Grinding gear noise when braking to a stop

You inspected the brakes and the pads are not worn down to bare metal, correct?

They were just inspected and one replaced.

ONE?????

A problem I had on my '91 was sticking brake calipers. I finally quit using brake caliper grease and lubed them with vaseline and WD-40. They work better than ever and are much quieter and my inside pads don't wear out prematurely any more. There must be some reason why nobody uses vaseline such as the danger of the pads getting lubricated so I'll have to add a disclaimer: "Don't try this at home. This person may be an idiot."

Does the noise occur only when the brakes are cold? That is, first few stops in the morning or anytime after you have not used them for awhile? If so, problem could be glazed brake pads. One way to check is to make a few hard stops from 60 or 70 miles per hour (on a deserted road of course). This causes the pads to heat up enough to cut or break the glaze. If glazed pads were the problem, the breaks should now be quiet. They will eventually glaze up again, but could take a few months to do so and you can repeat the rapid stopping procedure again for a temporary fix.

I have also seen break pads make noise when cold due to the pads having absorbed moisture, but if that is the case, one or two normal stops cause the pads to heat up enough to get rid of the moisture.

It's not the break pads. It's exactly like gears not meshing, just like we did when learning to drive a standard shift with unsynchronized tranny gears. But only momentary as the suv comes to a complete halt, and starts only momentarily before stopping. Just as if the brake pedal were hitting a gear somewhere.

Wayne

If you were to put the truck in neutral and brake to a stop would it still do it ? try to isolate the condition by removing the drive train from the equation. .........ps .doubtful the brake pedal is "hitting a gear somewhere"

Have tried this, but the problem is so intermittent that I can' prove anything. What comes closest to repeating is when at the last m oment before stopping I turn the wheel and the brakes seem to grab in the direction I turn and the grinding sound comes in for a split second. Is the ABS system a kind of gearbox?

Wayne

For what it's worth if anybody is following this thread. My mechanic said that the sound is definitely not grinding gears, but most likely the solenoids controlling the antilocking device which are out of synch with the whole system. The ABS sensors show normal on the diagnostic system and all brake items check out normal.