'63 - Car pulling to the right when braking

[Jack U.]

The car is pulling to the right when I apply the brakes. It will even lock up the wheel on light pressure.

This is a re-occurrence of a problem I had last fall that I thought was corrected by replacing the front brake lines.

It’s not leaking any brake fluid. The master cylinder reservoir is full and no puddles.

We have bled the brake lines.

We swapped the covers of the drums for the heck of it.

I’ve enlisted the help of another person and we seem to be stumped what it could be.

We plan on swapping the hardware from the right to left to see if the problem moves to the other side.

I guess we may try new brakes lines (again) and new springs next.

We are now looking for other suggestions.

You’ll have to excuse my lack of knowledge in this area and possibly some terminology.

[George C.]

Re: '63 - Car pulling to the right when braking

Jack,
I would suspect a bad wheel cylinder on the left side front wheel. If the left side is not braking the car will pull to the right when the right brake grabs.
A rebuild kit for the wheel cylinder is pretty inexpensive and should be available from the NAPA or CarQuest shops. Probably $10.00 to $15.00.
You might want to replace both of the front wheel cylinders, to be safe, as they should also be available at local parts stores, or the LIC catalog says $40.00

Good luck with your project,
George

[Rob M.]

Re: '63 - Car pulling to the right when braking

Jack,

I persume you are aware that there is a front and rear brake half. I hope you didn't swap on of the two sides...

greetings,
Rob

[Joel T.]

Re: '63 - Car pulling to the right when braking

Hi,

Have you had the brake drum turned? Sometimes drum develop "hard spots" which tend to grab more than normal. If after checking the hoses (unlikely) and the cylinders (they would need to be pretty bad), have the drums resurfaced. Had this problem with my '63 which had original drums. There was nothing left to cut so I went with new drums and the problem went away. Recall the same issue and resolution with my 1968 Plymouth which had drums all around.

Good luck, Joel

[Philip C.]

You probably need to change your brake Hoses *NM*