Wheel pulls hard to left and shudders when braking

Just last week I had both my front wheel bearings replaced. While in there they inspected the brake pads, all good. Now this week the truck started pulling slightly to the left, without braking, and hard to left when braking. Its shuddering too as though the rotor is already warped.

Ideas?

 

when your wheel pulls undr braking it usually means air in the lines. When was the last time your brakes were bled?

shuddering under braking usually means warped rotors.. how old are your rotors?
hope this helps!

 

Thanks Grenade but I guess my question was more about could the recent wheel bearing work and this new brake issue be related.

 

If they compressed the pistons in the calipers without releasing the pressure with the bleed screw, they may have caused this issue. I don't remember what happens exactly, but it has something to do with forcing fluid and dirt back through the ABS system. Bleed the lines and see what happens.

Didn't see this:
"Now this week the truck started pulling slightly to the left, without braking"
Did the pulling happen right after the bearings were replaced? If not, check your tire PSI. If they're good, swap your front tires side to side and drive down a flat road. If the pull swaps sides, you have a tire issue.

 

Thanks. I'll post results next week when I have a chance to do what yer suggesting.

 

It sounds like you could have some caliper pistons stuck and are dragging. I had to rebuild mine for this exact reason. Since you said they just did front pads, it seems a little weird that they would be stuck so soon... but if they just pushed them back in without caring or looking at the pistons, they may have had some corrosion on them which is now causing them to hang up.

 

how did air get in to a sealed system? the brake system wasn't pulled apart.

OP
First, check the lug nuts, second the spindle/axle bear nut may not be or is over tightened.

Take it back to whomever did the work.

 

As you use up your brake pads, they have to travel further to contact the rotor, and so the level of brake fluid decreases. As that happens, air can work its way into the system over time to fill the void. This happens to all vehicles over time, Tacomas are not immune.

Another way this can happen, because brake fluid is hygroscopic, it absorbs and retains water. Over time, condensation can build up, slowly accumulating water in the braking system. This lowers the boiling point of brake fluid. When excessive braking happens, like a trip to the mountains, the fluid can boil, turn the water into steam, which then gets compressed, and air becomes separated from the water, and you end up with air pockets in your lines.

If you don't believe me, you can research it yourself. I typically like to start simple and work my way up. Bleeding brakes is easy, especially if you have a second person. That's just where I'd start, since brakes really should be bled once every couple years at least to keep the fluid clean, and fresh, as it can break down over time like all the other fluids in your vehicle.

 

Its funny you mention this cuz right after the wheel bearing replacement I took a 5 day job up in the mountains. Well, I live in the mtns, but this place was up another 3500ft and the roads were steep and twisty as hell. It did occure to me this could be the cause but the coincidence of the bearing work was hard to ignore. I think what might be happening here is a result of both things. I've got an appointment with the same shop to bleed the brakes next wednesday.

 

You would know if there was air in the lines because the pedal would have gotten softer than it was. The shuddering is because the rotor is warped from excessive heat. That more than likely happened because you have a stuck caliper piston on the right side and the left side is doing all the work. They did not need to push the pistons back to put anything back together because they did not replace the pads. Therefore no thickness was added to the equation. All the brake parts would have slipped back on the way they came off. I'm not saying that you didn't boil the fluid though. I would definitely have it flushed with new fluid if you plan on making another trip further up the mountain. Living in the mountains where you are hard on the brakes all the time I would say get them more often than if you lived down by me.

 

Just got back from the mechanic who's done my work and the brakes are good now. Turns out it was nothing to do with the wheel bearing work he did, like I thought it might be. It was also nothing to do with a stuck caliper like he thought the symptoms pointed to.

It was a combination of two things, well three really. First of all the rear drum automatic adjusters were not properly adjusting so therefor the bulk of the stopping was being done by the front discs, thus the over heating. Secondly the brake pad pins that the pads slide back and forth on were so corroded they could not slide properly. And finally the driver side disc was so warped (and this is a result vs a cause of course), it had to go to two different brake lathe shops to find one it could still be turned on.

The moral of the story? Check your rear adjusters and keep grease on your front pad pins.

Thanks for all the responses, you guys are very helpful.