I checked the rear brakes of the 97 Suburban and was surprised to find grease on the friction surfaces:





How does grease get to the pads? The wheel cylinder has some grime but it doesn't look like a major leak. The axle seal looks intact as well:



Wouldn't there be more of a mess if brake or diff fluid were leaking into the drum? What the heck is going on?

[edit] The other side is fine.

Thanks,
Sixto
87 300D

Looks to be a 2500 series suburban rear end there. Go ahead and replace the hub seals and axle gaskets...............Easy enough to do on those cause their full floating....dont have to break open the hog...my .02 based on 25yrs in gm dealers

a common problem with both the 2500 series Suburbans and Pick Ups.

Is there life in them thar pads or do I have to replace them?

Sixto
87 300D

As cheap as drum pads are, replace them.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

that don't look like no floating axle rear end.looks like a light 3/4 or 1/2 diesel sub in which case your gonna be pulling the rear cover.my 94 diesel sub had the light rear end and the axles had to come out to replace the seals.yet my 92 3/4 pickup had the floater.

The hub end looks like this:



Sixto
87 300D

Surely someone didn't put the grease there to cause harm.

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Sixto
87 300D

Yeah, me neither. There is something "Fishy" about her.

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With the level of contamination to the shoes; replace them... Also when your finished; I like to run em' at idle in gear with the rear wheels off the ground for 5-10 minutes. Ensures that the bearings are good and slick before applying vehicle weight/load to them.

odd that the brake internals are dry, and only the shoes are wet... I'd clean EVERYTHING and look for the source of the grease.
I've heard of idiots greasing the brakes before... it's possible.

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
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1987 190D 2.5Turbo
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1987 300TD
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My technical guide is an alldatadiy.com subscription. It describes 10-1/2" and 11" ring gear full floating axles. I have a 14-bolt, v-bottom LSD with 3.73 gears. Does that identify which rear axle I have? Most diagrams suggest 10-1/2" but it's not absolute.

alldatadiy says to remove the axle then remove the hub. It describes a nut that requires a special tool. Does the nut hold the hub to the axle housing or does it only set bearing preload?

If the nut doesn't attach to the axle housing, what keeps the floating axle, wheel and all attached to the housing?

Thanks,
Sixto
87 300D

Remove the axle bolts, slide axle out, you will then see a hairpin retainer clip (note orientation of clip to "keeper"), remove clip, remove "keeper" with magnet, remove locking nut that retains hub to axle.....

Does not require any special tools. Typically i can tear one down with a "pocket screwdriver" after removing axle.

If you can do front rotors on an older model car with packable brgs; this is no different.

You do run the pre-load on the loose side though, its using 90wt not wheel brg grease. Also like I stated previously..ALWAYS run it with the wheels off the ground for a bit prior to dropping it off the jacks. Also dunk the brgs in 90wt prior to reassembly, although i've seen some pack them with brg grease.

Super easy.......dont stress it!

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