I have a squeak in my right rear wheel or near to it? So I lifted the rear of the car on jack stands and put the car in neutral and would spin the rear wheels to find the squeak. Both sides to the rear have a lobbing action like they are on a cam? I spin the rear and at some point both side will rise about an inch and come back down.

The squeak is really weird... It mostly happens when?

- moving slowly from a standing stop
- When a small amount of power is applied
- From a standing stop I will let the car build its own speed with no throttle, the speak start as I begin to roll but will almost go away when it is moving a little faster, but when the car shifts into second the squeak will return immediately as it shifts into second.

I think i can feel the Lobbing in rear when the car starts to roll but not sure if it was the street or the rear end?

U-Joints seem to be in good shape with no play in them.

I was going to take the right side drive shaft off to check it all out but then noticed that when i turn the rear wheels both side will lob up and down as I spin the wheel? So that’s when I stopped work and started post this for some knowledge.

It's a nice day here in San Francisco and wants to cruise the car and not work on it.

Any Help?

Thanks
Jim

 

Hm..Might be half shaft or posi clutch worn?

 

you think the halfshaft might be bent? Would that make both side rise and fall?

 

Never spin the wheels with them just hanging! This will ruin parts for sure. The ujoints will not go that far and stay straight. You are binding up the ujoints when you spin the wheels with them in the air. As for your squeak, it could be lts of things. Bearings, brakes, ujoints there is a lot going on back in the rear of a Vette.

 

If you are engaging the rear wheels while the rear is off the ground and the swing arms are extended downward, this is a bad thing and you should stop. The IRS was not designed to be operated with the swing arms fully extended as would occur with the rear of the car lifted and the wheels unsupported. (This is why it is wobbling.)

I know what you thinking, how would you lift the rear, support the tires and still be able to spin them. The answer is it is very difficult to do. The geometry of the IRS is designed to operate with the half shafts much closer to level (parallel to the ground) than is possible with the rear of the car off the ground. With the rear off the ground and the swing arms fully extended, the u-joints in the half shafts are at extreme angles.

Try lifting the rear off the ground (so you can get under it to observe) but supporting the swing arms so the half shafts are closer to parallel to the ground and then rotate the assembly by hand. ( I would not recommend running the drive train with the engine while the rear is supported in this manner however.) You should be able to observe where the noise is coming from.

Otherwise you will need to start taking things apart to check them individually. I would suspect you will find a bad half shaft u-joint. Possibly one of the rear wheel bearings is bad. But check the easy stuff first!!!

GUSTO

 

My guess woud be the bearings.

 

Disconnected the Half shaft going to the right rear and the bearing seems fine "no play". Placed a jack underneath the left rear wheel to lift it to a more parallel position I turned the wheel by hand ( at no time am I doing this under power) while in neutral and it seems the differential has a spot in it where it gets tight and lift up? Even tough the squeak comes from the right wheel; both wheels are affected by this.

I do remember a very faint squeak a while ago in the same location but it has gotten progressively worse to this point.

 

My money is on a ujoint. My car did this at one time turned out to be a half shaft joint was so dry it squeaked but had no slack yet. I had to remove the shafts to find it.

 

I think your right on the u-joint...it is binding. Its the ujoint closest to the wheel.

Keep you posted?

 

why are we eliminating squeaky brake pads from the easy list of things? does it go away when you apply the brakes?

 

I was on a long trip last summer with my Vette and experienced an unusual intermittent squeak noise that just kept getting louder and louder with every 100 or so miles. Eventually, at about 1000 miles, I came to a town and at the light I started off and heard what sounded like a wheel bearing that went totally to ****. I got the car up on a hoist at a nearby gas station and found nothing to support this condition. I lowered the vehicle, got it back out onto the road and the noise disappeared. 500 miles later it occured again and sounded like I was about to gutt something out of the drive train. I limped it into a drive train diagnostic/repair facility and with close inspection they found my right rear emergency brake caliper had a crack in its housing connection to where it attached to the wheel. This enabled it to shift from one way or another to where it would rub up against the disk rotor. There were indications of heat transfering (blueing) of the rotor disk where this problem had been continuous for long periods of time. We removed the E brake drum and the problem went away. I was able to finish the trip without further inconvenience.

Hope that helps.

 

OK here the final answer...It was the U-Joint. Money pays 2to1 odds to the keninator80!!!! Congrats!

My U-joint was shot...absolutely no bearings left. Except dry dust.

Replaced the u-joint and things are happy again....I was able to cruise downtown San Francisco tonight.

Thanks to all that replied....this forum is invaluable to those who need it to save a few bucks doing it themselves rather than dropping it off at a car shop for 2 to 3 hundred dollars.

Thanks again,
Jim

 

??? you lost me was this on a C3? are you saying they just removed all of the Parking brake componets?

 

Yeah... sorry, got carried away with posting and assumed we were talking about C3's. But yes, they removed the parking brake components off that right side and I was able to finish the last 1000 mile leg of the trip. Total cost.... $50 Canadian!! Diagnosis and fix all together. Nice fella he was.

Soon as I got home, I took the components to the welding bench, cleaned them, TIG'd the crack closed and reinstalled them again. All I was out for the remainder of that trip was use of my E brake. No big deal... it was an endurance run anyhow and I didn't stop to sleep.

 

Glad to help. Instead of paying me, buy one of those needle adapters needed to grease those bad boys.