I have a 96 explorer 4x4 that i just bought and it has wheel shake. It also has a slight noise coming from pass front. So i jack it up and there is zero wheel play. I spin the wheel and it spins kinda freely untill about 3/4 away around then it has some resistance to stop the wheel. Im thinking that could mabey be a rotor a lil warped but not sure. Same wheel there are wires showing on the inside. Now i try the driver side and i cannot spin that wheel it has resistance all the time. So could this be hub or mabey just bad tire?

 

When you say there are wires showing, are they electrical (possible from the abs sensor) or from the tire as in the wire belt?

 

Sorry there are wires showing in the tire so i know it needs replaced but not sure if that tire is what is cause the shake and noise or the hub. Reason im asking is i already have a new hub but i dont want to replace it if it was the tire all along. Right now i dont have money for both so if it could be tire il return the hub get a pair of tires. But if it is hub il change the hub and get tires next week.

 

Pretty hard for any of us to diagnose over the Internet. When you are spinning the tires do you have 4 wheel drive engaged or disengaged? If I hear you correctly, the tire is worn severely along the inside edge. Is that correct? When I had wear like that it was a bad tie rod end that caused the problem. Your issue is this: you have to replace that tire as it is very unsafe, but if you don't fix the problem that caused the wear, your new tire will wear out very quickly. So you really need to fix both. You can save money like I did by finding good used tires.

 

4x4 is off and yes the wear is along the inside. Iv seen a vid where a guy lifted his auto and showed a little movement by moving the wheel up and down. Well mine moves none but it does spin pretty freely compaired to the driver side. But like i said im not sure if that is the brakes keeping the driver side from spinning easly or a good stiff hub.

 

Remove the wheel, slacken off the pads, reinstall wheel and then spin, this will eliminate any drag induced by the brakes while diagnosing...
Replace the dangerously worn tire and check alignment... Philip

 

Ok took it in and had the tire replaced and now there is no wheel shake. But while driving it makes the sound like a big truck that has big tires on it but it only has 235/75/15's on it. So is this normal sound for a 4x4 or could the hub still be bad?

 

The type of tire tread will make it sound different. The more agressive tread tires will give a humming sound while the less agressive will be quiet. Which did you get?

 

It's virtually impossible for any of us to say over the Internet. Have the shop diagnose it for you. As I mentioned before, if your tie rod ends or hubs are bad, your new tire(s) will wear very quickly and you'll be replacing them again soon.

 

how many miles on the hubs? It to me sounds like they are on their way.

I did mine over a lunch hour last spring. They are easy enough to do.

Be sure to get the proper ones..abs or no abs.

 

"sounds like big truck tires" is quite possibly a bad hub/ bearing. You need to have the front end jacked up, take the tire off, take the brake caliper off, and rotate the hub without the brake dragging. you can compare one side to the other and get a good idea of what is good or bad. Have to have the brake pads off first.

 

il pull the tires and brakes off this weekend and check both sides and as rusted as the bottom of the entire truck is dont think its going to be a quick job changing the hub out.

 

So spray now and spray as you go.