Okay, the other day I was driving along and I had to stop in a hurry and locked them up. Now when I'm driving (the longer I drive it gets worse) without braking there is a squealing and it increases the faster I go in the right rear area of the truck. Its very noticable when I'm going up an incline or a decline and when I turn slightly left. I noticed a loose lugnut so I tightened that and it was fine for a day, then the noise came back and its been doing it ever since. Its sounds like I need to change the brake pads but I plenty of wear left on all 4 of them.

Took the tire off and looked around the caliper and everything seems clean since I replaced them a year ago. I also dont see any loose or broken parts. I was thinking maybe a wheel bearing, brake lag or e brake issue. I wish I could take it to a dealership but I cant (stuck in Italy) Any one have any ideas??

 

This may or may not be it, but how hard did you get on the brakes? Do you have factory setup as far as discs, pads, wheels, tires? I had oversized wheels and tires on my 02 and started getting that chirping you're talking about. Does it go away when you apply the brakes? My pads overheated and had glazed up. Brake shop cleaned them up and it went away for a while. Then I noticed it some more. Come to find out, all of my rear pads had cracked right down the middle. They looked fine wear wise, but when I removed them to install better discs and pads, they were all cracked. New discs and pads are great and haven't had a single problem (knocks on wood).

 

Hey thanks for the reply, I have 265/70/16 on it right now. I guess its a pretty standard set up or close to stock. I also have ceramic pads in the rear (whatever Autozone's best was) I hit the brakes pretty hard, enough to feel them grab. Were the cracks on your pads noticable? Or visible to the eye? Sometimes it goes away when I brake but mostly, I'll be just rolling down the road and it churps and the longer I drive it the worse and louder it gets.

 

With mine, I had 2 different situations. When they were glazed (fronts), they would chirp while driving and then quiet when I applied the breaks. When the rears cracked, they would make more noise when I applied the breaks, especially when towing. As far as the cracks, they weren't visible unless you took them out of the caliper. Once you had them out, it was clear as day.

 

Im prolly way off base but I just had this problem. I have 99 f150 started making a squeeking/squealing noise sounded like it was coming from the rear of the truck and same as you the faster I went the loader it got. I got up under the truck come to find out the balancer ring on the drive shaft was cracked and the U joints were shot. May not be your problem but sounds kinda similar to me so I thought id mention it.

 

So I pulled the brake pads off today on the right rear. I got the one off the side the piston is on and one the prongs was broken off the pad. Do you think that could be my problem?? (it looked like the prong that broke off grinded on the edge of the piston a little bit. I'll post some pics. Ohh and I checked the u joints too, they seem fine no play in the driveshaft.

 

As for the Drive Shaft U-Joints, they can be tricky SOBS.

You have to have all the load off the drive shaft and even then it is difficult to tell.

The basic rule is that you need the rear jacked up and the transmission in neutral. But that doesn't always show a bad joint.

For example: I replaced my Eng, Trans, & Transfer Case a few years back. Prior to dropping everything I had the truck up on a lift, the wheels up and trans in N. Drive shaft would turn but the joints didn't have any noticable play.

I dropped the shaft from the Transfer Case and now there was a tune of play in the front u-joint.

Upon taking it apart I discovered that the bearings in one of the two axises were dust.

Replaced both u-joints and once it was all back together, the occational shimmy at highway speeds was gone for good.