Rear Brake Squeaking

My 96 xj is having an interesting problem. The left rear wheel makes a distinct squeaking sound only when taking your foot off of the brake. Could it be a bad brake cylinder hanging up ? I had the rear shoes replaced about a year ago and have put on maybe 5k on it. The xj has also developed a knocking sound from the rear, maybe a u joint ? I dont know what it could be. The final issue I have is that the XJ has been having some bouts of severe hesitation almost to the point of stalling. I have never changed the fuel filter and I was thinking that this could be the culprit. Any ideas on these issues would be great. I appreciate everyones input.

Rear Brakes, pull the drums, clean out the brake dust. When the rear shoes were replaced there are several contacts points that are suppossed to be lubed with synthetic silicone brake grease, if they were not, the drums dragging over the contact points can squeek. Rusted springs can squeek, lots of brake dust can cause skueeks, so pull the drums and inspect.

Inspect the rear and look for anything unusual, a knocking sound could be a "U" Joint, are many other things. When does the knocking sound occur and whats the frequency? If it changes with speed, then suspect something in the drivetrain, if changes with bumps in the road, look for something hanging or out of place bumping on the suspension.

Sever Hesistation, anyone of dozen of things can cause it. Most likely fuel or ignition. First place to start, do a tune-up if your due, bad ignition wires, cap/rotor, spark plugs can cause it, fuel filter clogged can (but the fuel filter gets blamed incorrectly 90% of the time), a bad fuel pump, clogged injectors. When was the last time you ran some injector cleaner thru it?
You can check fuel pump by checking fuel pressure. A dirty air filter can even be a contributing cause.

Have you checked the stored fault codes in the PCM? That can clue you into any problems that might be causing the hesitation.

How do I check the fault codes ? Also the knocking in the rear is only when first starting out from a dead stop.

Ignition Key On-Off-On-Off-On (within 5 seconds) and wait, the Check Engine Light will start to blink.

Ignition "ON" I mean turn the key to RUN, stop just short of engaging the starter.

Count the blinks and write down the number, it will pause between numbers. Arrange the numbers in 2 digit form and thats your codes.

You knocking could be exhaust pipes/hangars banging on things.

i could almost bet money on the backing plates where the shoes glide need to be lubed up

remove wheel and drum and take a look...............chances are that the brake squeak has nothing to do with your other problems

Necro-thread Alert! Haha!

Just doing some research on my brake issue, and it's the exact problem listed above.

I'll be at a stoplight with my foot on the brake. Green light hits, and I let off the brake and slowly apply the gas. As I do, there is consistantly one short 1 second squeak from what sounds like the right rear brake.

I'll have to pull the drums and inspect, I guess.

Just had a similar problem fixed.

" Bang " or " Knock " heard and felt from the rear, at times a squeak from the brakes.

Mine is a 95 with 180K on it.

Two drums + Two Cylinders + Hardware Kits + Shoes = Happy Owner

I figured it was time to overhaul them, after all I am sure in its lifetime all that was done was just what was "needed" to get by.

I now have confidence, NO Squeak, NO Bang, NO Knock and NO $$$$$$$ :laugh:

I paid someone else to do it, I was in a hurry to get it done and it is too cold to do it myself. $200 parts $200 labor ( Jeep dealer wanted $600 for the total rebuild of the brakes )

SanDiegoOverland said:

As I do, there is consistantly one short 1 second squeak from what sounds like the right rear brake.

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My 'trouble' was in the right rear as well, but it didn't make sense to rebuild one side and not the other.

KD3NE_ said:

Just had a similar problem fixed.

" Bang " or " Knock " heard and felt from the rear, at times a squeak from the brakes.

Mine is a 95 with 180K on it.

Two drums + Two Cylinders + Hardware Kits + Shoes = Happy Owner

I figured it was time to overhaul them, after all I am sure in its lifetime all that was done was just what was "needed" to get by.

I now have confidence, NO Squeak, NO Bang, NO Knock and NO $$$$$$$ :laugh:

I paid someone else to do it, I was in a hurry to get it done and it is too cold to do it myself. $200 parts $200 labor ( Jeep dealer wanted $600 for the total rebuild of the brakes )




My 'trouble' was in the right rear as well, but it didn't make sense to rebuild one side and not the other.

Click to expand...

Excellent. Glad your troubles are gone. Thanks for the info, too! I'll post up what I find.

SanDiegoOverland said:

Excellent. Glad your troubles are gone. Thanks for the info, too! I'll post up what I find.

Click to expand...

I'll tell you this much, my " Knock/Bang " was bad, it scared me to the point where I took it off the road and would not allow anyone to drive it until it was looked at. There are times when going down the road at less than 25 MPH if I put pressure on the brake, I would get that BANG and it felt like I hit something.

it was like the piston in the wheel cylinder was stuck IN and it took more pressure to make the right side POP out. It would seem like that would cause the brake to drag, but there was no symptom of that. I drove it for a few miles and 'touched' the left and right drums and they both felt the same heat wise.