Rear wheels isolated, won't turn

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John McW

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Ok guys, I'm at the end of my know-how/experience. Here's the background:

1997 Expedition 4wd 5.4 auto 85k miles LSD 9.75 IIRC. I picked up the suv at an auction, before which I believe the vehicle sat for about 1-1.5 years. When I finally got it on the road after a slew of other repairs, I noticed a fairly significant clunking coming from the rearward parts. I didn't drive it enough to confidently say it made the noise only when turning right or left, or only made it under acceleration/deceleration, etc. It pretty much just made the noise at seemingly random times, and I got the sense that I could feel a slight shift in the vehicle's balance each time it made a clunk. Maybe not, but if so very slight.

Assuming the worst, I pulled the cover off the diff. Nothing. I verified it wasn't anything up front by disconnecting the drive shaft. With the rear wheels of the ground, I could not spin either tire by hand. So I removed the wheels, removed each caliper, and with a pry bar between the lugs, I could move it with relatively little force going in reverse, but not forward. Both sides. If I try to spin the hub forward, it moves maybe 5 degrees and then jams. When I'm moving each hub in reverse, I can feel and hear a metallic scraping noise. When I had the wheels on, I checked for play at 6 and 12 o'clock, as well as 3 and 9. Nothing. In and out play - left nothing, right maybe 1/16th - 1/8th inch.

Could it be that both wheel bearings seized from sitting, and then when I drove it they came apart? Or is it the clutch packs? I am not experienced with rears, so any advice would be helpful.

Just to recap what diagnostics I did:
Isolated the problem to hubs and rear diff.
Opened diff cover, nothing obviously wrong.
Removed calipers.
Did not find up/down or side/side play in hub.
Can turn both hubs in reverse with mild force - hear scraping noise.
Cannot turn either hub forward.

I think that's it. If you feel like more info would be helpful, please ask. I might have left something out. Thanks in advance for the help!
 

Trainmaster

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Welcome, John. Good to hear about your new truck.

Have you checked the parking brake shoes inside the rear rotors/drums? The rotor has a parking brake drum cast into it with brake shoes. They usually rust into slag, fall apart and jam up inside the drum. Especially if someone decided to use them after not being applied in twenty years. Easy and cheap fix. Hardest part is getting the rotors off.​

Unless the thing was under water it aint' your bearings.
 
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John McW

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Oh dang, is it that simple? So I'll google this and I'm sure find the answer, but is the parking brake within/inside the rotor? Not with the car now otherwise I'd check. That makes a lot of sense if that's what the problem is, because it does sound like the noise is coming from the hub and not the diff.
 

Trainmaster

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Yes, the rotor has a small drum cast into the center of it. Inside are two regular brake shoes and springs, which are probably in pieces by now.

The rotors can be a ***** to get off. Sometimes they slide right off the lugs, other times you can beat them for hours with a mallet. In those cases, heat and penetrating oil help. I've used a long pipe and sledge to wack them from the opposite side.
 

Plati

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On my 2003 ... I had Vinny use a sledge hammer to get the rotor off. It was ugly.

Putting them back together was a bit tricky. I had to adjust the shoes out as far as they would go (and still get rotor on over them) or no parking brake. They are not self adjusting on the 2003 nor can you get something in there to loosen to remove. The hardware was all rusted and had to be cleaned up and replaced (several times).

https://www.expeditionforum.com/threads/parking-brake-problems.34843/#post-293161
 

Don Hall

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Welcome, John. Good to hear about your new truck.

Have you checked the parking brake shoes inside the rear rotors/drums? The rotor has a parking brake drum cast into it with brake shoes. They usually rust into slag, fall apart and jam up inside the drum. Especially if someone decided to use them after not being applied in twenty years. Easy and cheap fix. Hardest part is getting the rotors off.​

Unless the thing was under water it aint' your bearings.

TRAINMASTER'S POST IS WHAT THIS FORUM IS ALL ABOUT! :waytogo::waytogo:
 

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