Rubbing noise from rear wheel , tricky to diagnose , any thoughts?

[malcolm]

Hi everyone , scratching my head over over slight rubbing noise that seems to come from drivers rear wheel area (lwb td42 maverick) .

Only noticeable at very low speeds and sounds like , say, a brake back plate rubbing . definitely rotational - ie faster you go faster the noise gets.

Noise is the same in gear , out of gear , clutch in and even freewheeling , still there when brakes applied including applying handbrake on its own .

I've had the truck on a hoist and rotated all 4 wheels by hand - can't hear anything odd .
My trusted mechanic - who checked on the hoist with me - reckons it can't be much and probably not to worry . I've also , as best i can , listened around the tail shaft / diff cover plate and handbrake drum .

However i would like to diagnose and fix it for obvious reasons , particularly before any remote area travel .

Any thoughts appreciated - I don't post questions without checking carefully / reading the manual etc.
Cheers everyone

[97_gq_lwb]

Any signs or grease around the inside of the disc or drum.

[threedogs]

Hi its not one of your caliphers sticking, pull them apart and rebuild with a kit, pretty sure thats your problem,
Service front caliphers at the same time, might be time for new pads
brake pads not retracting.

[malcolm]

Thanks for replies , no obvious signs of grease contamination . Sticky caliper is a possibility but i would have expected to hear rubbing noise when rotating jacked up wheel - only hear noise when moving .
However if i can't diagnose closer then I'll be pulling things apart in that area .

I also checked after posting that I had not overlooked a stone or nail in the tyre, fortunately- for my credibility - no nails etc visible.

Thanks again and cheers

[Morton]

look for a rock, mud or stick caught between the calliper & protector, it is very common, also mud etc on the inside of the rim rubbing on the rotor or callipar, again very common, take the wheel off, take the calliper off, look behind the rotor, it will be a bit of sh#t caught in there somewhere.

A bearing has a very distinct sound, can never be mistaken for any other noise, have someone that knows the bearing noise to listen, they will tell you in a flash, if it is a bearing, remember the noise as ity is the same on everything with a bearing

[malcolm]

Thanks Morton , I suspect you are right and I'll check in the morning . The body gets a bit reluctant to crawl under the truck these days so it's good to get an opinion and advice - and sometimes there's something peculiar to a particular car that others know about and I don't . Guess that's the value of a forum !

Thanks again, I'll check in the next day or so and post a result,

cheers Malcolm

[malcolm]

PS , yes, bearings have a distinct noise when failing ( which it isn't) - so this should turn out to be a quick cheap fix after all.

[pearcey]

G`day mate.
Two things to check
1 U joints they can squeak under a slight load even if greased as the needle rollers do wear into the cups and nearly always at an angle and you maynot hear it on the hoist
2 the rear break pads have a wear indicator attached and these are noisy when they touch the disc.

[malcolm]

Thanks Pearcy , I'll check and hopefully get in to it later this morning . pads are fairly new as are U joints which were greased a couple of weeks ago and replaced about 4 years ago - but take your point .

Thanks for replying ,

[White Elephant]

Hey mate, sounds like the exact same problem I had for a while, I checked everything that has been mentioned above and still no joy. After swag loads of trial and error I ended up having to pull the axle out. The bearing spacer at the hub end of the axle was worn and running on the axle causing the horrible squeal noise. It was a relatively easy fix, you will need a press and appropriate mandrels to get the bearings off the axle though. Clean everything up, apply some loctite 609 bearing retainer to the inside of the spacer before re assembly. Repack the bearings if they are serviceable. Also make sure you put new axle seals in(they are relatively cheap). I did both sides eventually because they both ended up squealing.

This is the thread- http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?6148-GQ-Patrol-Rear-end-squeal/

[malcolm]

Thanks , sounds like fun . checking the rear bearings etc is on my to do list before a next big trip - hopefully not the source of this problem but we'll see . Ran out of time today , hopefully tomorrow .

Cheers and thanks again .

