2005 Chevy Venture Thumping Noise From Rear Passenger Wheel

2005 CHEVROLET VENTURE
52,000 MILES • 6 CYL • FWD • AUTOMATIC
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LL0984
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The thumping noise is heard clearly at lower speeds. The thumping stops when I apply the brakes normally or with the emergency brake, but resumes when brakes are released. I have rotated the tires, the rear brake pads have 5K, the drum replaced with a new one. I rotated the tires and the thumping sound still the same from the rear passenger side. If I spin the drum by hand I feel a slight resistance at a certain point then it is free again. The same thing happenned with the old drum. The resistance is probably the brake shoe contacting. I back off the adjusters, but they self adjust to the same place. Thumping has become more consistent in the past few weeks.

Do I have a bad wheel bearing? How do I check the bearing?
Jun 6, 2009 at 10:06 PM
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F4I_GUY
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Yes, it might be a bad wheel bearing. Unforuntately rear wheel bearings are a bit harder to diagnose. First check for play, if there is no play, spin the wheel up as fast as you can and listen with a stethoscope.

Now, I have a few questions for you.

When you turned the brake adjusters in, did the noise change in any way? If the answer is yes, you have a bad brake drum.

Also, it wouldn't hurt to try swapping drums (left to right) to see if the noise follows the drum.
Jun 6, 2009 at 10:19 PM
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LL0984
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Thanks for your help. The noise still existed after turning the adjusters in. Also, I had the noise on the previous drum (which I thought was the drum being out of round) and I bought a new drum. I will check the bearings as you noted tomorrow and post back here my findings.
Jun 6, 2009 at 10:34 PM
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LL0984
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The Wheel Bearing had no play when I checked. I noticed that the inside of the drum had a scrape mark where the shoe metal edge is positioned. I filed both corners of each shoe to round them off. The thumping is gone for now!
Jun 7, 2009 at 6:18 PM