01CamaroSSTx

iTrader: (3)

Here's what you don't want to see.

Y2K_Frenzy

I took the caliper and rotor off and gave it a “spin.” It will turn with some effort but it won’t “spin.” The squeak is coming from the differential end. How screwed am I? How often does the tube get bent after hitting curbs? Is it worth a shot to replace the axle and hope for the best? Since the noise is coming from the differential side I’m assuming best case scenario is a new axle and bushing/seal. Replacing the bushing makes me nervous because I don’t have a slide hammer and I’ve never used one. I called a shop so see how much labor would be to replace the axle and they wouldn’t do it because they said that they didn’t have a laser to tell if the axle tube was bent or not.

01CamaroSSTx

iTrader: (3)

I'd check runout on the axle before going any further and replacing the axle and removing the bearing and seal is not that difficult a job.

Y2K_Frenzy

Should the axle “hub” be easy to spin quickly enough to where axle spins fast enough to see it wobble? Or should it take what feels like 50 lbs of force to turn it? If an axle doesn’t turn easy what’s that mean, that it’s bent and or something is messed up in the differential? When I first put the rotor back on it didn’t just slide right on. I had to tighten down the lug nuts (wheel off) to get enough threads showing for the wheel to ride on. The pic is prior to tightening them down. It went on crooked, not an equal amount of threads showing.

01CamaroSSTx

iTrader: (3)

Is the car in Neutral and the emergency brakes disengaged? If the brakes are engaged it will make it more difficult to turn the axle and that rotor should slide on evenly with no binding so you're doing something wrong if you took it off without issue but cannot get it back on correctly. As for the axles if the rear end is off the ground and the car is in neutral it will be somewhat difficult rotating the driveline such as the axles, differential, driveshaft, etc. If you could set up a dial indicator on the axle flange you can check the runout 0.05 is okay not great and in a perfrct world it's @ 0.00 throught a full turn of the axle.

Y2K_Frenzy

Yes it was in neutral and the parking brake wasn’t set. I had to use a rubber mallet to beat the rotor off and it wasn’t rusted on, it’s about a month old.

bbond105

No, the rear axle will not spin like the front hubs will. Sounds as if the parking brake is on or adjusted wrong and you may have damaged it when you forced the rotor back on. I would pull the rotor back off and inspect the park brake shoes for damage. With the rotor off place jack stands under both side of diff so that both tires are off the ground, start engine and place in gear and watch the axle without the rotor to see if it has a lot of wobble.

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

This is really it. At this point, I would either get the proper tool to measure the runout or take the car to a mechanical shop to have the rear end assessed.

For a qualatative assessment of the spin of the axle, one would need to put the entire rear on jack stands, remove both rotors and compare each side.

Y2K_Frenzy

I ordered an axle & it arrived yesterday. Maybe I should’ve gotten the dial indicator, but I’m pretty sure the flange is bent since the rotor wouldn’t go when it was held flush up and down.
I’m probably not going to tare into until next weekend though.

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

Get the dial indicator and some V-Blocks. When you take your axle out, you can put it on the v-blocks and confirm it's bent. Doing this will save you a bunch of pain by making sure your axle is indeed bent and not something else, like your torque tube.

I use this tool all the time for all sorts of stuff. ...calibrating my drill press, checking the driveshaft of our jet skis, checking rotors during brake service, etc. In the long run, it will save you money.

Y2K_Frenzy

Welp.. I put a new axle in and when I when I attempted to get the brakes on I ran into some problems. With the axle clipped in there wasn’t enough clearance to get the park brake shoe on. So I slid the axle back enough to get the shoe on and then slid & clipped the axle back in. The shoe is on and I have the rotor held on by a couple hand tight lug nuts. I put the brake caliper bracket on and I’m not going to have enough clearance between the rotor to get the pads in. There is plenty of room on the inboard side but there’s not any on the out board. Do I need to tighten the lugs down some more to press the rotor on further? I’m not really thinking so since you can’t really wiggle the rotor. The rotor was hard to slide on and off the old axle like it wasn’t lining up (going on cocked) but it slides easily on & off the new axle. So what am I looking at a bent backing plate? Or does a bent backing plate equate to a bent axle tube? I think I found a plate is it worth trying? Or am I up sht’s creek w no paddle & needing a whole new rear assy? I
apologize y’all for all of the threads. I’m almost in panic mode. eBay backing plate

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

I'm not sure what this means, but even the OEM axle flange gets in the way of the clip holding the parking brake pad on. One needs some creative tools to get in there and put the clip on. https://ls1tech.com/forums/suspensio...placement.html

The brake pads should fit and float between those pieces. So they don't go in the tiny space where your screw driver is.

The fact that the caliper bracket is not centered could be a problem. Did you check it with the old axle? (This is what I was talking about with regard to the brake backing plate, which that bracket mounts to. If that bracket is off, I don't think it's a problem with the axle. I think the plate that the bracket mounts to is probably bent. Or the torque tube flange that the plate mounts to could also be bent. The plate is weaker - so hopefully thats it.)

Y2K_Frenzy

It’s been a busy week but I got it back together and the wheels spin freely. I’ve only driven it around the block a few times so I don’t know if there is any wobble yet. We shall see. Thanks for the help.

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

What did you do? Was something off in the install?

Y2K_Frenzy

I wasn’t in as bad a shape as I thought. It was one of those too tired to think situations. There was plenty of clearance once the caliper was spread. It’s not rubbing but there is a little shimmy around 80 mph. It’s not bad, a passenger might not notice it over the other creaks and rattles. 😂 I did the place an aerosol can next to the rotor, then spin the rotor trick to see if the gap between the can opened and closed and it did. So I don’t know if the rotor or the brake backing plate is bent a little, but it’s not rubbing.

wssix99

iTrader: (5)

Great. If the caliper is still off in space a bit and you don't want to change the backing plate, you may be able to shim the caliper bracket with a thin washer to get the caliper perfectly lined up with the rotor. (If the backing plate is bent.)

Y2K_Frenzy

All was ok as far as the hub being able to spin freely. I drove it a few times without issues but now the brakes are hanging. What could be the cause?

01CamaroSSTx

iTrader: (3)

Wrong or dirty fluid, possibly the pistons in the calipers are hanging up or starting to seize. I had to replace one of the fronts on the 99 car recently due to this and just went ahead and replaced both.

Y2K_Frenzy

I guess it could be a coincidence that the caliper failed after it was removed from the bracket and pins taken out. But I think it’s too big of a coincidence for it to be the fluid since the caliper that’s sticking is the one that was removed. I haven’t messed with it yet. I still need to take it off so I can have a look. I pseudo remember one of the pins losing most of its grease on my hands.

Y2K_Frenzy

I know that I have several threads running about this saga but I think I have it resolved. Resolved enough to get on down the line. I don’t hear any rubbing and it doesn’t have any braking problems other than a soft pedal because it needs to be bled. The axle shaft was bent and I believe that the backing plate was as well. I replaced the panhard bar but the stock one wasn’t bent. The axle bearing and seal were replaced. The seal was leaking but they didn’t really help with the rub. The axle shaft fixed a bunch of the rubbing and then then backing plate fixed it some more. I think that something is still slightly out of square though. Or my new wheel and or new rotor flange is bent. There’s a slight shimmy and the wheel has the slightest bit of in and out play in it when it’s off the ground.. 🤦🏻‍♂️ Like it’s not snug down all the way on the rotor. When I get the energy I guess I’ll a different tire & wheel on that side to see what it does. It’s supposed to be cold next week so I prob won’t mess with it. At least it’s rolling and stopping without chirping.