i have a 97 150, with 177k miles. recently i have noticed a squeaking noise coming from the rear end. anybody have any ideas as to what that might be?

 

can you tell a general driection it's coming from? Like wheel, rear, bed etc...
That will narrow it down to a couple hundred posibilities.

 

Is it a "squeek-squeek-squeek" that speeds up as you start rolling faster? If so, I would suspect a bad u-joint.

 

If it's a high pitched squeak that speeds up with vehicle speed then it could be brake pads or even bearings.

 

thanks guys. im going to replace the bearing in the next couple of days. i will let you know if it helped.

 

jack it up and spin the wheels

 

Thats what I would do, that will also tell you which side it is or even if it's the wheels..... like Net Wurker said it could be the ujoints, or could even be in the rear end too.
Then again it may not squeak with out the weight on it so cant totally digard anything if it dont squeak when jacked up.

I'd definalty investigate before just throwing parts at it.
Mine use to have a squeakwith a slight ping only at low speeds, couldn't locate it and couldn't idnetify it. Come to find out my park brake shoe had come apart. (yes I have 4 wheel disc but your park brake is a drum inside the rotor....)

 

oh yeah by the way, i forgot to say this. it only does it under load. if that helps any. also i am almost positive that it is not the u-joint. we have checked and checked that thing and cant find any reason it would be doing it.

 

So it stops when you let of the gas?

Is this an automatic or standard trans?

 

it's an automatic, but 70 percent of the time, it continues squeaking gas or not. well, i mean from acceleration, or backpressure. you know what i mean?

 

Yea I think I do....
that sounds like likely out more towards the wheels....
Does it increase or decrease with speed, or stay pretty constant?

 

yes. it deffinately changes with speed. i personally think it is the bearings, but i want to get your opinion.

 

It could be a brake pad, they have rivets that are designed to squeak when they get so thin to let you know it's time to change it. Or could be the brake pad on the emergency brake. Could be bearings, could be a rock in your brake. It could aslo be a rock between your brake caliber and your wheel. I have a wheel that I now use as a trailer stand that practically got cut in half that way. Tire shop said they'd never seen anything like it. I had never heard of it but apparently it can happen.

Best thing to do is tear into it and see if you find anything along the way. Then go get the parts you find need replaced. 177K miles it could be any of those and may find it needs all of them.

 

i have drums in the rear. the only thing i could think of other than a bearing is maybe a shoe.

 

Yea could be a shoe or a rock inside the drum. That would be nice. Means you still get to beat the drum off, but that beats pulling the axel and you'll have to pull beat the drum off to get the axel out anyway.