Loose front wheel

Ive been driving around the past couple weeks and have noticed a "clunk" noise from my right front wheel while going slow over bumps i.e. backing out of my driveway. I jacked up that wheel and first thing I did was grab the tire and shake it, damn thing moved side to side about 1/2 an inch! I know that's not cool... Last time I was at the dealership they did work on the front end and had it all apart. I think it's the bearing that has gone bad. Really bad, the noise happened overnight pretty much. I checked the other wheel and no surprise there, it didn't budge, tight as a ducks arse. (watertight)

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

 

like you suggested, it may be the wheel bearing which is a common thing for our generation of tacomas, sometimes the bearing will get so loose it will cause the ABS light to come on since that sensor is right there. another possibility but less likely will be the the tie rods ends.

 

The abs light is not on and I checked the tie rods, control arms, spindles, before I jacked it and and everything is tights, no play in anything. It feels like if I pulled hard enough the whole hub assembly would just slide off.

Thanks for the response!
-cam

 

I bet it is the wheel bearing

 

wheel bearing for sure..not super safe to drive on either, I'd swap em out asap. I recently did mine. I got it at napa and had 4 wheel parts press the old one off and the new one on

 

You better get it back to the dealer or you'll be posting "My wheel fell off today" Drive slow!

 

I'm hoping my wheel doesn't fall off. I'm still under warranty with the dealer so I'll have them fix it. Problem is I have to travel a long ass way to get it to them... I hope I don't end up posting "my wheel flew off today..."

Thanks for the help y'all! Poor truck'll be grounded for the next couple weeks...

 

Don't wait get it fixed.

 

Wish it was that simple. I live on an island, and trust none of the mechanics here, mainly because I know them on a somewhat personal basis, also because I live on an island getting off to the mainland is a headache, especially this time of year. I won't be driving her around until I get the reservation to take her off to be repaired.

Cheers,
-Cam

 

I would call the dealer and have them come and flatbed the truck. I wouldn't drive it.

 

I'll see if they can do that, or just demand it cuz they switched out that same wheels axle not too long ago.

 

If you tell the dealer and they won't tow it, if you get into an accident you could sue the ass of them. Decisions, decisions.

 

I see your point. I'll talk with them tomorrow.

 

Just as a preliminary precaution you may want to check the outer tie rod ends by jacking the tire off the ground and with your hands at the 3 & 9 positions on the tire, push and pull the wheel looking for movement between the steering knuckle and tie rod ball joint. When this joint goes bad they tend to thump in tight turns and when going up or down over driveway aprons. You may find that your wheel bearings are bad but best to eliminate less costly repairs first.

 

Not to sound thick, but are you sure the wheel itself isn't loose?

As for the wheel bearing, I never had one go that didn't have a whine to it first. And the only one I ever heard so bad I was afraid to drive was so loud, the stereo could barely drown it out (which was my dimbulb of a sister's way of "fixing" it)

 

I did like you said just to be sure and checked the tie rods again. Looking behind the wheel it's very obvious to see that where the axle goes through the spindle is loose. The whole thing moves around in that assembly. Instead of the bearing, I'm inclined to think it is more likely the front axle hub nut that may be loose behind the Grease cap. When it was in last they may have forgotten to put the cotter pin in. Looking at the backside of the wheel I can see that the front axle Oil seal is loose, and looks nothing like the left wheel at the moment.

Not thick at all, helpful in fact, because now I'm inclined to think it's not the bearing, but instead, like aforementioned, is the axle that is loose due to the front axle hub nut.

In talking with the Toyota service dep, they said they've never heard of it before, a wheel being loose and everything else being fine.

 

It was the bearing! Thanks everyone for the info, learned some new stuff which is why I'm here!

 

Wow, me too. Never heard of a bad bearing that didn't hum. Good to know!

 

I always thought they did too! It's staying overnight to get repaired, so I'll get more details on what happened exactly. I suspect more is at play than just the bearing, but that's all I've been told to this point.

 

I'm interested to hear, because the more I think about it, the more I think that it'd be pretty tough for a bearing to go without a constant noise, unless some people refer to the whole hub as the bearing (I know a lot of cars now you have to replace the whole hub, like my last one). I have a feeling the bearing is toast, plus...whatever else.