Strange noises from rear?

Hello, I hope some more experienced members can help me diagnose a noise, the car is a 1969 Skylark with a 10 bolt, open diff, and 2.93 gears.

While making a tight turn left or right, the car makes a sharp squeaking noise similar to the sound of brakes squeaking or squealing. Then recently as I was maneuvering a parking lot I heard a crunchy/grinding noise coming from the back of the car, although the noise only manifested making left hand turns.

My thought was that the axle bearing could be worn out, because if the bearing is worn out and there's radial play wouldn't that cause the shoes to contact the drum on tight turns or under load? I took clips of the axles out of the car, does that sort of movement look normal?

Drivers side:


Passenger side:

 

That’s fairly normal for an older straight roller bearing like that. Check the other one. See if one has more than the other. There could be something worn in the carrier itself.

 

I'll pop the cover off tomorrow and have a look. I did also notice that on the rear shoes there were cracks and a piece seemed to have broken off. Hopefully nothing is wrong with the carrier, I haven't heard any howling or noises like that. I'll report back with what I find

 

Could just be the brake residue making the bad sounds?

 

It could be it was pretty dusty, cleaning is easier than pressing a bearing off so I'll do that first

 

So good news and bad news, the good news is that cleaning up the rear brake assembly fixed the squeaking noise I was experiencing, the bad news is that I'm still hearing the crunch/grind noise. I think I misheard and misinterpreted where the noise was coming from so I'll continue my investigation at the front end of the car

 

Are your brakes on correctly? I have seen people install 2 large on one side and 2 short shoes on the other...THEN the next goof is the large shoe in the front and the small shoe to the back of the car. SEE if that is an issue.
NEXT is to see the spider gears...Take pictures and send them... I will supply a cell number for you in your PM box.

Jim.
Those straight roller bearings rarely fail as long as oil is supplied. IF you let the oil level go low and take a cross country drive they will be doomed.

 

Thanks Jim, I'll get the car up again tomorrow and get those pictures for you. I'm confident I have the shoes in the correct orientation but it can't hurt to double check.

 

I took a look at the shoes and they are in the correct orientation, both front and rear drums

 

I haven't yet, what should I look for?

 

"Strange noises from rear?"

My wife hates that about me.

 

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MAKE sure they are all there. If just one needle bearing is missing you could have noise issue. If they are dry... noise.
spider gears binding will make nasty noises. . If they are climbing when torqure in turns this will happen. Backlash on them too wide from wear usually the cause when this happens.

 

Okay, I'll give them a look. Should I put new grease in them or I just inspect them?

 

I'd suspect the spider/side gears being you mentioned it only does it on turns.