TheSamba.com :: View topic - possible tie rod problem? long post, sorry..

Fri May 05, 2006 6:38 pm

it never fails, a week goes by and my baby decides to let me know how much she wants me to work on her...
history on this problem: had my last shop tell me about a year ago that my tie rods were looking kind of worn but that i didn't need to worry about it for a while, they were still safe.

tonight, i'm cruising along, decide to stop for a burger, pull into the parking lot, and instead of the usual, where it pulls slightly left while i drive, and hard right when i brake..it was driving straight and pulled VERY hard left when i stopped.
As i was in a parking lot, i took the oppurtunity to give everything a once over. it might have just been that I had pulled into a parking spot, but my alignment seems a little off. that could explain the pulling to either side, just for shits and giggles i put my hand on the drivers side front tire (old habit, dad used to test for heat when we would go on vacations..) tire temp seems fine, then i randomly touch my brake drumb.. damb, that thing was hot, maybe it's always that hot... so i touch the other 3, nope, it's hotter than the rest.
so now i'm thinking my pads need adjustment. no biggie, i can handle that.
I decide to take it nice and slow on the ride home, but the whole way it's randomly deciding to pull to either side or drive fine.

I guess the call for help is: what does this sound like to you gurus, how easy is it to tear into and check and how easy is it to fix?

sorry about the long post! thanks so much for reading through it and any help you can offer!!

-matt

Fri May 05, 2006 8:22 pm

Sounts like a brake line problem. If you have a rubber brake line that has swollen on the inside, it will keep the brakes from releasing.

Fri May 05, 2006 8:35 pm

I would pull the front drums off and inspect the pads. Does it "grind" when you apply the brakes? Metal on metal will make that drum very hot. If the brakes were adjusted to tight it might cause a pull and would make the drum hot also due to them continually being "on" due to excessive drag.
Bugs should not "pull" when you apply the brakes. Agree that the rubber hoses could be swollen or you brake wheel cylinders are leaking on the pads thus it pulls that direction.

Either way, brakes are a serious issue and you should tear it down and inspect them. The good news is the parts are cheap including the rubber brakes hoses.
Good luck.

Fri May 05, 2006 8:46 pm

no grinding, and no whining like when the pads are low. i just had it tuned up and they were supposed to check the brakes about 2 months ago, but maybe they missed something, i'll try and pull em apart tomorrow morning.

thanks!

Sat May 06, 2006 2:40 pm

alright, well, i pulled the drum off today. I have no idea how long it has been like this, but when i took the drum off, one of the springs was just resting on the bottom shoe. it was ground away pretty bad so it's prolly been there a little while. (I only drive about 15 miles a week..)
unfortunately I had to drive to the bug store with only one spring on the drivers side front brake, but since it's been like that for a bit any way i didn't think it could do too much more damage.
got a new hardware kit and put it in, and now it's working fine.
next weekend I'll be home for a few days so I plan on picking up my brand new full shoe set that I've had on hold for a bit, since not having a spring kinda wore away a good deal of material.

all in all though, it was F&^!ING AWESOME to finally get my hands filthy working on my baby again. first time in almost two years I've been able to do that!

:D

-matt