Hey everyone. I've been messing around on this site for about a month to be honest. But I just recently registered. Anyways on to the matter at hand lol. I've got a 1998 XL cab with a 4.2L V6. 211732 mileage and counting! Anyways. This is my "new" truck it's also my first vehicle. It's been owned by my family since it's roll off the line. It still stands as stock as it was off the line. Now I'm having a couple problems with it. It still runs and drives fine only problem I'd say would be how rotted the muffler was to the point I just cut it off because it wasn't even connected anymore to the rest of the exhaust. (So you can assume its loud as hell lol. ) However I was driving home about a month ago and it's pouring rain and I can hardly see. I was taking a turn and the back end started to kick out and I was drifting. I corrected it and continued on my way home. Now every time the truck either idles or has a very low RPM (about 10% pressure on the gas) it makes this horrid grinding sound. It's loud too, louder than the exhaust. It almost sounds as if it's coming from the rear axel but I can't put my finger on it. It's been about 3k miles since then and it seems alright. But it's still pretty scary. Also about two weeks ago I had to get my entire rear brake system done and had the entire brake line replaced because the line was so rotted it got a pin sized hole just to the touch. Long story short after about 1500 miles they still made rubbing noises and would lock up in down or up hill driving. I had them adjusted twice with still no luck. It's been about another 700 miles since I did. The noises have dampened significantly but they still lock at times. If I'm driving in the rain the pedal gets extremely soft (as if it isn't soft and only engaging at about 60-70% when pressed) and when they're wet they engage at about 85-90% and lock causing me to slide until they get warmed up. I really don't know what to do. I'm hoping someone can help me solve these issues. I can post pictures/videos of anything if it could help you help me. And seeing as how it's my daily and my work truck it will not be sitting and I cannot afford to have it sit for more than a day. Money is also tight and will take me a bit to be able to get parts I might need. But if something is expensive and highly recommended I will take the time to save and purchase it. Thank you everyone. I look forward to sharing many good times with people on this forum. -Andrew

 

Welcome

 

First,I've had the same sounding problem,and it was I had a bad wheel bearing,if that's not it then I'd check everything with the brakes,check the rear drum pistons and make sure they're working correctly,if so then I'd check to make sure there's no warp in the drum,then I'd check your wheel speed sensors,then I'd check the booster.

 

Welcome to the site.

 

Thanks for the info. Once I get off work today I'll take a look at everything.