metal to metal sound

last few weeks ive been hearing a chirping sound coming from the front of my taco. yesterday morning it quite making the chirping sound & started sounding like the brakes were down to bare metal. i had planned on changing the brakes & having the rotors turned on saturday, but when i heard this, i decided to just go ahead & change the brakes. so i did, i noticed the brake pads that i took off didnt really look half wore out, i went ahead & changed them anyways. i didnt notice anything on either rotor, or anything wrong with the calipers. the drivers front is still making a god awful metal to metal sound. im going to take the dust shield off tomorrow or sunday & give it a test drive, thinking maybe the dust shield might be bent or warped & rubbing against the rotor. when i cut the wheel to the left the sound doesnt completely go away, but isnt near as bad. when i cut it to the right is still sounds the same. any help would be much appreciated, its a 99 taco, 4X4, 2.7 ltr, 5 spd, reg. cab! thanks in advance.

 

bump

 

check your wheel bearing. that chirping sound you hear is usually the god awful sound that a bearing starts to make when it is going bad. that is my guess.... but I have been wrong before. hope this helps.

 

If the brakes are good, and the dust shield isn't hitting the rotor, about all that's left is the wheel bearing. Does it get louder when turning in one direction? Can you grab the top and bottom of the wheel and feel movement?

Both of those symptoms point to the wheel bearing.

 

im going to take the dust shields off tomorrow, i didnt get time today. when i have it jacked up tomorrow ill check for wheel movement. when turning to the left it seems to be a slight bit louder, & quieter when i turn to right.

ive had a wheel bearing to go out on me before, but i never heard a metal to metal sound from that 1.

 

ok, well i didnt take the dust shield off, i didnt realize i would have to take the whole hub assembly off or whatever its called to do that! we knocked the dust shield back a bit.

i checked for movement on the wheel & i didnt feel any movement. got it all back together, it sounded great for a few miles, then a lil squeek of the brake maybe. drove right about 10 miles & it did start to marke the chirping sound a lil bit, no sound while i was turning it left or right though! im guessing it the wheel bearing. what would be the best way to replace it, its pressed in right? so should i just buy a new wheel bearing, take the hub & have a machine shop press it back in, or get a new hub assembly or whatever its called? just wondering what would be the best option?

 

it hasnt made the metal to metal sound the past 2 days, think its good, or should i try repacking the wheel bearings with grease anyways, before i put new ones in?

 

The wheel bearings are sealed on your truck, and they're pressed in to the spindle. They are a non-serviceable unit, replace only.

 

thats what i was telling my friend, he still thought we could get some grease in there. thanks for the help!

 

I would check all of your belt pulleys before ripping the wheel bearings out. Noises can be awful decieving, especially when they come from under the hood region.

 

i replaced all 3 of the belts a few weeks back, checked the pulley's. there no squeeking sound coming from the engine at idle, or when i rev it up! it would do it as i was rollng down the rd, & at 1 st, worse when i applied the brakes. im not hearing the metal to metal sound now, just a squeek once in a while from the brakes, were it sounds like its coming from. i had no play in the wheel when i jacked it up & checked for that. im thinking it was just the dust shield got bent. ive been driving it the past few days & havent heard anything, im going to let it go until i hear it again, i guess!

 

I had this problem once. I thought it was the dust shield but it was infact where the lower spindle mounts to the LCA. The 2 bolts on the sides were coming loose. I re-torqued em to spec and haven't had a problem since.

 

cool man, thanx, ill try to take a look at those in a few minutes!

 

just out of curiousity is it bad to drive or wheel without the dust shields? i have them off right now