car pulls to one side under braking

[pebbles]

i have a t18 that i bought just 2day
and on the way home i noticed when u brake it pulls slightly to the right, and the harder u brake the more it pulls
also the steering has a LOT of play in it, what thing should i replace with new items or what should i do to try and get a better feel through the steering,
also
did T18's come stock with A/C?
also
Does anyone know the right profile tyre that should be used on a 13X5.5 for the rear of the t18, ?
thx

so who has advice for me :D ?
cheers - Alex

[RobertoX]

sounds fucked

wreck it out

[shinny]

jack the front up and check freeplay in the front wheels, and see if you can find where its loose,

whether it be freeplay in the rack and pinion or tie rods, or rack ends, also check the bolt where the steering column meets the rack,

these are some places to start,

[SLO-030]

Check to make sure the caliper slides are free. If they arent, use WD40 or alike and a hammer and lub them up untill they are free using the hammer to tap them through if you cant move them with your hands.

Pitman arm bushes are common on steering box setups. Like shinny side jack the front up hold the wheel at 3 and 6 and move it side to side. Get someone to look and find where the movement is.

[Javal]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Craig_AE86 @ Dec 8 2007, 02:09 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> (index.php?act=findpost&pid=448775)</div>
Check to make sure the caliper slides are free. If they arent, use WD40 or alike and a hammer and lub them up untill they are free using the hammer to tap them through if you cant move them with your hands.

Pitman arm bushes are common on steering box setups. Like shinny side jack the front up hold the wheel at 3 and 6 and move it side to side. Get someone to look and find where the movement is.[/b]

Word.

Replace the Pitman arm and Idler arm, and if you can get your hands on a re-co / new old stock steering box do that, your steering feel will improve x11ty.

[Jonny Rochester]

Normaly if the car pull to one side when braking, you have a sticking front brake. The normal fix is to restore or replace either one of both of the brake calipers. You can buy a seal kit for it. Lube everything up with rubber grease, not regular wheel bearing grease.

Check all suspension bushes of course. Slack in the steering box is adjustable.

[pebbles]

got under the car for abit today, the rotors wer not very free to rotate at all, the right one could be moved with a descent amount of force and the left one u had to wedge a wheelbrace between teh studs to get it moveing pretty much
so i busted out the wd40 and got them moveing a little easier, ther both moveable by hand now but u still need to use a fair amount of force,
and wont it become just as hard when the oil gets rubbed off from braking?
how can i adjust them to be free. also to get the caliper to come away from the rotor on a t18 its not just one bolt down the bottom and then pull it away like my celica? can sum1 shed some light on that. (sorry about the noobish questions)
i will bleed the brakes when i have sum1 else to help me,
is it possible that the pulling to the right could be caused by the rear brakes at all? or is my dad on crack?


i also looked at the steering, im about go out and see if i can get a spanner down on the top of the steering box and try to tighten it to see if this makes a difference to the play,
while i was down ther i took out the bolts that hit the lock stoppers to give me some more steering lock :)

[Jonny Rochester]

This is typical of a T-18 that has sat for some time.

To do it properly, the brake calipers have to be disassembled down to very bolt and part. Clean every part, grease with rubber grease, and reassemble with new seals. Maybe a job for a mechanic...

It can be hard to get the piston out of the caliper. You can use compressed air sometimes to do it.

[Gunner]

if u havent reco'd calipers b4, DON'T. pay someone, it is ur life or someone elses ur playin with just remember that

[pebbles]

ok, so i topped up the brake fluid coz it was down abit,
managed to undo the lock nut on the steeringbox and then tighten it with a screwdriver then do the lock nut back up.

put everything id taken off back on(apart form lock stoping bolts)

took her for a test drive
ok, well, the steering, ther is less play, tho still a fair bit, also steering is tighter and has a bit beter feel.

brake pull is GONE! dont ask me how but it is so im happy :)
brakes get stinky fairly easily, well at least i think its the brakes,
is this typical of old brake pads that have been sitting for ages, i think the brand of them was silverline(not sure)

but yeh brake pull gone which is good.