Squeaking/chirping when driving.

Been a while since I've had to ask for advice on here but I'm well stumped. I've got an intermittent squeaking noise from somewhere under the vehicle that is most noticeable when in lower gears or when driving on a straight flat road at a steady pace (I can hear it at 50). It's not there all of the time and goes away when I depress the clutch. I've changed the UJs incase it was those, checked the diff and tfr box bearings, made sure all my oils are good, greased my props again. I've also checked the belt pulleys and tensioners incase it was one of those but it's only when I'm driving and doesn't appear at idle at all. I'm now confused as to what it could be. It definitely sound like a dodgy UJ but it's not. Any advice much appreciated as always.

Yours,
Wolfie.

Wheel bearings?

Although that wouldn't explain why the sound goes when you depress the clutch!

Nope, did the rear wheel bearings just recently (July) and the fronts are new within the last year

I have a similar squeal that is evident at cruising revs in any gear and is a bit annoying when in 5th driving at 65?

I suggested wheel bearings because one of my friends had a similar issue which was down to wheel bearings and when he replaced his, it went away!

For me, I think it might be some kind of main gearbox (R380) issue but it does not affect the driving or gear change.

I had a squeak that was most conspicuous when I was accelerating in the autumn of 2013. So I suppose it's a bit like saying it goes away when the clutch is down. It turned out to be the handbrake. It disappeared when I replaced the shoes and springs. There was no slack in the output bearings so it's hard to see why it should be more obvious under power, but there you go.
It came back briefly last Christmas but I knew what it was and changed the shoes straight away.

This time of year its probably field mice or pheasants. Other than that I really can't help, sorry.

Dry or failed rubber mounting, or broken exhaust mounting,

Brown said:

I had a squeak that was most conspicuous when I was accelerating in the autumn of 2013. So I suppose it's a bit like saying it goes away when the clutch is down. It turned out to be the handbrake. It disappeared when I replaced the shoes and springs. There was no slack in the output bearings so it's hard to see why it should be more obvious under power, but there you go.
It came back briefly last Christmas but I knew what it was and changed the shoes straight away.

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Sorry to bomb wolfs post but I never thought of that! Is it an easy thing to do?

mojo247 said:

Sorry to bomb wolfs post but I never thought of that! Is it an easy thing to do?

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Mechanically it's not too technical at all. However, practically, it is fiddly because there are a lot of little springs that have to be unhitched to get the mechanism apart and then re-hitched with the new components, whilst lying on your back in the dark. Plus getting the shoes perfectly centred on the lumps and bumps that are pressed into the backplate, or the drum won't go on all the way. The rewards are a much quieter drum brake and (once correctly adjusted) a much tighter one too.

If you want to check this, go for a little drive with the drum off and see if it is any quieter. Preferably somewhere flat where you won't need to do any hill starts.

Brown said:

I had a squeak that was most conspicuous when I was accelerating in the autumn of 2013. So I suppose it's a bit like saying it goes away when the clutch is down. It turned out to be the handbrake. It disappeared when I replaced the shoes and springs. There was no slack in the output bearings so it's hard to see why it should be more obvious under power, but there you go.
It came back briefly last Christmas but I knew what it was and changed the shoes straight away.

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The handbrake wasn't something that crossed my mind as I've never heard of it being an issue before. Will have a better look around that area and see what I can find.

freelance said:

Dry or failed rubber mounting, or broken exhaust mounting,

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Rear radius arm mounts are indeed needing replaced but there's no movement in them at all. Exhaust mountings are all still good, bodged mind you but they're OK. I'll have a look at those too. I did my front suspension bushes only a few months ago so it's not those.

I've got the same sort of problem and I'm fairly sure it's the handbrake. The chirping varies with speed and gets louder if I pull on the handbrake a bit while driving. There's also a judder/pulsing which would fit with the drum binding for a bit each time it goes round.
It's as though the shoes/drum are out of line and binding for just part of the rotation.
Any ideas how to sort it out? Why/how could it be binding for just part of each rotation?

Tygger said:

I've got the same sort of problem and I'm fairly sure it's the handbrake. The chirping varies with speed and gets louder if I pull on the handbrake a bit while driving. There's also a judder/pulsing which would fit with the drum binding for a bit each time it goes round.
It's as though the shoes/drum are out of line and binding for just part of the rotation.
Any ideas how to sort it out? Why/how could it be binding for just part of each rotation?

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Probably because the drum braking surface is not truly circular - that is, it's elliptical. The drum can easily be checked to ensure it's rotating true to the shoe surfaces - get it checked by a machine shop if you don't have access to a dial test gauge and if it is only a minor defect, it can probably be skimmed.

I'm disappointed no one has made the usual 'leave the wife at home' comment yet

simonm15 said:

I'm disappointed no one has made the usual 'leave the wife at home' comment yet

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It's been said too many times already!!

I know you've been there already, but it sounds so like the classic UJ problem I'd take one prop off at a time to see if the noise goes away.

Could be handbrake expander not working properly,[common problem] a good clean up or some new parts [cheap enough] can help. As Brown say's you need to make sure all the bits inside are in their correct place. I second zephod,recheck UJ's as well.

zeaphod said:

I know you've been there already, but it sounds so like the classic UJ problem I'd take one prop off at a time to see if the noise goes away.

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Aye I thought about that. It's definitely not the front as both UJs are only days old, I changed them when it started to rule that out. It does sound like a UJ but I'm positive it's not. More investigation required I reckon

SpaceDawg said:

This time of year its probably field mice or pheasants. Other than that I really can't help, sorry.

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Both of these can be solved by fitting a cat

Seeing as it's the handbrake, hopefully nobody's using it as the main means of slowing the Land Rover down! So minor imprecision or out-of-true running isn't a major problem as it would be for one of the road wheel brakes. Also, the shoes themselves are not exactly precision-made items. The Pagid brand ones were better than the Britpart ones I had before, and they haven't started squeaking yet. On the squeaky ones I've noticed a) a build up of dust and debris b) sometimes the friction material is starting to separate from the metal of the shoe, so it's sitting sightly proud and scraping the drum. Even if it's not visible, or detectable when you wobble the output shafts, there may be a tiny bit of movement. The output shafts are located by a ball race near their outboard end and the splines on the inside of the centre diff on their inner end so it's not quite as rigid a location as having two bearings. Just enough movement to get the brake to chirp under load.