[Water Dog]

I've got an interesting problem that I've been dealing with for about a year or so. "99 TJ" Every once in a while (maybe 10% of the time) when applying the brakes, they want to pull to the left. This is a whole lot more noticeable when stopping fast. A year ago I relaced both front rotors, and pads on the front, and wheel cylinders, shoes, and new drums on the back. Although the brakes worked fine after that, I still had the same issue with pulling every now and then. I also replaced front brake lines last year, and just recently replaced both front calipers. Still the same issue. About the only other thing I can think of is flushing the lines completely. Any other suggestions?

 

[shanes04wrangler]

maybe a bad proportion valve? not sure if that would cause it.

 

[cixpak88]

My wife's xj had this problem. It was a bad left caliper that was sticking intermittently. I'm pretty sure it was relativity cheap. You could try taking the pads out and cleaning up the slides along with some lubrication on the pins. Make sure everything is moving freely.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

That's a mysterious issue, especially since you replaced both calipers. The proportioning valve is for front-to-rear proportioning, not left/right, so that wouldn't be it.

What about the slider surface on the knuckle that the inside brake pad ears rest/slide on? If those have worn spots in them, they can cause the inside brake pad to hang up and not retract smoothly. There are little steel clips that can slip over them to provide a smooth surface, or you can file them smooth if they are gouged enough to be hanging the pad up.

 

[Water Dog]

What about the slider surface on the knuckle that the inside brake pad ears rest/slide on? If those have worn spots in them, they can cause the inside brake pad to hang up and not retract smoothly. There are little steel clips that can slip over them to provide a smooth surface, or you can file them smooth if they are gouged enough to be hanging the pad up.

That's a good thought Jerry. I'll pull the thing apart and check that out. Thanks. It has to be something easy I've just overlooked...it's an age thing..

 

[Black Magic Brakes]

That's a good thought Jerry. I'll pull the thing apart and check that out. Thanks. It has to be something easy I've just overlooked...it's an age thing..

Go take a hard look on the inside of the dust shields on the passenger side. My money is on you finding small bits of grease that have squirted out of the boot on the TRE and land on the dust shield and rotor.

Especially if the issue is intermittent, shows up on hard braking events and then goes away for awhile only to come back again.

 

[Water Dog]

Go take a hard look on the inside of the dust shields on the passenger side. My money is on you finding small bits of grease that have squirted out of the boot on the TRE and land on the dust shield and rotor.

Especially if the issue is intermittent, shows up on hard braking events and then goes away for awhile only to come back again.

Good stuff, I'll check that out as well. Probably won't get to it until this weekend though. Thanks.

I actually thought I had found the problem when I replaced the calipers and found part of the rubber boot on the old caliper slide kind of wedged between slide and bolt, so I took extra care to make sure that wasn't the case with the new ones, but apparently that wasn't it.

 

[armyman5000]

I am experiencing the same issue with my 02 Tj i found that the brake pads have worn groves in the knuckle slider surface, my solution was to file down the surfaces with a rasp and flat file and tried to blend it as best as possible. it was fine for a while and now its back to doing it so next step is to replace the calipers and lines. I have been searching for the metal slider clips but have only came up with the small ones that go directly on the pad feet and not over the knuckle slider surface. I am hoping to find an alternate part on a comparable wk or other with the dana 30 that will go directly over the slider surface. i am avoiding replacing the knuckles them selves as they are a hundred a pop. hope that helps.

 

[Water Dog]

Well...I've learned a few lessons today. Here's how it went. My brother needed help replacing the axle u-joints on his "97" wrangler so I invited him over today to help him out. We completed the job and all was well so I decided I would look further into my brake issue.

Upon pulling the drivers side caliper off, I noticed that there indeed was some wear on the cast steering knuckle where the pads ride with kind of a little step up, so I ground it smooth with a die grinder and applied a little white grease. As I was struggling to put the caliper back on, my brother asked the question, "why are the notched ends of your pads up and mine are down?"

The answer was that when I first got the Jeep and did the brake job, I followed the lead of what had already been done. I have now switched the pads on the two front wheels and it stops like a brand new one.

Lessons learned:
Never go by what someone before you has done.
Always help your brother when he needs help on his Jeep...:dance: