Dull roar disappears when turning right??

I almost always drive with music playing so I didn't notice the sound my truck has been making. There's a dull roar while driving that I thought was simply 'noisy truck' engine, tire, gearbox sounds. However, I noticed that the sound goes away when I round a curve to the right. I think it has to be a fairly tight curve. I don't notice it on the freeway; only on rural curvy highways in the 3rd, 4th, or 5th gear. It gets very quiet while turning to the right. It's like an on/off switch. Happens every time. Sound comes back as I straighten the steering wheel. Possibly a little vibration with the sound as well. I'm not letting off on the gas. Happens going up hill so I'm staying on the throttle.

Ideas?

 

Sound like maybe wheel bearing. How many miles on the truck? Tires in good shape? Any feathering or odd wear?

 

I'm just over 115,000. No sign of uneven wear on the tires, but they are also very new. Would turning stop the wheel bearing from being noisy?

 

The consensus is that turning right will temporarily shift the load to the left side of the vehicle thereby reducing the load on the right side. Less load on the bearing will result is less noise if the bearing is defective. The next challenge is determining if it is the right front or the right rear bearing.

 

Thank you!

 

Conventional wisdom supports this sentiment (sounds cerebral, doesn't it??). I have an infrared pyrometer that I like to use on things like this. When I redo drum brakes and adjust them, I go for a drive, pull over and check hub temps from side to side. If one side is noticeably hotter than the other, I know I went too far.
You might try something like this for wheel bearings also. Sometimes it works, sometimes the problem isn't bad enough to manifest as excess heat.
The reason I say this is sometimes the noise can be deceiving, but you're on the right track.

 

Thank you. I don't have that tool, but was thinking of getting my nose in there to sniff out any burning. Pyrometer sounds handy for a lot of things.

 

This is how I discovered my wheel bearings were on their way out.

Fortunately it’s not a difficult fix & lots of guidance available here for the job. Good luck!

 

Well, it definitely seems to be a consensus. In 45 years of owning cars, I've never had a wheel bearing go out. Even in my ancient VWs...I hear about this a lot on this forum though. Is it a Tacoma thing?

Thank you!

 

Normally the bad side is the side that quiets up opposite from the side you turned to. So if turning right and the noise goes quiet, it’s usually a bad left bearing that quiets up due to the extra load being placed on it, preloading the rollers.

 

This.

No, Tacoma front bearings aren't known to last super long haha. On that note if one is going bad you really should replace both. The other one probably isn't too far behind. I think I ended up doing both of mine at 105k or 110k when I was in the same situation you're in.

 

No, it's not just a Tacoma thing. Most manufacturers have shall we say "lessened the quality / durability requirements" for wheel bearings to save money. I've been driving and working on vehicles since the early 1970's and replacing wheel bearings back then was maybe a once in a vehicle's lifetime thing. Not anymore. For Tacomas (and many other vehicles) 100,000 - 125,000 miles is about what you can expect for normal life from the fronts.

Now for the scary part. Depending on what brand of replacement wheel bearing you put in, you might get significantly fewer miles out of the new set. OEM is best with everything else giving you pretty much what you pay for. So, if you see replacement wheel bearings on Amazon or eBay for $40.00 a side, be ready to replace them again in fairly short order.

 

100%. My 05 Chevy 2500 went through a lot of bearings in its 500k miles, but OEM held up the best

 

This has been my PERSONAL experience from doing wheel bearing on our various vehicles (including my Tacoma) over the years - 10 bearings total (I've only bought 1 car new - the rest have been used, and I'm 62).

1. The "left/right" turn thing has only been correct 2 out of 8 times.
2. The front/back while listening has been correct 4 out of 8 (even with my wife sitting in the car in various seats trying to tell the difference)
3. Wheel bearings are a pain in the @ss no matter what car/truck it's on - even when it's an assembly because the one you're trying to get off will be rust seized to the knuckle (I live in NH).

My PERSONAL theory about why the left/right thing hasn't worked very often (for me) is that modern cars have sealed bearings. The sealed bearings have races that are opposing AND the same (versus the old spindle style had bearings with the inner and outer race being different).

Without getting too long winded, when the car sweeps on direction, what one MIGHT be hearing is differences between the left/right races of the same bearing.

About half-way through my DIY wrenching life, I was able to score a wireless Steelman ChassisEAR. I always tried to figure out which bearing was going when it first starts because I'm a lazy@ss and setting up the ChassisEAR is a slight PIA.

Then it gets to the point where I can't stand it, and decide "it's time." So I still set up the ChassisEAR because I'm also a tight@ss and don't want to do the wrong one for nothing - it would be a combination that aggravates my lazy@ss AND my tight@ss. Not sure which side (left/right) is tight and which side is lazy.

So the other 8 times have been where it sounded like it was a particular bearing, but the ChassisEAR showed it was a different bearing.

ChassisEAR has been correct 100% of the time I've used it.

I'm not affiliated with Steelman, and always wanted one and happened to come across one on Fleaby - got it for $100. Even back then, the wireless was about $250, which was a bridge too far for the tight side of my @ss.

 

My experience is if the noise goes away turning right it's the LH front bearing- as others have said.

 

I'm finally getting back to this and taking my truck to the shop this morning. Should I ask them to replace the rear bearings at the same time or just both front bearings? (this assumes that its a front bearing that is the culprit). I do run around with a 1000lb camper on my truck a few weeks out of the year. I imagine that could contribute to rear bearing wear. Thank you.

 

FRONT only the rears are a completely different beast from what ive heard

 

Yep- Ive done my rear wheel bearings. Completely different animal. You need special tools and a 20 ton press.

 

Rears tend to last longer - although they experience some lateral force when the car/truck turns, it's nothing like what the fronts experience. Also, there's more work involved because the axle has to be removed with the backing plate et.al.

The axle is then pressed out of the bearing/backing plate and the bearing swapped out on the backing plate. Pressing the axle in/out is where the special tool and press comes in. There is also a spacer that has to be pressed in/out and a circlip. THEN, on top of that, the seal should also be replaced given the age it would likely be, because you don't want to have to pull everything out again just to do the seal. Trying to remember the process from when I did mine.

I would think the whole thing would be pretty pricey if you're not doing it yourself, as it's quite labor intensive. I took the brakes off to make things lighter/easier (which would add to the labor), and wanted to do new brakes anyway, but I THINK I've read of some people doing it with the brake shoes, etc. left on.

 

I'll echo some of the others, trying to tell which side it is will drive you nuts, just replace both. There's a guy on here that sells hub assemblies which is a much easier replacement than just trying to replace the bearing if the shop quote makes you spit your coffee out and you wanna DIY. Its maybe an hr of work per side and some basic hand tools. I did a bunch of reading up when i replaced mine and didn't see anything about rears so I'd recommend starting with the front, your issue sounds exactly like what I heard and chased for a while before getting to the culprit with the bearings.