Front wheel bearing

[69furyIII]

Hello, my car has been pulling to the right, just recently, so I jacked up the front, the left wheel and bearing are good, but when I did the right side, I grabbed the tire at 12 and 6 and noticed slight movement, could this cause pulling to right.

 

[Welder guy]

Yup

 

[Welder guy]

Check everything from the steering box down and see what moves when you grab the tire. move it back-and-forth. If you move and it doesn’t it needs replacing

 

[Big_John]

Probably not a wheel bearing. More likely it's a lower ball joint or tie rod end.

 

[Davea Lux]

Did this problem happen all at once? If you hit a curb or monster pot hole it might be a simple alignment issue. Bad shock absorbers that are leaking fluid and no longer functional will cause pulling.

Also check the obvious, low tire pressure can cause pulling. If you have drum brakes and it pulls when trying to stop, you need to check the adjustment and the wheel cylinders. If they are leaking fluid, that will cause pulling when stopping. A wheel cylinder that is stuck in the deployed position will cause the brakes on that side to drag and pull the car to that side. Improperly adjusted brakes will also cause pulling. If you have disc brakes, check to see that both wheels turn freely and do not drag.

As mentioned above, check for loose or worn parts. Given the age of your vehicle, most of the rubber components such as upper and lower control arm bushings, strut rod bushings and stabilizer bushings are suspect. Look for cracks and pieces of rubber hanging out of the bushings. If you observe large cracks or missing chunks of rubber, the bushings are shot and need to be replaced.

The FSM gives detailed instructions on how to check ball joints etc.

Good Luck.

Dave

 

[1978 NYB]

Probably not a wheel bearing. More likely it's a lower ball joint or tie rod end.[/QU

Did this problem happen all at once? If you hit a curb or monster pot hole it might be a simple alignment issue. Bad shock absorbers that are leaking fluid and no longer functional will cause pulling.

Also check the obvious, low tire pressure can cause pulling. If you have drum brakes and it pulls when trying to stop, you need to check the adjustment and the wheel cylinders. If they are leaking fluid, that will cause pulling when stopping. A wheel cylinder that is stuck in the deployed position will cause the brakes on that side to drag and pull the car to that side. Improperly adjusted brakes will also cause pulling. If you have disc brakes, check to see that both wheels turn freely and do not drag.

As mentioned above, check for loose or worn parts. Given the age of your vehicle, most of the rubber components such as upper and lower control arm bushings, strut rod bushings and stabilizer bushings are suspect. Look for cracks and pieces of rubber hanging out of the bushings. If you observe large cracks or missing chunks of rubber, the bushings are shot and need to be replaced.

The FSM gives detailed instructions on how to check ball joints etc.

Good Luck.

Dave

It also could be a brake hose starting to collapse internally and not releasing the brake fluid when you take your foot off the gas.

 

[69furyIII]

It is 4 wheel drums,but everyhing is brand new in the braking system, I haven't bumped anything, when I apply brakes it stops straight, while driving it drifts to the right, it did this before the brakes were done.

 

[Wollfen]

It is 4 wheel drums,but everyhing is brand new in the braking system, I haven't bumped anything, when I apply brakes it stops straight, while driving it drifts to the right, it did this before the brakes were done.

Check the soundness of all your suspension components then go get a wheel alignment done.

 

[65sporty]

A little drift or does it pull hard? A lot of times when aligned they have a slight drift so it wont head into oncoming traffic. If all the parts are good in the front end a good alignment shop can set it up so it goes straight on a flat road, depending on the crown of the road you will get some drift.

 

[CBODY67]

If the alignment is in specs, or very close, the "drift" is somewhat normal on most road surfaces. Roads look "flat", but have to have a little angle to them so the rain water will drain rather than accumulate in sheets on the road surface. Most drain to the outside lane and toward the low places in that direction. If the road surface is crowned, drifting to the right will happen unless you strongly bias the caster to the left side of the car, which will then make it pull to the left on flat roads. Best to go with factory specs, but maybe maxing the caster within the specs.

If the stops are straight, no issue with the wheel bearings, bushings, rubbers, etc., which would all be subject to braking torque.

DO make sure the wheel bearings are adjusted correctly. IF they are too tight, they'll run hot and such. Has to be a slight bit of slack, but not much, for them to work correctly.

In the 1975 time frame, it was somewhat common to have "radial pull". Even if the alignment was accurate, the car would still pull to one side or the other when driving. TSB stated to adjust the caster to counteract that, even if the new setting was outside of factory specs. Radial tires are much better now, usually.

CBODY67

 

[Yatzee]

Hello, my car has been pulling to the right, just recently, so I jacked up the front, the left wheel and bearing are good, but when I did the right side, I grabbed the tire at 12 and 6 and noticed slight movement, could this cause pulling to right.

Came across a similar issue on a 65 Imperial with drum brakes after redoing the front drum system completely. Strange thing was the car pulled mostly to the right but sometimes left and after endless attemps at adjusting the front shoes I thought it was time for an alignment. On closer inspection, I noticed the rear upper A-arm bushing was shot and I could pry the arm back and forth ever so slightly. This turned out to be the problem with the car drifting. Too many alignment shops use the lower strut rod to bring a car into alignment and the bushing in the lower arm had to be replaced as well. Perhaps this is part of your issue and perhaps it's time to refresh the bushings on all your control arms.