1998 V70XC strange brake pulling problem [ worn lower control arms, looked ok] Topic is solved

Post by **850 LPT** » 16 Sep 2014, 06:11

My car started pulling to the right a few weeks ago and I can't find what's wrong with it. Here is what I have done so far:

When I installed new front brakes a few months ago I noticed a bad boot on the right front caliper. Now I figured the thing is finally starting to freeze up and I ordered rebuilt calipers for the front and installed them 2 weeks ago. The brake fluid was really dirty and I changed it right away (sorry I didn't notice that sooner) and bled the system. Made no difference.
Then I thought one of the rears must be the problem and I just changed them out last weekend. Then I bled the system again. No difference.

The way the car acts is kind of funny. When I hit the brakes lightly I notice almost no pulling. But when I brake harder, the thing starts jerking to the right.

Could this be suspension related? I could really use your help and suggestions at this point. What do I need to check next?

Thanks, Dirk

Post by **rspi** » 16 Sep 2014, 07:02

Bad control arm.

Post by **jblackburn** » 16 Sep 2014, 07:17

Yep, bad ball joints in the control arm will cause darting around under heavy braking or acceleration.

Post by **850 LPT** » 16 Sep 2014, 07:46

Thanks guys.
What's surprising is that I checked both control arms a few weeks ago. The left side was bad and I replaced it right away, but the right side did look okay. Maybe it's not so obvious always? Anyway, I'm going to order the right side today and that will hopefully be the cure.

Post by **regent** » 16 Sep 2014, 09:45

850 LPT wrote:... The left side was bad and I replaced it right away, but the right side did look okay. Maybe it's not so obvious always? Anyway, I'm going to order the right side today and that will hopefully be the cure.

Good thought, that will solve it!
These and other suspension components are generally done in pairs (unless some visious Gremlin ate through one of them overnight) I recall I had to learn 'the pair method' the hard way quite a few years ago.

Azik09 · Post by **Azik09** » 16 Sep 2014, 10:56

This problem can be caused by internal damage of the brake hoses.

Post by **rspi** » 16 Sep 2014, 14:18

If you have the single bolt arms, 2 frame bolts on the arm going through the bracket, bla bla bla, MAKE SURE YOU preload the arm before troqueing it down or it can destroy the bushings.

Post by **jblackburn** » 16 Sep 2014, 14:21

rspi wrote:If you have the single bolt arms, 2 frame bolts on the arm going through the bracket, bla bla bla, MAKE SURE YOU preload the arm before troqueing it down or it can destroy the bushings.

XC's are the 4-bolt arms - no pre-loading necessary.

They make up for it by just being more of a pain to get on in the first place.

Post by **850 LPT** » 17 Sep 2014, 05:58

Yes, I have the 4 bolt version. Somewhere I read that very early 98' XC's might have the 2 bolt design, but I cannot confirm that.
They are a bit of a pain, but it works okay if you twist the shafts a little with a big pair of pliers while lining up the holes.

Post by **850 LPT** » 22 Sep 2014, 06:09

Problem solved. I replaced the front right control arm this weekend and the car stops perfect now, no more pulling. Interestingly, the ball joint was intact, but one of the rubber bushings was torn. This is hard to diagnose because you can't really see it or feel it.
I replaced both of them now with the Meyle HD ones. They are quite a bit cheaper than the OEM Lemforder brand. We'll see how well they hold up.