Pulls to right while braking. Humming sound while driving disappears when hitting the brakes

Hello!

I recently replaced my UCA and LCA bushings as well as the upper and lower ball joints. I got an alignment done after the work. I've noticed that the truck is pulling to the right now when I brake, and sometimes I'll get a humming noise from the front right side. It's like a resonating noise, I suspect one of the brake pads is very lightly rubbing against the rotor, but it's intermittent and I'm unsure of how to diagnose it. Also, I've found that when it's humming and I lightly apply the brakes the noise disappears. But as soon as my foot comes off the brake the humming/resonating sound returns.

I brought it to brake masters today but they basically said I need to take it to the dealership to get an alignment because I lifted it. I think they were copping out because they had no idea.

Has anyone run into this issue before? I'll see if I can get a recording tonight and upload it. Hoping it's not a big deal and I can still go on a trip to the Grand Canyon on Saturday.

 

sounds like a sticky brake caliper to me.

For being "brake masters" they sound like they don't know how to diagnose a brake issue. yikes.

Your left caliper is your likely target.

I guess the "easiest" thing would be replacing the calipers, maybe not the cheapest, though. You could try pulling the pads out and squishing the cylinders back in (like if you were getting new pads), then maybe bleeding them.

Have you ever done anything to the brakes before?

Maybe it's time for the Tundra brake upgrade, lol...

 

Hah, no kidding! I changed the pads back in October. Pretty standard stuff. I had the rotors and a bunch of other things replaced back in 2012. Gonna pick the truck up tonight and take it over to Yota Pros tomorrow. They do good work, though it's not the cheapest.

No real performance issues other than the pulling. The noise is more of an annoyance than anything else, though I know better than to leave it like that for long. Tundra upgrade sounds sweet, just don't know about dropping anymore money on the truck for a while. Just put $2300 into her with all of the front end work I did last week.

 

What's another $300 or so between friends?

You could always get some NAPA calipers and swap them, and if that's not the issue return them, but I'm betting calipers are your issue.

For me, I'd replace both calipers at once, too. It's like headlights, one goes out, the other can't be too far behind.

 

They wont take back installed parts....but at least theyd be new calipers!

 

They do if they're "defective"

 

Left front brake is completely locked up and it sounds like it's not engaging at all. That certainly explains why it pulls to the right. Hoping for some good news (i.e. not an expensive fix) on that one. Kind of shocked that brake masters missed that!

Also I apparently replaced the wrong intermediate steering shaft. Looks like there are two?


I replaced this part:



Sounds like it's the upper third of that which needs to be replaced. I'm wondering if I can just grease those u-joints? Has anyone run into that? I'll see if I can get a part number from them. They want $750 parts and labor for that one.


They also said I'd probably need to bring my drive shaft somewhere to get the length changed, since the lift apparently changes that distance. It makes sense now that I think about it, I just wish it wasn't so expensive to do that.

So close to the finish. Once these issues are resolved I'll look at replacing the engine. Since it took me a whole week to do the front end I'll see what they want to do the swap for me.

 

Steering part I replaced (new vs old)

 

Yota Pro said it's either an issue with the caliper or with the brake hose going to it. The humming is from one of the pads very lightly rubbing against the rotor while driving. They mentioned decreased movement on the front left likely due to a flow issue. They pulled the brake hose out of the caliper to diagnose it. Fluid came pouring out of the caliper, but there was very little flow out of the hose. I replaced the brake hose yesterday morning, and there was a lot more flowing out of the new hose vs the old one. Sadly I still had the brake pull and humming noise on my way into work this morning.

Any chance I can power flush the caliper, or should I just buy a new one?