Stoge

It was such a nice evening, I had to take the vette out for a short relaxing cruise with the tops off and the Grateful Dead turned up loud. I killed the radio at a stop sign and listened to the car as I took off.

"Squeak squeak squeak squeak"

The only real hope I have of this being something else is that even though it seemed like it was coming from the left rear, it's frequency was too fast for it to be the same speed as a wheel rotating... so maybe its a bum U joint on the main drive shaft.

Is there any easy way to check a rear wheel bearing without having to disassemble a trailing arm? Can you tell if a U joint is going bad by inspecting it while installed on the car?

On a side note, it was a great cruise. It reminded me why I love 'vettes so much.

MN-Brent

Stoge
Same thing for me. It turned out to be a halfshaft U-joint.

I replaced all mine with Neapco Brute Force non greasable units ($12.99 at Autozone) and now the vette rolls smooth and quiet. Ive read good reviews of these U-joints from Four Wheeler mag and read an article in I think CorvetteFever online where they used them too.

One way possible to tell if a U-joint is going bad is by looking to see if there is any red powder coming from a seal area - meaning rust is inside the needle bearing area. Mine were still greased nicely but had a squeek so one of them was starting to go.

Brent...

Shark Racer

Does the noise go away when you hit the brakes? (I'm nicknamed squeaky brakes for a reason...)

-Steve

stingray4me

It could be the little metal thing on the brake pads telling you its time to replace them. Yes you can wiggle your half shafts around & see if there is exessive play in them for wear. Also when you jack up the tire see if if has a lot of wiggle in it. If you gotta change the rear bearings you need a spindle knocker to thread on to whack on it with a mini sledge for about half an hour.
While your doing this replace the stock strut rods with smart struts in not already done. Have fun :D

Larry B.

I have had a bad U joint do that. Look for ANY red rusty looking stuff at the caps .... but usually you cannot tell if the U joint is bad until you take it out and look at it. You will see wear ridges on the trunion. Next look closely at the side yokes. there should be no "in-out" play. If they wear (common) then the Flange on the yoke actually hits the differential housing. The repair is new side yokes. There have been a lot of threads on that over the years.

jacobsed

In general how long do rear wheel bearings usually last?

Stoge

Thanks for the info, everyone. I'm going to go look for red dust around the Ujoints. I really think (and hope) it is a bad U joint... but I got a little spooked when I thought it was coming from the left rear.

Pacin- I'm pretty sure it isn't my brakes, they squeak much louder and more obnoxiously!!! :lolg: :lolg:

GTR1999

Isolate the rear suspension parts and inspect them. Jack up the car on stands,look over rear suspension,rotate the tires in neutral with the trailing arms at ride height- use a jack under each arm to level. Look at the 1/2 shafts,brake pads, shocks, parking brake. If yu can't determine the location reemove the 1/2 shafts and slowly spin the rotor, it should spin free and smooth,I slide the caliper up out of the way too so only the rotor is spinning. Check for slop in the u-joints,they should be tight, almost forgot check the the trim rings for a broken clip.
Gary

Stoge

Gary, thanks for the info. I will have to print this thread out and take it to the garage with me.

:thumbs:

Turbo-Jet

bad bearings don't usually have a cyclical sound, unless there is too much endplay. either way, jack up the rear, disconnect the halfshaft, and remove the brake pads. turn the spindle by hand and you can gauge the feel pretty well. also measure endplay and rotor runout.

bearings should be regreased every 20-25k miles. they should last at least 50k.