Brake wizards needed - I'm about to go nuts!

[geezer#99]

Put a big load on the suspension and rear end on that side.
3 to 500 lbs should do it.
Sand bags work for that.

[Accelo]

When stumped I always jack the rig up on jack stands, all 4 wheels.
Then with someone driving I have them load up the brakes while the transmission is in gear and rolling. Try it at different speeds and with and without the hubs in and with and without the transfer case in gear. I have had good luck with this method.
Another trick is to have some one drive in circles with you in the middle. Do this in both directions.
Hope it works for you as well as it did for me.
Cheers

[joeydurango]

Pulled everything back apart yesterday. Looked the suspension over thoroughly, all looks normal. Wheel bearings had the slightest amount of vertical play, so I pulled the axle shafts and the bearings. They looked quite good, actually - I bet someone did these in the last 20,000 miles (I've put about 12,000 miles on the truck over the last decade). But I figured, why not replace them since I had it apart anyway. While ordering bearings and seals I went ahead and ordered new drums as well. Not that expensive, the old ones are getting thin, and I'm ready to stop taking things apart repeatedly

Guess we'll see what the results are once it's all back together next weekend. Thanks to everyone who's tried to help.

[steves1967]

bent axle or bad axle bearing

[joeydurango]

Following up for future question-askers. After several drives the noise is *mostly* gone. Still can get it at the very end of a stop, but it no longer squeeeeaaaals all the way to every stop sign. Since the old bearings appeared to be just fine I think new drums were the mostly-fix. Just for kicks I removed the front calipers and inspected them too - everything is completely normal there. Don't really know what the remaining noise is - and it is the same exact noise - but it's so much reduced at this point that I don't care. I've got too many other things to worry about!

[Steeveedee]

With this latest post, I'd say that the problem is squeal from your brake pads. This can be a pain to minimize. I'd recommend a quality brake pad silencer and following the directions on the bottle to a "T". I still have a little squeal on my front brakes (disc brake conversion) but I just step on the pedal a little harder.

[joeydurango]

Originally Posted by Steeveedee

With this latest post, I'd say that the problem is squeal from your brake pads. This can be a pain to minimize. I'd recommend a quality brake pad silencer and following the directions on the bottle to a "T". I still have a little squeal on my front brakes (disc brake conversion) but I just step on the pedal a little harder.

Well - old brake shoes squealed. I replaced them. The new ones also squealed. That's what led to all this in the first place... but I'm happy with it for now.