Front end noise

[Bren B]

Just bought a 99 f350 4x4 with 100,000 miles. When I test drove it at the dealership I heard what sounded exactly like a front wheel bearing going bad and a slight tapping in frontend when hitting bumps/cracks in the road. I knew from reading this forum that the frontends on these trucks are heavy and balljoints etc. wear out. The sound was hardly noticable when I first drove it but knew it needed attention sooner or later. I have put roughly 1,000 miles on it since and it seems that the sound has gotten just slightly worse. Since I got it home I checked the balljoints and the do seem ok but if someone could tell me exact way to check them I would appreciate. Also I pulled the front hubs off to look in and I see a snap ring in a groove on the axle shaft with a nut behind it. The nut is not threaded on anything just loose behind the snap ring. This does not seem right to me. Have not pulled rotors yet to look inside because I want to have good parts to fix the problem before I tear it all apart. Thanks

[Bren B]

I want to add that I did try searching and did not come up with anything that really seemed to be the same situation.

[Maintain]

Jack the truck up on one side. Have someone grab the tire at 12 and 6 and you get under the truck and look while they firmly shake it. Look for movement at the hubs or ball joints. I had a tapping at 30+mph on right hand turns and then a screetching sound a few weeks later from my wheel bearing going bad. Involved pulling the axle, which was not a big deal and is definately a DIY'er at home.

[Brian]

check this out check out your sway bar links too. the bushings go bad after a while

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Last edited by Brian : 10-29-2006 at 04:30 PM.

[Bren B]

Thanks for the quick reply. That is the method that I used to sheck the balljoints but I wanted to be sure I was doing it right. It is not so much the tapping noise but the wheel bearing noise that bothers me. They don't really seem related other than they are both in the frontend somewhere. As far as wheel bearing replacement goes I have done a number of wheel bearing on older 4x4 Scouts, Jeeps etc. Seems like the replacement would be the same other that the hubs are different on superdutys that older 4x4's.

[heymccall]

If your ball joints are bad, you may wish to have someone with the right seal drivers do the job (ie. the Ford dealer). The ball joints are straight forward, but to pull and replace the axle shaft on each side involves changing a vacuum seal that has to be installed correctly (with the right tools.) Failure to install the seal correctly will result in a vacuum leak in the four wheel drive actuation and water entry into the hub area (where water doesn't belong.) Otherwise it would be an easy job.

[heymccall]

Oh, and the plastic nut is supposed to spin beheath the snapring in there. Starting from the outside in, it goes snapring, hex plastic washer, steel washer, large round plastic ring, then bearing.