Squealing noise when driving, shortly after front brake job (2 Viewers)

[lasoundguy]

OK, so I've searched and have a few ideas but would love input.

I rebuilt my front end and replaced rotors [Centric coated from Rock Auto] and pads [OEM from Cruiser Outfitters] two weeks ago--all has seemed fine, put about 250 miles around town with no odd noises, good brake pedal pressure, and generally quite happy with myself.

Went on a small trip over the weekend which involved mountain driving (Big Bear for those that know LA) and noticed that starting Saturday I have a light metallic squeal when driving that goes away when you apply the brakes. It isn't constant but probably 75% of the time when driving (coasting or accelerating.) Brake performance has remained fine but I'm curious what all you'd suggest looking at--I had to park it and dash to the airport for a work trip so I'm stuck spending the week trying to strategize.

With the windows down the squeal is annoying, windows up you have to pay attention to hear it, and so far mileage/power seems unaffected so whatever is dragging isn't putting a ton of pressure on stuff from what I can tell.

This is what it looked like when I put it all together about two weeks ago.

I'm thinking maybe

-Wash off rotors/calipers in case it's just a stuck rock

-Regrease the brake pad shims (I was kinda stingy with it)?

-Regrease guide pins

-Look for any obvious interaction of dust shield to rotor, but not sure what would have caused an issue.

-Stuck piston? I need to read up on how to diagnose that.

-Are the front brake pads "sided"? They looked the same to me but maybe I missed something and there's a R and an L?

Any other ideas welcome.
thanks!

 

[BILT4ME]

Here's my things to check, in order:

1) Did you "Bed the Brakes"? (45 MPH to 5 MPH HARD, 3 times.......45 MPH to 5 mph slowly and easily "riding the brakes" 3 times, drive until cool. If not, do it next. It's free, and you can do it multiple times. I do it if I start feeling a shake in the pedal.
2) What torque did you set the front wheel bearings?
3) Did you take apart the spindles at the same time and possibly have a dry spindle bearing?

 

[lasoundguy]

Thanks for the quick reply!

--re: bedding, I did a few hard stops but nothing as formal as what you suggest, I'll try that next as it's certainly easier than everything else.

--re: knuckle rebuild, I followed the thread kinda to the letter, so I wound up at about 11 on the fish scale w/ 48 in-lbf on the nut. I did take apart the spindles but greased up the little crosshatch grooves pretty well when reapplying. I was under the impression if I messed that up it would be more of a "grrr" as opposed to a higher frequency squeal, but I could obviously be wrong on that.

 

[slow95z]

i was an idiot once and put in a pad in backwards and had the metal on the rotor...

take the tire off and check it all out, doesnt take that long.

 

[BILT4ME]

Thanks for the quick reply!

--re: bedding, I did a few hard stops but nothing as formal as what you suggest, I'll try that next as it's certainly easier than everything else.

--re: knuckle rebuild, I followed the thread kinda to the letter, so I wound up at about 11 on the fish scale w/ 48 in-lbf on the nut. I did take apart the spindles but greased up the little crosshatch grooves pretty well when reapplying. I was under the impression if I messed that up it would be more of a "grrr" as opposed to a higher frequency squeal, but I could obviously be wrong on that.

The FSM is wrong on the nut torque.

This is well documented here, especially for the USA trucks.

As the late @Tools R Us has established, torque the inner nut to 30 LB-FT, the the outer lock nut to 45 LB-FT (Not in-lb as indicated in the manual)

It is VERY likely that your wheel bearings are too loose and your pads are dragging, causing the squeal.

When I first started, I followed the FSM to a tee, with the fish scale and all. I also learned the hard way that it is wrong. After about 2 years of continually jacking with my settings, I have landed on 35 LB-FT for the inner and 45 LB-FT for the outer for my DD, 33" tire wearing 96 LC.

This also follows along almost exactly what the GM Dana 44 and Dana 60 solid front axles require for wheel bearing setup.

 

[lasoundguy]

Got it—great input!

I saw some of the feedback re torque on the rebuild thread but nothing as clear as what you laid out. Thanks a bunch, this gives me a pretty clear direction to go down.

 

[lasoundguy]

Just wanted to update, I got back into town on Saturday and one of the locknuts was a little bit loose, the other side was fine. Tightened both sides up per @BILT4ME 's torque specs (Thanks for your support. ) but alas the noise persisted...then realized it kind of sounded like the noise was coming from the back wheel (hard to tell when driving by myself.) Got my gf to listen while I drove by and sure enough, the sound was from the rear driver side wheel--pulled off the wheel and checked, turns out my rear pads were toast and I must have hit the wear indicator pad level coming down from the mountains. Got new pads on yesterday and all seems to be good!

Interestingly enough the rear pads wore rather unevenly, the inner side had maybe 4mm while the outer side had 1mm on both sides. I greased the sliding pin in the hopes that might get it more even. Let me know if the uneven pad wear is common?

@slow95z thanks for the suggestion, always good to check the idiot things. In this case the mistake was on diagnosis not the work I had done...but yeah, the front pads were metal out.