the extreme the inside turning wheel gets lose. Very lose. As the tie rod pulls the wheel all the way in it is like it cams over on itself and cannot keep the wheel stable. I get like 1/2" of wobble left/right. Is that right? Remember i have all new tie rods and ball joints.

Also what do you look for in a bad steering rack?

Thanks

 

Were's the looseness coming from? There shouldn't be any play in the rear bearings, in and out or up and down. What kind of LCA bushing did you use?

 

Great VW!

 

Yeah me too

 

@mechanicjon

The rear drivers side wheel has in/out play when you push/pull axially by hand. Very little but i have been noticing a clunk coming from the rear when i go over speed bumps. Thought it was suspension but nothing seems to be loose.

The UCA's are MOOG. The LCA bushings i do not know. These two are the only work i did not do personally. They were done the day before leaving on vacation in a "Bend over and take it" moment with a company i will never use again. They also replaced the LCA adjusters.

It is weird. When wheels are straight no left/right movement. As you turn sharp either way the inner turning wheel gets more and more loose (left/right) I'll take a picture but as you turn to the limit of the steering the tie rod ends start to take on a higher and higher angle from the steering rack. That angle closes in on the lower ball joint arm where the tie rod end connects and at the limit the geometry is such that the wheel can move left/right as the ball joint ends pivot on the steering rack. It is geometrically not mechanically strong at this position which is why i wonder if it is a problem or normal. I can see the how this would cause feathering but cannot see what would cause it other than a bad steering rack maybe?

As a reminder i have replaced:
UBJ. (ProForged)
LBJ. (ProForged)
Both Tie rod ends. (MOOG.)
Steering rack bushings. (Urethane form 4 wheel parts.)
Wheel bearings. (Koyo)
UCA. (MOOG)
LCA bushings and adjusters. (Unknown)
MC rebuild (Toyota)
Front calipers replaced. (Tundra rebuild by Napa)
F/R flexible lines (4 wheel parts)
Brakes have been bleed 3 times.
Alignment done 3 times.

I will grab an image of the geometery and try to show the motion i am seeing but do either the front wheel or rear wheel items seem right?

 

Thanks. My daily driver it seems now days.

 

Sway bar end links? Pretty much the only thing not on that list and they’re cheap enough. Sway bar helps even out loading on front shocks, so if one is work it could result in some weird unevenness.

 

All that was done after the pull started and no change after repair? Rotated tires?

 

To the best of my memory the pull started after or just before i replaced the front spindles. Between time = 0 and time = 6 months. (See below) I am going to go out on a limb and say it has been getting worse or i have been paying attention more. Probably a little of both.

I have rotate tires a few times. I have 5 identical tires/rims so i rotate through my spare too.

Timeline looks like this:

Time =0. New tires. Don't recall a pull.
Time = 1 week. New UCA, LCA Bushings and LCA adjusters plus alignment. Don't recall a pull but it started somewhere between here and T=6 months. Obviously it was not terrible.
Time = 1 month. New rear springs and 5100 shocks. Alignment & rotate tires.
Time = 6 months. 4WD Spindle w/ new bearings on donor spindle and hubs. New UBJ & LBJ. Alignment done. For sure pulling now.
Time = 10 Months. Steering rack bushings, Outer Tie rod ends + alignment. Pulling.
Time = 10.2 Months. Inner Tie rod ends + alignment. Pulling.
Time = 12 Months. Tundra brake upgrade w/ new flexible lines F/R. Bleed brakes & rotate tires. Pulling.
Time = 12.5 Months. Master Cylinder Rebuild. Bleed brakes. Pulling and now i notice tire feathering.
Time = 13 Months. Front 881 coils and 5100 shocks. Alignment. Pulling.
Time = 14 Months. Alignment. Still Pulling.

I really, really appreciate your help Jon. I do not think i am a bad mechanic and can usually figure things out. Part of me wants this to be stupid silly and part of me wants to to be a real sneaky issue. I am not sure what there left to replace or test. My list:

- Photograph front steering limit play to see if that is normal.
- Say bar ends. Easy to do so OK.
- Remove rear hydraulic brakes from system with plug and see if things change.
- Replace rear wheel bearings since it is likely one is going out. Probably replace rear brake pads at same time.
- Replace steering rack.

After that i think i have to start thinking about reverting back few steps and:

- Remove Tundra brakes and go back to Tacoma. I know for sure this did not change things but...
- Remove 4WD spindles and go back to 2WD. Keep rest of 4WD in there other than front drive axles.

Any other ideas? What am i missing?