Ok guys bear with me here for a few. I am deployed right now so I'm not at home to make the call myself, but the wife is telling me that there is a humming noise coming from the front drivers side while driving. She says it can be heard the clearest above 40mph and goes away when she makes a right turn. The truck has 130,000 miles on it, no lift, and you can see my tires in my sig. I think its the bearings in the front hub but thats just my guess. :dunno: Any other ideas?
This is what I think I need so correct me if I'm wrong.
Jack the front end up. They like to eat wheel bearings and rod ends. A good sign for rods is chopped front tires.
Grab the top and bottom of the tire and rock it back and forth. If it rocks you got a wheel bearing.
Then rock it horizontally, and see if you have a rod end going out or some slack in the suspension somwhere. There should be no slack in it.
You need to have the tire off the ground to diagnose what is going on.
Dont skimp out on wheel bearings for these trucks, or you WILL be replacing them again alot sooner. Stick to Ford (even though expensive) or a set of Timkens.
I bought wheel bearings through that company and for beaters they are good, Heck I have them in my Exploder right now lol but I had them in my 99 Chev and they lasted a year.
Grabbing the top and bottom of tire for that test may give you a false diagnosis, on wheel bearings. If the ball joints are bad, it will cause movement.
It helps if you have a buddy, safely support the truck so the tire is off the ground.
For wheel bearings, your better off putting your hands at the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock position, and do the push/pull alternating pressure. You'll be watching behind the tire at the rotor and a stationary part like the knuckle. If your seeing the rotor moving in/out, then it's most likely the hub bearings.
Ball joints, you'll put your hands at the 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock position. Push/pull alternating pressure, and look for play at the ball joint.
For Tie rod ends, with the truck on the ground. Put your key in the ignition and turn it so you release the steering wheel lock, but don't start the truck. Have a buddy move the steering wheel left and right really hard and fast. While he is doing this, you'll be underneath looking for play at the Tie rods, drag link, and pitman arm knuckles. If all checks out good, give the Zerk fittings a shot or two of grease.
While your at it, check your sway bar and drop links for play, and have a look at your carrier bearing for play also.
^^^ Yeah jacking up answered my questions a few weeks ago...I had the same symptoms as you. Wheel has lots of up and down play, wheel bearing/hub assembly was toast. New one is in, sound it gone and mileage is back to normal. Sorta scary how much wobble there was in my wheel when it was jacked up...
My money is on wheel bearing for you too :thumb:
Thanks for the help. When I get home it looks like I'll be replacing some hubs and bearings. Does it matter if I only replace one or should I just do both at the same time to keep them even?
Just throwing it out there but.. my carrier bearing went badI once and that made a sou d that seemed to be in the front to me. May wanna check that first to save ya a few hundred hundred
Yea I will definitely check all possibilities before dropping the $$$ on parts. But for those that think its the front bearings; can I just replace the bearings in the hub or do I have to replace the entire hub and bearing assembly? You also said not to use the cheap ones so I was looking on Tousley Ford website and found these:
The hub bearings are a sealed unit, yes it's possible to change out just the inner bearing, but why go thru all that work and have the outer bearing take a dump down the road. Your better off replacing the whole assembly.
You can get away with just replacing the bad one, but if money allows, and your already spending the day replacing the one, why not replace both for a peace of mind.
Thanks for the tips. Anybody know how much the carrier bearing is and where to get it from in the event that it happens to be whats causing the trouble?
I have a 1995 f350 2wd with the 7.3 powerstroke I have a growl in the front of my truck the bearings are new the grease is still red the brakes are new the hubs are new all the steering parts are new I have looked at everything and can't figure out what's making the vibration the tires aren't chopped or worn and there is no pull any ideas on what is making the noise and vibration?
Are you sure it's coming from the front? Reason I ask, I had a howl/growl that at first I thought for sure it was my front wheel bearings. Then I lifted the rear off the ground and put it in gear and found it was the pinion bearing in my rear differential.
I can feel the vibration on the passengers side floorboard and it goes away when I go slower. I'm just confused about this I can't figure out what's wrong but I will try the back on stands and see what happens.
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