Need help figuring out what’s causing my ’76 to feel like it’s pulling to the left all the time. It’s been that way since I owned it (2000) and I’ve put well over ten thousand miles on it since with it that way yet there’s absolutely no indication of unusual tire wear shown on any of the tires. If I hug the right shoulder (white line) the steering lightens up and it tracks much straighter but I dang near have to be on the white line, itself, in order for this to occur. I realize the width of the wheelbase is a bit more than other cars which has something to do with it not traveling in the usual ruts made in the roadway by typical traffic. I’m also assuming my desire to run closer to the center line is part of the reason there’s more friction against the front tires yet one would “think” the experienced offset would be in the opposite direction, putting forces against the tires to cause it to track away from the centerline than toward it. When I brake this condition disappears and the car tracks straight ahead… likewise, when I accelerate. It also tracks straight ahead when I’m going slow (below 35 mph.). But once I reach any cruising speed on the roadway is when it begins to try and track toward the oncoming lane, not aggressively, but enough so to where you can’t take your hand off the wheel for any length of time without it wanting to head back toward the other lane. If the front end were out of alignment one would think with 10K miles traveled this way it would have worn some indication on the tires to show something was misaligned. Any thoughts on what’s causing this condition, folks?

 

It sounds like you need to adjust the power steering control valve.
Mike

 

Try swapping the front tires. See if the pull changes. Check air pressure. The caster portion of the alignment can contribute to pulling, without any accelerated tread wear.

 

A stuck brake caliper will cause this. If it's stuck open then the good caliper will cause the car to pull to that side as the bad caliper causes no drag on the rotor.

 

Have you had the alignment checked?

 

Another cause is tire pressure...but assume you know that...I would do as suggested on control valve pressure adjustment...but if it were off much,you would eventually blow a pressure hose like I did and there was no "pull" either way in my case when that happened.......so,I think your alignment is suspect...

 

Happened to me.

 

Is it ok when you first drive the car and get worse or all the time?
A sticking caliper usually is the rubber brake hose .check the brake lines,if not the brakes ,check control valve .

 

Do not rule the power steering valve centering adjustment . Mine was like that when I bought it. Jack up both tires in front and starting motor with the tires straight. If the tires move in either direction, you
wil need to recenter the steering valve.

 

It's not the calipers dragging, of that I'm sure. I've checked for heat build up in each caliper after a short drive and found no such occurance, nor did any of the pads seem any more worn than any of the others.

Alignment (or the castor adjustment) may, in fact, be the cause but you'd think that would have been addressed in the few times this vehicle had been in for alignment checks. I haven't specifically had one done, myself, so this may or could be the issue here I suppose.

The steering valve is an interesting investigative approach. That's certainly easy enough to look into. Also, swapping front tires is easy to try as well. All tires, btw, have been exact in pressure and absolutely no unusual tire wear is noted on either of them after more than 10K miles of use.

Like I said before, she tracks straight at "side street" speeds and pulls to the left only when I reach cruising speeds on the highway. There is no pull during acceleration, braking, or at deaceleration using the motor's compression to slow the motor. It only occurs when the cruise speed is feathered to maintain constant velocity at highway speeds.

There is a bit of tention on the steering in right turns and less on left turns out on the roadway though this, again, only manifests itself at cruising speeds and goes away at side street (residentual city street) speeds (40 down to 15 mph).

I'll try swapping the tires this weekend and checking on the power steering valve approach indicated in one of the replies. Thanks, fellas!!