Well gang - riddle me this.
I have new shoes for the front ordered but in the meantime I needed to move the car. So I cleaned the drums and shot the shoes with Brakekleen, sanded with 120 and wiped them down 3 or 4 times with 99% isopropyl alcohol and temporarily reinstalled them. They looked pretty good.
Here is the mystery. It was the left front shoes that got DOT5 on them - and probably only the inside inch roughly. What caused me to start investigating was the car suddenly started diving off to the left when I hit the brakes. You can feel it steering the car so I figured something up front. But, why would it pull in the direction of the contaminated side??? So, after cleaning and readjusting, verifying the primary shoe was up front on all corners (it wasn’t - the contaminated set was reversed - not sure what iteration that occurred in - maybe after cleaning and absent mindness), primary spring hooked first, and adjusting for no drag - I couldn’t resist a test drive down the street and it still dives off to the left. Back off the adjustment some more on the left side and it still dives left.
The last test after more adjustment I noticed the steering was getting slow in the center (all power steering just added). After a few minutes I remembered I’ve been here before when I replaced the power steering box in my 67 - the dang box to frame bolts that I tighten the heck out of had gotten loose. Thinking maybe this is part of the problem, I pulled the bolts, doped up with blue Loctite and tightened the heck out of them again. Just went down the street again and steering is good again but the car still steers left when applying brakes!!! Crap.
The only thing I originally did with the brakes was replace all wheel cylinders, both front rubber hoses, flush the hard lines, replace the MC and add DOT5. Why would the car steer in the direction of the contaminated side?
Could it be the rear brakes? This car has a later Dana in it with self adjusting brakes. Just before this all started I did a couple rearward stops to make sure the brakes were adjusted up OK in back. I went back after this and adjusted them as best as I could - even checked them with a temp gun to get them as even as I could by backing a few clicks off on the warmer side. It’s difficult with sure grip and all the differential drag.
With my wife operating the brakes, the MC seems to be releasing pressure fine. But I’m wondering if I should just replace the hoses and wheel cylinders again. Alignment is good, tire pressure is even. The brakes have been fully bled twice and pedal is hard. I’m hoping the new linings miraculously solve the mystery. But I’m not much for miracles.
Anybody got any ideas? Probably be next week before I get the new linings and install them.
