Hey guys,

Before I put my car away in September I turned a corner pretty fast and after that noticed that the rear of the car is making an interesting noise when driving (and increases with speed).. You can listen to the sound of it while I'm driving and then coming to a stop and the sound gets slower and slower as I come to a stop (I ATTACHED AN MP3 SOUND CLIP OF THIS).

I took off the rear wheels, and the drum brakes look okay. I noticed there is axle in and out play, but no up and down movement, but I've read on here that this is normal. Here is a vid of play:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utKM...ature=youtu.be

My thoughts are perhaps axles/bearings or driveshaft ujoint are messed up, or something weird with the brakes/ebrake?

I have stock 26 spline axles from 1986 but bearings and seal and carrier were all replaced in 2008 with 3.73 and eaton posi. Driveshaft and ujoints were replaced in 2008 as well. Drum brakes were replaced in 2007, but look pretty good.

Any ideas of what to look for/replace?

 

Is it the same speed as the wheels? It sounds that way to me. If it was the drive shaft it would be about 3 times as fast as the wheel speed.

 

So that removes the driveshaft/ujoint possibility.. It's the same speed as the wheels. I'll still give it a look over, make sure nothing is loose or anything.

Should I open up the gear case and pull the axles to inspect?

 

outer axle wheel bearings?? Howling,same speed as wheels, gets quieted as you slow down, go by a building and hear it "howling"?

 

Doesn't sound like a bearing to me. It sounds like something in the brake drum dragging.

 

so couldn't he take his drums off and run it on jackstands?

 

The drums are off as in the video, or do you mean the entire assembly? I guess I could run it on jackstands (it's on jackstands now). God help me if it falls.. In front of the car I have my water tanks and a giprock wall going to my basement lol.

Dang I forgot to mention, the brake pedal seems to oscillate when I brake.. But not always, sometimes. Does this mean it's 100% brake related? Sorry forgot to mention that earlier. :/

 

Camaro in Basement....not cool!

Block the front wheels and insure its resting on the stands well. Run the car in drive and see if you get the noise without the drums on. Now, the tricky part...you have NO REAR BRAKES........so.....turn off engine and let it free wheel till stop.........THEN PUT IT IN PARK!

 

lol no camaro in basement definitely is not cool.

Yeah no rear brakes means they will spin for awhile before stopping but that's pretty much the only way to hear which side and if the noise happens without drum on. I'll try this before going further.

 

Whatever you do...don't apply the brakes OR put it in park till its done spinning. But you know this already. Keep loose clothes from it also!

 

You will need to put it in neutral to let it stop spinning, or shut the engine off.


Just let it idle in gear. This should be plenty fast enough to tell where the noise is coming from.


Seems like you may have a drum that is no longer round.


If the noise could be coming from the front then the rotors may be warped.

 

See that wheel spacer?...toss it on both sides ...put your drums back on,bolt your wheels on and see if it still does it. It's more then likely the spacer is not seating on the drum correctly.

 

The spacer is not necessary?

I checked everything. Driveshaft, ujoints, studs, axles are not leaking in any way, drum brakes look good. I'll try removing the spacers and see what happens.

I didn't think of checking the fronts. I'll do that tonight.. Also, the drums seem to be pretty tight around the backing. When I put the car in neutral and spun the wheel manually by hand, I could hear the drum dragging. Is some degree of dragging normal?

 

Well, found the issue. The front driver's side caliper had one bolt (banjo bolt) missing! That could have been bad.. Dunno how it just fell off like that, but I am going to replace all of the bolts and guide pins just to be safe. This was a ls1 front brake kid from Ed Miller. Does anyone know the part number for the banjo bolts and guide pins?

EDIT: Got bolt and guide pin kit from a 2002 camaro for both sides. All is fixed. Thanks for the help guys.