[malcolm]

Back again - just removed wheel , caliper and rotor . No foreign objects/cr#p, but hub and inside of rotor coated in a fair amount of grease . Cleaned it all up and - not really surprised - noise is still there .

Looks like I'll be pulling the axle shaft out . May be it is the spacer, or a dry bearing - but it does not sound like the rumble/whir you get with a shot bearing. More later and thanks for the advice .

[malcolm]

Hi again , just removed caliper and rotor - no sticks or stones but a good coating of grease on hub and inside rotor hub . cleaned it all up and - not really surprised - noise still there . Fun and games , looks like the axle shaft will have to come out - could be that spacer . I'm going to have another look though before pulling out the shaft . Cheers and thanks . Time for a beer.

[malcolm]

OK now I'm repeating myself ? - wrong button or wait for the mail server next time

[threedogs]

Are the pistons returning into the caliphers?? or is noise there with brakes removed???

[97_gq_lwb]

Good idea to do the bearings anyway if the grease has come out they would have run dry have fun pressing them it is 3 times to get them out and twice too put them back in oh what fun lol.

[malcolm]

Hi , good point but that's what has been tricky - roll the car along slowly on the road and you hear the noise - jack it up and spin the wheels - all quiet. Which probably does point to a bearing - calipers are Ok but I'll check again before pulling the shaft out.

Cheers , have a good evening

[malcolm]

Thanks , Ill keep you posted ! Could be worse - someone we knew with a new common rail V8 landcruiser stuffed all 8 injectors and the pump with a fill of dodgy fuel . About $9000 to fix plus 2000 tow charge - you can buy a half decent td 42 for that !
cheers

[97_gq_lwb]

Yeah not too bad $142 a side http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Rear-Wheel-Bearing-Kit-Nissan-Patrol-1987-2010-Disc-Rear-GQ-GU-Y60-Y61-Safari-/400275767131?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5d324b7f5b

[White Elephant]

Back again - just removed wheel , caliper and rotor . No foreign objects/cr#p, but hub and inside of rotor coated in a fair amount of grease . Cleaned it all up and - not really surprised - noise is still there .

Looks like I'll be pulling the axle shaft out . May be it is the spacer, or a dry bearing - but it does not sound like the rumble/whir you get with a shot bearing. More later and thanks for the advice .

After the headache I had mate, and the symptoms you are describing, I'd almost bet my lefty that it's the same problem. Regardless, hope you can sort it out without too much drama. If you have any questions, let me know, cos my axles have been out a bajillion times over the last year or so!

[malcolm]

Hi Again , took truck to mechanics on Thursday when the noise promptly disappeared only to come back again on Friday - So we pulled axle out on Saturday to investigate - bearing had lost some grease but not all - So elected to replace seal at this point as we don't have access to a press at home but .........

Whoops - got the wrong seal in my spares kit - so bearing re packed and repeat again with new seal in the week .

Apologies if this is getting tedious - more exciting posts later......and thanks for help .

[malcolm]

Hi again , just to round off this saga - pulled axle shaft out again and replaced with correct seal ( $13.80 online ) repacked with grease etc . Seems to be OK but a bit hard to tell in 90 km winds we had yesterday !

Decided not to go to drama of removing bearing at this point though good to know spacer can be a problem . I'll keep an eye/ ear on it and see how I go . If I find something definite in the future on this I'll post a note but in the meantime thanks for all the helpful comments and advice.

Cheers

[Morton]

Malcolm, tedious is good, this helps others out that are not so determined as you are, so many issues have the same noises/problems etc that it is often hard to know exactly what the issue is, trial & error is par for the course with some problems, but the experience gained today will help someone on here in 6 months when they fall to the same drama, you may point them straight to the REAL issue, this saves time & in some cases buckets of money, absorb the knowledge & part with your wisdom as required

[threedogs]

X2 with above, with threads like yours the forum can only get better, well done and fingers crossed you solved the problem

[White Elephant]

Eggzachary. All the info helps everybody out mate. Pleased it was a reasonably simple fix.