Wheel bearings or front Diff? or.....?

I have posted a thread about a strange vibration/grinding noise coming from the front of my truck. Lately its been more evident when i turn left, I can also hear it around 40mph... more of the steady vibration. To eliminate anything thing easy, I have changed my front are rear diff oil, greased the zerks. First thought after ready some stories on here I thought front bearings have been a porblem for some people. Sooooo I went and bought some seals and bearings and took my bearing/hub assembly off today and took it to Les Shwab, or however you spell it and the guy there turned the bearing on the hub and said "dude these bearings aren't bad" I asked since its not happening all the time, maybe they are starting to get bad...? He said no no no, they would def be making a noise or trying to catch. He got me thinking well maybe I shouldn't even change them and it might be coming from my fornt diff... so I go back and put the bearings and wheels back on and drove it around and also put it in 4x4 and it seemed more steady of a noise grind in 4x4 but even when I took it out, was more steady than before I had the bearings off. Not to keep ranting, but could some please shed some light on what you think it might be? Its def a little worse than before taking them off.... which would lead me to believe bearings, but he was sooooo sure it def was not.

 

Les schuab is a place where you buy tires and not where you get work done to your car. Point being that while his intentions may have been well place his experience may be seriously lacking or he is just plain wrong.

Just to make my point about experience -- have taken my motorcycles to dealers on several occasions and have had them create more problems than they solve. These are trained techs -- bottom line is don't put too much weight on what one guy says. If the problem is worse after you messed with the bearing then that is a good indication that it is the culprit. You might just want to replace them. How much are they?

 

Jack up the front tires, with your hands at the 12 and 6 position wiggle the tire. If you have quite a bit of play there's a good chance it's your bearings. In my previous life as an auto mechanic I could never give the service writer my sure answer of something until I had taken it apart and made sure that was definitely the answer. Not sure what you mean by "turned the bearing on the hub" but for me it always involved pulling the bearings or at least checking whether the grease was burnt or had metal shavings in it.

It could also be your brakes slightly grabbing if the pads are fully retracting/your rotors are warped. That wouldn't really explain why it's doing it when you turn left or vibrating at 40MPH but it's a possibility since it sounds like a rotational noise.

Best of luck.

 

The bearing and hub come off as one, its pressed. If I take that bearing off the hub, the bearing is no good anymore. U have to press the bearings off and it leaves the race of a sealed bearing... which isn't good after that is what he told me. The bearings were $170 all together with seals, then to press it would be another $50. Also I did jack it up and see if there was play side to side and up and down, and no play at all. Although I have heard too that there might not be play if its an early enough issue... so I'm up in arms. I do agree since there is a more evident noise and vibration its leaning me towards the bearings

 

How many miles are on the truck? how many with the lift? What kind of lift?

 

110k bearings were replaced 25k ago, and it has a 2" block up front.. nothing crazy. and original tire size, there is no reason bearings should be going out

 

if the bearings were installed improperly it can cause premature damage or perhaps something else was damaged during the installation process.

Yo said they are sealed so the lubrication should not be an issue. Did the dealer do the work? If so there should be some sort of warranty on their workand if you fall with in that they should foot the bill. The thing to keep in mind is that if you take it somewhere else and it is the bearing good luck getting the dealer to pay and if you take it to the dealer more than likely they will blame it on something else.

I still think it's the bearings

 

One other thing to keep in mind that the run of the mill bearings (probably doesn't apply to your case) can be bad right out of the box. I wouldn't put it past a shop to try to source a cheaper -- that should read cheapest -- alternative (if its available) to the OEM.

 

As far as the left turn thing, I had the same problem with my 05. The only differance was that my grinding, intermittent crunching sound was from the rear of my truck. It was my rear diff, incorrect back spacing..

 

Racer that sounds exactly like what mine is doing, grinding on left turns... also here it around 40mph going straight.... so what exactly was wrong with yours? what was the fix? and $?

 

But I swear I feel it in the front under my feet...

 

You may have said this but have you changed the front diff oil receintly -- like anytime afte the sound started

 

Peru, actually yes I did change my Front/rear/transfer case fluid.... with mobil 1. You think that could be the problem? If so what oil would you suggest? Hope I haven't done too much damage

 

And it def seemed to do it ever since I changed it.....

 

Well, I was lucky as my extened plan covered it. They replaced the whole diff. I felt mine and it was the rear. Maybe take it to a transmission shop and have them take it for a drive? They might know the sounds and symptoms?

 

M1 is a high quality product -- I asked to see if you seen any metal either stuck to the magnet or if it came out in the oil.

As far as M1 Or any synth in the rear is concerned, it appears that the consensus here, based on lots of real world expierence, is not the lube to use. Everywhere else it's a great product.


One other question -- how many miles before the first oil change in the front diff?

On a side note -- mobil makes some of the finest heavy duty industrial synthetic gear lubes around. I hate going up against them.

 

Sooo I changed the rear diff last night to regular 80-90 valvoline gear oil with LSD additive. and removing the mobil 1 syn that I had in it. THe slow turning grind is now gone.... buuuuut around 35 mpgs it seems to still be gettings vibes/grinding going straight..... think I have done some damage to the diff? ..... now I'm wondering if I should have put those bearings in the front....

 

Don't forget to add the extra LSD Additive. Not clear on how you phrased it whether you still added the extra tube of additive or whether you just used the oil that says it has the additive in it. You still need the separate additive (at least I did).

Also, now that you're down to a vibration/grinding on the straightaways at that speed, have you engaged 4wd to see if it goes away? If it does, then you've narrowed it down to the front diff. If it doesn't go away, then you've likely eliminated the front diff output bearing as being the problem.

 

my 05 had to have the wheel bearings replaced, that could be your problem