2001 Tacoma Rubbing/Grinding while braking??

I have a 2001 Tacoma 4wd double cab and recently it started making a rubbing/grinding sound near my front drivers wheel when braking between 5-20 mph. It sounds almost like an initial thud when I push the brakes down and then stops. Does not make the sound at high speed. I changed pads already and it did not fix the issue. Wheel bearings, ball joints, tie rods are all less than 2 years old with 95% road miles and are tight when I jack up the front end. Does it in 2wd and 4wd. I thought it may be the dust shield behind the rotor that could be contacting the rotor while braking at low speed. I'm running out of ideas and it is getting aggravating....

 

It may be the brake pads moving. If you go forward slow speed hit the brakes and hear a click sound then go in reverse hit the brakes and hear a click sound then it's the pads moving in the caliper. Hope that made sense.

 

It also doesn't make the sound in reverse. It isn't really a click either, more of a thud or clunk.

 

Possibly the front driveshaft slip yoke. Have you greased them recently? A sound clip or video would help get you better answers

 

Yes I greased them all recently. I will try to get a sound clip of it if I can.

 

I got a video of it this morning, but I can't seem to figure out how to get it on here. It says "I don't have the required plugin".

 

Check your brake caliper bolts.

 

Check the sway bar link bushings. Worn ones could cause the 'clunk'.

 

Caliper bolts tight...

Sway bar link bushing felt good too.


I got under it and looked at the brake assembly and it looked like the rotor dust shield was close but not touching "it was bent from a prior rock impact". I went ahead and tried to straighten it back out.
Now my noise is gone......
Let's see if it stays gone....

 

So whatever I did yesterday evening caused the noise to stop, but I wake up this morning and it is back... I have no clue what it could be now.... maybe a bad strut?

 

I had an odd noise that was showing up during braking, too. I crawled under that truck 6 times. I could see nothing wrong.

As soon as I took the wheel off, i found a broke coil spring!

 

Wow that's looks like a mess! I examined the spring/strut when I rotated my tires a few weeks ago and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. I thought maybe it could be one of the brake caliper cylinders going bad as well. I don't want to just start replacing things without knowing for sure.

I do have a video if someone wants to see/hear it, I may have to email it because I can't get it to upload in the forum...

 

Upload it to YouTube and post the link

 

https://youtu.be/k5SbQ6E8eZg

Here is the link. It's not the little squeak sound you hear in the video"truck has made that sound for 200k miles".

 

bad shock? does your front bounce a little more than usual?

also get a friend or other to hop in the truck. jack it up and use a stand under the frame. spin the wheel and have them hit the brakes and see if anything in the caliper area moves

if not then try pushing down on the front drivers side and see if you hear anything. check all linkage and bushings regardless

make sure the pads are secured and the middle piece is there

 

I have noticed that the sound is more noticeable on cold days. The sound reminds me of ABS on ice or slick muddy terrain. I may need to bleed my brake lines for possible air...

 

never hurts. also if you check when the wheel is raised see if there is brake pad "chatter"
could be a stuck caliper piston

 

So i bled my brakes and checked everything with them. I finally think I have narrowed it down to a bad wheel bearing. I went off road and had my front tire in a bind and heard a pop, now I have slack left and right with the front wheel. Should I replace just the bearing or is it cheaper/easier to just do the whole hub assembly?

 

You said slack left to right, sounds like a tie rode. Beside a horizontal check, try a vertical check with the tire off the ground.

 

ill have to pull it apart to see for sure where the slack is coming from.