Out of ideas...

I've been lurking for a while, but finally have an issue I haven't been able to solve with the search function.

05 Tacoma Double Cab TRD Offroad

I started to hear a very slight hum/vibration coming from my front passenger side when going over 40ish mph a few months ago. Figured it was just some tire noise, didn't think much of it. Slowly started getting worse until a few weeks ago I noticed it would go away when I turned slightly to the right. Instantly I figured it was a wheel bearing (also had a little up and down play on the tire when I jacked it up) so I order a new bearing and hub assembly, got it installed over the weekend and it got maybe a tiny bit better, but it's still there.

My only other thoughts are alignment (toe) or maybe just an out of balance tire??? Any other ideas? I'm more acquainted with leafs and solid axles so this whole IFS and coils thing is a bit foreign to me...

 

Ball joint

 

Jack it up, take your bar for your jack or a pry bar. Place it under the tire and use it as a lever arm to raise and lower the wheel. Watch the ball joints and you will see which one is loose.

 

ugh... That means whole new control arm huh?

 

don't rightfully know. I am a solid axle guy myself. But you have classic symptoms of ball joint failure. I recently made the switch from the jeep world, so I don't have much IFS experience.

 

Why is the ball joint making the noise??? Just curious..

 

could come from the tire if the camber is off due to a loose ball joint.

 

Not a whole new LCA with just a BJ failure, buy a new moog BJ ($32 IIRC) and swap it out. Will take a couple of hours at most.

 

Hah, 93 YJ is my baby. This is the daily driver/soon to be jeep+trailer puller. Never had a ball joint problem on the YJ though.

 

I'll definitely jack it up and check the ball joints when I get home, any other ideas to check in the mean time?

I've found a whole bunch of threads today (not sure why I never found them before...???) about the driver side needle bearing. From what I can tell if this is the problem, it should go away if I switch into 4wd. Is this an accurate way to diagnose/eliminate this as the problem?

 

its your other wheel bearing dude

 

I didn't even consider checking the driver side wheel since it was going away when I turned right, I'll check it when I get home.

 

It was the driver side wheel bearing. All fixed now. Thank you so much for the help. I did also check my ball joints, everything looked fine.

 

Gotcha ! Thanks,

To the OP - Congrats on the fix. How long did it take to change (just the bearing or a prepressed assy?)?

 

Wow, wouldn't have called that one. Congrats!

 

Glad i could help... i did the same damn thing in my old truck-- according to what i read on the internet it was my passenger side bearing, so i swapped that, and the sound was still there. did the other one and twas all good.

Guess not everything on the internet is true....