SweetZRag

Do any of you know the dimensions of the groove where the locking C clip goes to hold the rear axle in place? I am having the problem where I get a squeel during a hard left turn. I have found that the caliper mounting plate needs to be spaced out with the GM shim to eliminate this squeel. I noticed that I have too much in and out movement of the axle and I want to verify the width of the lock groove and the thickness of the button on the end of the axle before I reassemble the axle.

Does anybody know these dimensions?

Damon

I do not. However, I have also noted a LOT of in-n-out play on the axles of my 7.5" c-clip GM rearends. Always made me nervous but I never got to the point of needing a caliper spacer. The caliper rides on "sliders" and seems to float with the play in the axle in and out. With warped rotors, marginal pads, etc. I also got a slight squeal around turns as the rotor pushed against the inner or outer pad (depending on which direction I'm turning). Bringing the whole rear brake/rotor/caliper assy up to snuff cured the squealing, but the axles still floated in and out quite a bit, obviously.

SweetZRag

Damon,

Thanks for the insight. It's always comforting to hear similar stories. In my case, there was no problems with squealing but the rear pads wore out a little unevenly. The pad without the wear indicator wore out just before the wear indicator touched the rotor so the rotors needed to be replaced. They were getting too thin to recut anyway.

My problem started after I put the new pads and rotors on. That's when the sqeel on the turn started but it was much louder than the normal squeel indicator sound. Last night I measured the postion of the axle end and according to the GM manual, it is out of spec and requires the shim on the caliper mounting plate. It looks like it should have had a shim from the factory. I installed the shims last night but did not get the rest of the axles installed yet.

Your theory sounds good that the floating caliper should compensate for the axle end play and the axle does not appear worn so I think I will use the same axles and see what happens. I'll let you know if it corrects the problem.

Thanks.