i have a 1997 B3500 extended cargo van. everytime I hit the brakes it darts hard left. when I let off the van pulls right then drives perfect down the road, no tire wear, no pulls. took it to a mechanic and he don't know what's up. the pads are fine. any ideas. I had the alignment checked and it's fine plus tire wear is good

 

The flexible brake line leading to the caliper is ballooning. Replace both.

 

Umm, how about the right caliper is frozen and not grabbing the disk, in turn forcing the pull to the left during braking!?

 

Absolutely inconceivable!!!!

I think a mechanic could easily determine if a caliper was frozen, but might miss a ballooning flexible brake line.

Frickin wisenheimer.

 

I'm going to replace the right brake hose. here's what I just did. drove the van on flat smooth road, hit the brakes, it darted left FAST. I can react fast enough to stay in the lane. holding the brake it goes straight. only on the initial brake application it darts. when I let off the brake there's a slight pull to the right. so I drove a while without using the brakes and pulled over. the right wheel is a lot hotter than the left. I think the right brake is dragging and when I hit the brakes, the cold brake (left) will have higher braking capacity since the right is already saturated with heat.

I pulled off the wheels and had a helper mash the brakes and let off, I could barely turn the right rotor. left turned fine. Had my helper do it again and let off, I immediately opened the right bleeder screw and there was residual pressure. did the left and nothing came out. I suspect the brake hose on the right is acting like a check valve not allowing the brake to fully release. does this seem logical? I doubt it's a stuck caliper since I can move them easily and a stuck caliper wouldn't have pressure on the bleeder with the brakes released.???

 

problem solved. Landyacht318 was on... brake hose. I only replaced the right flex hose and the problem went a way. stops in a nice straight line. sure glad I didn't buy a caliper..that would have had to live in my van down by the river. it was bad enough having to dish out $14 for a hose and $2.50 for a can a brake fluid.

 

Glad you got it sorted out for under 20 bucks.

I'm shopping for a new master cylinder. I tried saving some money the last time, and the cheap Reman I bought is now leaking.

Calipers are pretty inexpensive as well, so if that were the issue, you wouldn't have to be down by the river for long.

Not that there is anything wrong with that.

 

yeah but $20 is more than I have. heck I can't even afford to pay attention. Obama dollars haven't stimulated my economy.

 

Then make sure you do something about it on election day instead of sitting home being pissed off over it.

 

I can't vote due to a little incident a while back. but if I could I'd make sure it was the right vote.