My rig (99 5.9L) pulls to the LEFT with medium force while braking in all ranges (light to hard braking). Now I am 99.999% sure the problem is my left rear brakes failing somehow. For some reason the left rear wheel is sticking because when I brake on sand, that wheel locks right up and it also gets much hotter than the other rear wheel. Last weekend I replaced the self adjusting hardware thinking that the retainer had rusted out causing the adjuster to tighten down on a forward motion instead of a rearward motion but that didn't fix a thing. So this weekend I am going to replace the cylinder and see if that fixes it.

However my question is.... can I pulling to the left because of this problem?? I thought the steering would only be effected by the front brakes, not the rears. Can I possibly have a sticky caliper in the front as well?

 

Yes if it is a dodge in that year there wa a lot of problems with the brakes. Usually the left rear caliper or wheel cilinder will wear and breake a lot easyer dont ask y i have no clue i had a dodge dakota 1990 and all brakes worked fine and then all the sudin it was the rear and then all of them i had no brakes at all i had to replace all the hardwear and lines cilinders shooes and pads it cost like 230 just in parts. Your best bet would be to bleed each brake and see if any thing is comeing out if one of the cilinders or calipers is not bleeding you may need to dig deeper

 

Make sure there are no pinchs in the line and bleed the other side to ensure fluid is going to it. Hell, bleed em both first.

 

Replace the caliper it's probably scored and it's probably dragging on return=don't risk wiping your ride out in the rain replace that caliper and the right=if left is done then the right isn't too far behind----most of your braking is front biased due to the weight of the motor a quick check=put the truck on safety stands in 2 h =if its an awd ya need stands under the a-arms too=put it in drive hit the brakes a couple of times=you will hear if the drums are not releasing=if you hear rear rubbing out of the left drum replace the spring hardware on both side but check what Hydra said first=no rubbing in the drums =replace the in the front calibers on both sides and check the rotors for warpage..

 

Thanks. The first thing I'll do is jack up the rear and see if the right side is even working at all. I drove about 30 miles today and when I stopped, the left was scorching hot but the right was bone cold. I have never really inspected the brake line routing, so is it at all possible that the brake system can send all the pressure to once cylinder and not the other?

 

I have seen this before and that’s why I brought it up.

I would bleed that side and ensure fluid is getting over there to the right side. Also heat can oxidize the fluid and cause sludge so bleed em good. If no fluid then go up line and look for pinches. If none are found on the top of the axel there is a valve that distributes fluid to both sides that could be to blame.

If fluid is present then something can be a miss on the shoes or a caliper problem.

 

Just finished rebuilding both rear brakes. Changed the cylinders, shoes, and all hardware. The brakes now work very well. Fluid drained from both sides when bleeding.

The problem was in fact a very stupid one on my behalf. A couple weeks ago I changed out a rusted self-adjuster locking plate on the passenger side. However, when I re-assembled the springs somehow the brake cylinder pistons had fallen off the shoes. So when I would apply the brakes, the right side had no stopping power at all. I don't know if this contributed the the left side locking up or not. Both cylinders were leaking so the left side cylinder leak may have caused it to hang.

At any rate, lesson learned and I now have totaly brand new rear brakes and it all only cost about 60 bucks.

I like these cheap little problems I keep having because I get to keep procrastinating on the heater core replacement that I still need to do .

 

Cool=it's good you found the problem and posted what ya found....

 

Nice!

But how did ya get away with only $60 bucks?

 

Well it was only $25 for the best set of pads my local autoparts store had, $15 for the spring rebuild kit (rebuilds both sides), and $20 for two cylinders. I already installed brand self adjuster kits two weeks prior so I'm not including those but they were about $15 for each side. And since I do all my own work, the only labor I paid was my own time spent in the garage as opposed to on the couch

On a side note... The truck is still very FRONT brake heavy even thought the rear breaks are now fixed. I had to make a quick emergency stop yesterday and upon quickly pressing the brake pedal, the fronts locked right up very quickly. Does anybody think this can be the proportioning valve? Does the 99 Durango 5.9L even have a prop. valve? I can find a prop. valve from http://www.eastcoastautoparts.net but all of my local autoparts stores look at me like I have 3 heads when I ask if they have one. If there is prop valve and you think it might be the problem, how hard is it to change?