Can you tell me what exactly goes wrong with the rear brakes? I was actually wondering the same thing. I also need to pull the drum and see if all is ok.

 

I don't know how old your Jeep is or whether it's lived in the rust belt, but around here the rear brake hardware rusts away every few years. The automatic adjuster cable stretches allowing the adjuster arm to scrape the bottom of the drum, hold down springs/clips break, you name it.
Pull the drum and take a look.

 

Just throw a locker in there...problem solved

 

My 2000 8.25 does something similar.it will make a grinding noise from the rear end when I turn but only when im not gas around the turn...

 

My 8.25 also made a grinding sound occasionally, but usually only when braking. I knew that those drums had to go. Did a ZJ disc conversion, and haven't looked back.

OP, if you're going to have it all apart anyways for this, maybe look into doing the disc conversion. Big David on here sells kits.

Oh, and the locker.

 

If I do that then my name will be PocketsEmpty... haha I've thought about doing the GC rear disc conversion, but didnt want to spend the $$.

Yep! It sucks and sounds terrible!

Radi, thanks for the pic. To clear things up my jeep is also a 2000xj 4x4. I think brake hardware is one of those things people don't think they need to change. But just like the springs in a car, the brake springs wear out too and lose their spring rate...it probably takes a long time though. I'll check all the hardware including the cable and report back.

 

Also for the record, I have a standard open C8.25. The GC disc conversion is WELL worth the money in the long run.

I went from this mess...


To this!

 

I'd like to do it sometime in the future. I had a chance to take everything I would have needed off a GC at the junkyard. I forgot if it was the WJ or ZJ that you can do the swap with.

 

ZJ. Not sure about the WJ, but I know that you can swap stuff for the front from a WJ, but I don't know much about it.

 

Wow that looks really nice ! Ally hardware is new in my rear brakes so I dont know...I'm going to take it to a rear end shop soon ill let you know what they say

 

I changed the rear u joints and nothing. I figured it wasn't them. With all the windows down, the noise is definitely coming from the rear axle area. I'll check rear bearings and brakes. Or maybe just drain oil and use something else... Maybe it doesn't like Lucus.

 

Had the same problem turning at slow speeds, I also used Lucas. I ended up putting a little more friction modifier in and it worked... For a while then it got worse and my spider gears got in a fight with my side gears and it really made some awesome noises around corners. I would just try using some more FM and see if that works. I got a new LSD and after the first fluid change I ended up having to put more FM and it works great now

 

Wow that's a horror story! Makes me want to drain that Lucas outta there! I was actually thinking the same thing of adding friction modifier, but then started wondering why it would be necessary if I added 4oz of it and the Lucas bottle stated there was none needed. I'll probably end up adding more though.

Also, I was wondering if my rear end had 75w140 previously, and now it's making the noises cuz of the 80w90.

 

UPDATE: I decided to drain the Lucus oil (and save it) and added royal purple 75w140 synthetic. No more grinding, growling or vibration while turning. Next time I'll just go by what the manual says. Thanks everyone.

 

Lucas is crap.