2001 TJ rear break squeak, abrupt breaking

This brake problem is gernerally associated with water in the brakes. I would not be concerned about it. If you are worried about it inspect the rear brakes or have a shop do it. Many tire shops do a free brake inspection.

HTH

Carl

Most likely the rear shoes are taking on moisture which makes them grab until dried. It could also be a film of rust from the moisture. Its' been a long time since I've seen it, but shoes that have soaked up brake fluid were also notorious for this. The latter means a careful check for a leak, even a small one. It will likely be the wheel cylinder and you will see fluid when you pull the rubber cover on the end back. Only sure cure for anything other than rust is to replace the shoes. That's cheap and reasonably simple. If it is rust and the shoes are good, the only solution I know of is to move somewhere that doesn't promote rust so well.

Brake worms. We seem them a lot here during the rainy season. Try sprinkling some Diazanon around the tires while it's parked overnight.

That's normal for my ZJ. On those days I just drag my brakes a little to warm them up and dry them off. After that the sudden-stop feature goes away.

Since I had the rear disks installed on my 98 TJ I have the same thing on wet mornings. Could be heavy dew, light rain, even thick fog and its enough moisture to set them off. Believe me, the whole area knows when I drive the Jeep to work on those mornings as I have 2 stop signs and one slow turn - by the time I have gone thru the three of those (6 blocks maybe) there is no more squeaking for the rest of the commute to work. If its a heavy rain, no squeaking. Go figure.

I am not sure on the grabbing - I have not had this happen that I recall, on the other hand, I dont have factory disks either.

-jenn