Wheel Squealing

Hello All,

So i went to the Golden Road in Maine with the YJ this weekend and it was running mint. I just had the Brakes done, (calipers, rotors and pads), Wheel bearings and axles joints. Well I came over a crest on the road which is mostly dirt into an unseen pocked landscape of potholes and and water filled divots at about 45MPH. Anyways it was quite the jostling. I now have developed a persistent squealing noise in one of the font tires. I suspect brakes but my father has me worried about doom and gloom, saying it cant be. The squealing is fairly constant and quiets right away when I hit the brakes and promptly returns when i lift my foot. I am a bit nervous because I drove home from Millinocket ME with the squealing and what ever it is didn't burn up and fall away or fall out on the right home. So not dirt. I imagine a small bracket piece would have melted away in the 300 miles or so home. I also went to the car wash last night hoping to dislodge anything but its still there. I am going to take the wheels off tonight to take a look. Anything besides the pads and rotors I should look at? I am still hoping its with the brakes. Thanks

Sounds like an axle u-joint to me, especially if it was impact-related. Does it completely disappear when you step on the brakes (no matter what the speed) or does it only go away when you come to a complete stop? If it only goes away once the wheels have completely stopped rotating I'd put my money on the u-joint being no good. It may not be noticeable at very low speeds (0-10) from inside the cab so that could be why it seems like it goes away when you apply the brakes, and as the wheel spins faster the slop in the joint will cause the noticeable squeal.

If it is the u-joint it's not doom and gloom, but it is something I would address very soon, and I wouldn't do highway speeds. You can check it pretty easy by:

1. going to whatever wheel you think is squealing and trying to move the joint around. If it moves it's cooked.
2. jacking up the tire that's squealing and spinning it back and forth. If you hear a chirping or grinding noise it's cooked.

Hope that helps.

One other possibility is a the hub (unit bearing) as well, but I have less experience with that so I can't really speak towards that end. That could also be impact related.

Just did the axle ujoint. Goes away whenever the brake is depressed at all. Does not have to be stopped. Also doing the axle Ujoint is not super easy you have to pull the hub apart.

thx though cross my fingers i dont have to do them again after only two weeks.

I agree, changing a u-joint is not an easy driveway job, I just meant by "not doom and gloom" that your death is not imminent if you keep driving it haha. New brakes will squeal after installation, it's possible that that could be your culprit, but at this point it could be a whole bunch of things. Good luck.

Yeah don't think its the breaks. I took the wheel of didn't see anything. My father thinks its coming from the the passenger rear. Thinking Wheel bearings... big job, not confident enough to do my self so back to the shop she goes. Edward's Auto has seen my Jeep every week for a month lately lol. My wallet is on fumes...barely.

If it's the bearing you might as well have them do both sides (unless you know for a fact the other side is relatively new) if they're going to be in the rear end anyway, along with new seals. Safe bet that if one bearing was on its way out the other might be heading there, especially in an older vehicle.

Changing the bearings yourself would be do-able, especially since you have another car to drive everyday (if I remember correctly). You just need to rent a bearing puller from AutoZone or the likes, which if memory serves me right is free as long as you return it. But if it's something you're looking to do quick then the shop is definitely your best bet.

My GF lives in Maine so she comes down on weekends or I go up. It seriously eats my wrenching time. Unfortunately everything I have tried on this jeep has been tough and I cant leave it apart on my my parents driveway for long.

Also dumb question but when I went to jack up the front where do you put the jack? I ended up doing it from the leaf brackets behind the wheels but there isnt enough exposed axle, especially driver with the front diff, to put where i feel more comfortable.

Depends what I'm trying to do.

If I'm just trying to get one wheel off the ground I go for the frame in between the spring eye mounts and the transmission mount, and stick a jack stand under the front bumper to be safe. I have a heavy duty floor jack that I trust to support the weight though so you have to take that into account.

If I'm trying to get it up on stands the only good way I've ever used is to jack up the u-bolt plates one side at a time and place a stand on the frame in the spot I mentioned above. You have to be careful that the jack doesn't 'slide off' or shift on the u-bolts though as you're lifting it because trust me that will put the fear of god into you. Because there's the possibility of that happening I'm sure it's not the recommended way, but as long as you're taking the necessary precautions and going slow there's really no risk of injury (unless for some reason you're sitting under the Jeep and pumping the jack, which means you have bigger problems than your vehicle to deal with).

You can lift the entire front end by jacking it up under the diff, but it will rise unevenly and it isn't the best thing to do. I'll be jacking mine up again this weekend and will most likely raise the driver side using the diff and place a stand under the frame on that side, and then raise the passenger side using the u-bolt plate and place a stand under the frame there. I'll be essentially unbolting the front end however so I'll be using probably two scissor jacks in addition to the floor jack to help me raise and lower it back into place as well.

squealing was basically my rear drum internals fell apart lol always a surprise.

Glad it was something simple (and inexpensive)!

I was also going to suggest topping off your rear diff fluid, as that's what caused mine.

Other things to check if something like this happens again is your brake shields. Dianna panicked one weekend because the wheel started shrieking. Turns out it was just a rock stuck between the rotor and the shield. Tiny little pebble.

In terms of jacking, I've always used a jack under the axle-tube to get it high enough to put a jack on the u-bolt plate. Rock solid. (Also a hi-lift on the bumper to get it high enough to put a jack under the u-bolt plate)

i am not sure the bearings would have been much more expensive. I needed the complete drum set up replaced and parking brake all except the wheel cylinders. though glad since i just changed the gasket and fluid in the differential.

question when you change th diff fluid do you alway regasket it or do you pump out the old and pour in the new?

Btw, drum brakes seem like an escher painting at first, but it is totally something you can do on your own in the future.

In terms of diff fluid, it depends on the condition of the fluid and condition of the container. I've always pumped in fresh fluid, but that's because I emptied it into a dirty oil pan. If you had newish fluid and a clean pan, there's no reason you couldn't throw it back in.

i will use new fluid i mean do i always have to scrape off the old rtv and regasket it. or can i hand pump the old fuid out as long as its not goo.

Oh, sorry. Yeah, you can just pump it out.

Oh, and if you *do* have to take off the cover, LubeLocker gaskets are worth their weight in gold. *hate* scraping RTV.