• Welcome to the new NAXJA Forum! If your password does not work, please use "Forgot your password?" link on the log-in page. Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] if we can provide any assistance.

Brake question...

R

Reclipse

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Aurora, CO
OK, I have an 87 laredo, 4.0, 242, and a Dana 44 rear. I just got done with lifting the beast, I did the thunderbird coils in the front, got 3.5" lift and did a bastard pack with th S-10 leaf. New shocks from a Rubicon, it rides good, better than I thought even before the alignment, have not gotten it above 40mph.

My question, my rear brakes are now making a bad noise, like the drums are warped, which they were before the lift but it was bearable. Now it has gotten much, much worse. This was all after the lift. Will the lift cause brake issues? The tire are the same as before, nothing is hitting, and I know its the rear cause I can pull the E-brake and get the noise.

I dont want to buy all new brakes for the rear just to have the same issue. Am I missing something?
 
Did you pull the drums and look for any parts that have broken or come loose? It's pretty rare for drums to get warped unless someone drove with the parking brake on. You can completely rebuild the rear brakes for around $100.
 
whenever you lift, any vibes or problems you had before, will most likely be more dramatic. i agree with jeeper, at the same time have you torn them down to "look" you might find it to be something much easier.
 
Your E-brake cables may be to short applying the brakes when driving.
 
Thanks guys, yeah I did take the drums apart, nothing loose or broken. I know my drums were a little warped already, just when the rear got lifted it like multiplied like max419 said. The ebrake cable is just fine, already checked that. I am going to redo the rear brakes, I was just hoping to wait for a few more months, low on funds. I have found out the cheapest is rockauto, cause vatozone and checker have drums but they are 60.00 a piece. Got to love that right.
 
OK, I think I have figured out the problem, as I thought it was the brakes. It turns out my rear driveline might be real close to being too steep of an angle, cause I am thinking when I hit the brakes it lift the rear up just enough to cause the noise where the u-joints may possibly be binding up, causing the sound and vibration. What do you guys think?

On a side note, I got the track bar moved over and an alignment done, did it myself thank you very much. I have no vibration or death wobble, which is good. I did only take it up to 60, do I need to go faster or is that fast enough to know if I have DW? I just dont want to take it out and all of a sudden get DW at 75.
 
axlewrap, it happens. especially with weak saggy leaf packs, and traction devices.
do a burnout in loost dirt (easy for you, in phx). does it feel like your rear tires are playing the dirt like a bongo drum? thats how my axle wrap felt. it'll kill your ujoints, watch em! can also kill shocks, especially the bushings, and bend shafts on cheap white rocket shocks.

yeah, dw is more prevailiant at high speeds, conditions set it off more than speed though.
a friend has a chronic case of dw on his commanche, he can dd it, and not see dw unless he drives it hard, pretty much 75+ on highway. if you plan on driving it at a max of 75mph, take it up to 85 to check!
 
It was strange, when I first got it lifted and didnt do the alignment or moved the trackbar over, it actually drove straight and had zero vibrations or no sign of DW. After moving the trackbar, the front axle now rubs on the exhaust when I am doing a hard right turn or fully lock the wheel to the right. I still have not set my caster yet, but like I said I have no vibrations.

I guess tomorrow I will have to take it up to 80 or so. When it comes to the the rear leafs, either I am going to do a TC drop or just lower it a little, cause when I have extra weight in the jeep, its not as noticeable. It still does it, I just have to hit the brakes harder for it to go back to my wonderful noise.
 
Actually, when I brake, the bongo noise is what I am getting, only when I brake. Ill try the burn out tomorrow as well. Give you a little insight with which leafs I used. the two longer leafs from a 94 S-10, and took out the second longest from the xj. I got 4 inches of lift. measured from center of hub to bottom of flare, before was 17" after was 21". The shocks I used was from a 2008 rubicon. It rides very nice, better than stock, definitely stiffer, but I do like it. Let me know what you think and thanks XCM!!
 
check the pinion on the rear axle, coast side will want to push the pinion out of the housing, whereass drive side will want to pull it in. migh be some bad pinion bearings exacerbated y your new lift.
I'd check the pinion angle as well. braking will make the pinion dip, and you might be hearing u joint unhappiness.
 
Last edited:
It only started doing this after the lift. I tried going in reverse and hit the brakes and I got zero noise. Im gonna try lowering it a bit, if that doesnt seem to work, Ill take a look at the pinion bearings. The pinion and transfer case is parallel to each other, but the drive shaft is pretty steep.
 
it is possible that you've simply got u joints that are pissed about having their operating angles changed. If you can't come up with anything else I'd at least change out the u joints and see if the noise goes away. I'd bet you've got some sort of driveshaft noise.

Quick test, take out the rear shaft, engage 4HI and drive and stop in a manner that would create your noise. If it doesn't make noise when it's something to do with the shaft.
 
Reclipse said:
OK, I think I have figured out the problem, as I thought it was the brakes. It turns out my rear driveline might be real close to being too steep of an angle, cause I am thinking when I hit the brakes it lift the rear up just enough to cause the noise where the u-joints may possibly be binding up, causing the sound and vibration. What do you guys think?

On a side note, I got the track bar moved over and an alignment done, did it myself thank you very much. I have no vibration or death wobble, which is good. I did only take it up to 60, do I need to go faster or is that fast enough to know if I have DW? I just dont want to take it out and all of a sudden get DW at 75.
Click to expand...


yanno i did my own alignment on my xj and i thought i did awesome, my steering wheel was awesome, it drove fine no DW or anything... and i just didnt feel right about all that i did i wanted to be a 100% sure my alignment was good, i took it down to the shop and 1 tire was 40 degrees and 1 was 5 degrees. so they reset it to 15 degrees on both sides.

i dont know how you measured your track bar, but i was told to measure from the unibody by the coil to the outside edge of your tire. and make sure both sides are equal.

and DW can happen at any speed all it takes is a lil bump.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

X
My brakes are crap
Replies
12
Views
3K
xjklmnop69
X
T
XJ shackle with custom springs question.
Replies
11
Views
208
XJlimitedx99
X
O
Rear Brake Noise Question and Hepl Please
Replies
5
Views
373
asymptonic
A
J
Help needed with nightmare XJ ABS to Non-ABS swap...
Replies
0
Views
70
JBinNY
J
G
Master Cylinder/Booster Upgrade, Larger Calipers?
Replies
5
Views
1K
Anak
Anak
Back
Top