Flubbed The Diagnosis

silverad03 · May 30, 2008

I took a long trip with my '03 1500 last weekend and coming home I kept hearing a squeak and squeal coming from what sounded like the driver's side - couldn't tell front or back. The noise was there whether I used the brakes or not. So this week I drive to and from work (35mph top speed on back streets) with my windows down every day and I'm almost positive it's actually a passenger front wheel bearing. I buy a new hub ($150) and go to work. I inspected the passenger front brake while I had the caliper off and the pads and rotor looked fine. 2.5 hours later I have the new bearing installed and I'm good to go. I turn the corner out of my garage and what do I hear? Squeak and Squeal!! Couldn't believe it - again the noise was there whether I used the brakes or not.

I then resort to hanging my head out the window while driving to identify where the sound is coming from. Now I'm not so sure but maybe my rear brakes are just worn out. Needless to say, I replaced a factory front hub with 93k miles on it that probably had nothing wrong with it. I couldn't even feel much of any play in it before I took it off - I guess that should've been my first clue. I hope the Timken holds up (fingers crossed).

Tomorrow it's back to work on it - see if it isn't the rear brakes after all.

Lesson learned: don't be a hotshot trying to diagnose problems - always eliminate the cheaper scenarios first.

2000DV4.8 · May 30, 2008

Possibly a u-joint?

BigJayDogg3 · May 30, 2008

When I first got my truck, it had a squeak similar to what you are describing. It turned out the parking brake release cable wasn't tightened enough, and it was rubbing on something.

Wingnut · May 30, 2008

Possibly a u-joint?

X2.

The u-joints on my '02 were doing that...Not clunking going in and out of drive/reverse...The were squeaking quietly. When I pulled them out, one of the caps was completely dry and rusted out...I've got pics of the carnage somewhere.

alaska511 · May 30, 2008

Possibly a u-joint?

X2.

The u-joints on my '02 were doing that...Not clunking going in and out of drive/reverse...The were squeaking quietly. When I pulled them out, one of the caps was completely dry and rusted out...I've got pics of the carnage somewhere.

and another vote...

It's funny sometimes, you get under there and shake and twist, but you don't find them burnt until you rip the driveline apart. I just did all of my son's, as I started to hear something, and every one of them were toast. There were none of the tell-tale rust tracks or any movement.

silverad03 · May 30, 2008

Very interesting. I've never heard of u-joints squeaking and squealing like that, but it certainly sounds possible. Come to think of it, I did notice a little bit more of a clunk when I put it in reverse last night and thought to myself "I probably need to check my u-joints sometime soon," but didn't think much more of it at the time.

I'll drop the driveshaft and inspect while I'm checking the rear brakes tonight.

2000DV4.8 · May 30, 2008

Very interesting. I've never heard of u-joints squeaking and squealing like that, but it certainly sounds possible. Come to think of it, I did notice a little bit more of a clunk when I put it in reverse last night and thought to myself "I probably need to check my u-joints sometime soon," but didn't think much more of it at the time.

I'll drop the driveshaft and inspect while I'm checking the rear brakes tonight.

I just did my u-joints yesterday (and had an incident with the press that requires a trip to a driveshaft shop... ), and the one up by the slip-yoke had about 1/8" of play in it before I pressed it out. When i took the cap off, it was bone dry, and there were no needle bearings! I guess it got so dry that they just ground themselves to bits...

Wingnut · May 30, 2008

Yup...The ONLY indication I had was the squeaking.

But this is what it looked like when I pulled it apart. One of the other ones didn't even have any bearings left in it.

Bish · May 30, 2008

I agree with the others that it is likely u joints. However, I had a similar squeak on my 01 Tahoe that I could not find for the longest time. It ended up being the rear backing plates rubbing against the rotor. As the backing plates rust they expand and contact the rotor. Don't worry about it if you have rear drums.

Good Luck.

silverad03 · June 2, 2008

Well, this weekend was very busy so I didn't get a chance to look at the u-joints. My truck is in the body shop all this week for paint damage repair (some guy had a load of hay come apart when I was right beside him on the interstate) so I'll have to wait at least another week to check it out.

pennzoil29 · June 2, 2008

I miss the old style u-joints that you could grease up when you lubed the rest of the fittings. I mean, they still went bad, but you also knew they didn't dry out.

silverad03 · June 17, 2008

Finally got the truck out of the body shop and had time to look at it this past weekend.

The culprit of the squeak was the passenger side rear brake. The pad had worn down to the backing plate along the inside edge, creating the squeak & squeal as the rotor turned, whether the brakes were applied or not. Funny thing, the pad was only effective on the middle 50%, laterally, along the pad. The inner & outer 25% or so of the pad was worn away by corrosion and heavy pitting along the inner and outer edge of the rotor on the inside braking surface. The rotors were ok to be turned, but the corrosion and pitting is still there on the inside (the outside surface of the rotor looks great). I didn't have the money to replace the rotors this time so I put the turned stockers back on, cleaned and lubed the caliper studs, and it's back on the road.

I also replaced the u-joints while I was at it (they're cheap) - they all looked fine. So now I'm good to go on brakes and u-joints for a while.

Thanks everyone.