Wheel Bearing?

I'm starting to get a humming sound that I can sometimes feel. I'm guessing it's probably a wheel bearing going based on some previous threads.

How does one verify/check if bearings need replacing? My truck only has 106k miles.

Thanks!

 

One way is to lift the truck up so the tire is in the air, grab the tire at 6 and 12 o clock, and see if there is play.

Another way is to load up the bearing and see if the noise goes away. What’s that mean? Let’s say it’s the front right tire. When making a sweeping left turn, like a freeway ramp, the truck will lean to the right, putting pressure on that bearing. It takes up the slop and the noise/vibrations goes away.

Those have been my two go-to, but they’re not all inclusive. If those are original bearings, you’re likely on the right track. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the culprit.

 

I wasn't able to detect any play in mine when the wheel was off the ground, nor did it have a noticeable change in hum when swerving. Both are methods I've used successfully on my other vehicles. I decided to change them anyway and it did solve the hum, point being you might not always find a smoking gun when looking for a problem with the wheel bearings, at least not at first.

 

I've rarely gotten any substantial play out of any of my wheel bearing before noticing that they were bad. I typically check them by taking off the rotor and spinning the hub with nothing attached to it. The bearings will feel gritty or dry like there is a lack of grease in the bearing. If your are getting play in the bearing they are way far gone; you should be able to detect a bad bearing a lot earlier than that.

 

For me it was noise and vibration. If it’s pretty consistent or at least linear relative to your speed, probably a wheel bearing. If you’re getting vibration mainly at medium speeds it might be your needle bearing.

 

Thanks guys, the hunm and vibes are most prevalant between 60-80km/h. I got up to 120km/h on the highway the other day and the humm seamed less obvious. I'm guessing becsuse other sounds got louder.

I'll try to jack the truck up tomorrow and see if i can find any play and report back.

Cheers,

Jsy

 

Typically, like stated above, it's hard to notice play unless the bearing is severely wrecked. I find it much easier to spin the wheel by hand in the air and listen for noise, watch for excessive drag, or feel for vibration or grinding. It may help to compare it to the opposite side too.

 

I just replaced both front wheel bearings about a week ago. Over the previous year and a half I noticed more noise and vibration from the left front it finally got to where it would consistently go away when turning right. You still couldn’t detect any abnormal movement at 6/12 or 3/9 with the wheel off the ground. After replacement all vibration was gone. I cut the old bearing and found significant brinelling (race looked like a washboard road). I know there is one more bad bearing at the differential on the drivers side. I’ll be replacing it with the ECGS bushing when my RCV axels arrive.

 

Finally got the truck up and spun all the wheels. They all seemed ok... Therefore, i'm now pretty certain that its the needle bearing thats toast. Lots of sloppy play in the plastic cover.

Will be replacing it with the ECG bushing.

Will my axel need replacing as well if needle bearing went bad?

Also, is there anywhere in Canada that sells/ships the ECG bushing?

Thanks!

 

Your axle isn’t necessarily toast just because your bearing is. Most people including me, that have posted here, have just replaced the needle bearing.

Does ECGS not ship to Canada? Give them a call and see what they can do. If not you’re welcome to have it shipped to me (I’m two hours away from ECGS) and I will reship to you.

 

You can confirm this diagnosis by verifying it goes away in 4wd.

Axle will be fine.

 

Thanks a lot for the offer man, much appreciated! I was able to pick up everything I needed on my drive from Kelowna to the lower mainland today at https://overlandoutfitters.ca/. Also picked up some JD Fab UCAs so will get it all done at once.

 

I'll have to confirm again, but I feel like I've tested it already and the sound didn't change when switching from 2wd to 4wd. Which is why I originally thought it was my wheel bearings. But given my truck is lifted 2.5', the needle bearing is an obvious issue that should be addressed no matter what. As soon as I get it installed, I'll report back if it solved the issue. My 2013 only has about 106k miles with light hunting FSR roads at times, so wheel bearings "should" be ok for now...

 

When I checked my wheel bearings, I was looking for play in the bearing as opposed to noise when spinning. I grabed the wheel at 12 and 6 o'clock ....and then at 3 and 9 o'clock, while lifted off the ground, and tried to wiggle the wheel. In mine there was play indicating the bearings were bad.

My bearings were replaced at 140K km, a little less than you current mileage. I replaced both sides, but the driver side was in terrible shape.

 

My experiences/observances regarding wheel bearing replacement. Note that as a DIY guy, my experience is limited to my own/my family's vehicles that have been a mix of coupes, sedans, and pickup trucks.

1. I have never PERSONALLY come across a situation where a wheel bearing was bad enough to actually have discernible play in any direction from any clock position.
a. The one time I discerned any play, it actually ended up being in the ball joint.

2. The adage about "if the noise increases when you do a sweeping turn at speed, it's the wheel bearing on the opposite side, because you increase the load to that side" (ie. if the noise increases when doing a sweeping RIGHT on the highway, it's the LEFT bearing because what is happening is the the weight is being transferred to the left of the vehicle and the right is being unloaded), has only worked once out of about 8 or so wheel bearing swaps.
a. My PERSONAL theory is that the adage is from days when bearings were caged conical bearings, whereas "modern" wheel bearing have dual captured bearings (each sealed bearing has captured bearings on both sides within a small distance of each other, so weight transfer isn't as relevant as it used to be as far as any increase in noise) - at least that's MY theory.

3. One method that has worked once (both times front bearings) was to lightly hold the strut spring midway while spinning the wheel. The rough bearing/race was amplified by the spring, and I could readily feel more vibration on the "bad" side.

4. There is no way to consistently/accurately determine which bearing is bad by having someone sit in various seats to see if they can tell which point the noise is coming from. This is because of how noise, especially ones caused by vibrations, etc., can travel through the body and/or chassis and sound like it's coming from somewhere it's NOT.

SO, I got a ChassisEar off Fleabay a few years ago, and it has accurately diagnosed the correct wheel bearing (including a couple of times where it showed it WASN'T a wheel bearing).

 

Thanks so much for your information! I've now flip flopped from needle bearing (which should be replaced no matter what with my lift) back to wheel bearings... uuuhhh

On my driving home today the hum and vibes seem to be the loudest at around 70km/h. I decided to do a bunch of tight slalom turns back and forth along a strait stretch of road. When turning left, the hum is loud, when turning right, the hum goes away.

Question, what was the issue when it wasn't your wheel bearing?

 

My front passenger side wheel bearing is bad. Indicated by a humming, sometimes growling sound of low intensity. I generally find that when the bearing is UNLOADED (so when I turn to the right) that the sound goes away.

In any case, jacked up, it has play when grabbing the tire at 12 and 6. New one ready to go in hopefully this weekend.

 

The one time I discerned play while grabbing the wheel and it WASN'T the wheel bearing, it was play in the lower ball joint.

Edit - that was the one time I could detect PLAY, and the PLAY was because of the BJ. There WAS a bad wheel bearing as well, that was the OTHER SIDE.

 

Just bumping this back up for further advice. Being in Canada, what wheel bearings are good to source/buy from? I'm not sure where my local shop gets their products from so just want to be informed. I think Napa is ok?

Thanks!

 

you just verified it.

the guy on here who sells them using high quality parts.