I had Warn 4x4 hubs installed awhile back by my mechanic. They have always kind of rattled and made some noise but it seems it's getting louder. It literally sounds like a baby rattle when I drive over bumps and cracks in the pavement. Did my mechanic leave out a spacer, o-ring or something else. Any help is appreciated, I'm trying to do all my own repairs now. They are not the Warn Premiums just the regular hubs

 

Mine makes a similar rattle on bumpy roads. I did not know this was the hubs but would make sense. Check out guzzle's page for the how to. http://www.guzzle7pt3.com/nblube.php

 

I think it's in the warn hub and not the factoey guts. I could be wrong but it never made this noise when the ESOF hubs were on then vehicle.

 

Mine sounds like it is a bad shock on a bumpy road but I replaced those. I was leaning towards a ball joint or bushing. Don't have much experience on the front end. Never messed with mine other than shocks and steering stabilizer.

 

Both sides rattle on my truck, right > Left. I want to fix this, the older the truck gets the more it makes noises. I want it fixed before I can't tell whats making noise.

 

Are you sure that it is the hubs and not the sway bar bushings?

 

I just went and looked at my sway bar bushings and I have side to side play in them. looks like there are three on each side. I guess I might be replacing mine.

 

Was thinking the same thing Jim. Depending how shot the bushings are, I guess you could get rattling. I had bad loud cluncks even on the smallest bumps, give them a look.

 

Should you be able to rotate the bushing? I see rotation on the bushing that goes vertical. I can see it in the top and lower bushing. Don't mean to hijack the thread but maybe can help the op.

 

I've had most of the bushings in the front end replaced. I've also had a thud in the floor boards when I step on the brakes so that's why I had all the bushings replaced. It still didn't take care of the THUD, it drives me nuts.
I am fairly certain that it's in the hubs. Between my new exhaust making noises, the THUD from who knows what and the suspected hubs baby rattle. It's fair to say I'm not a happy camper
Now you can see why I want this to go away, I'm going to jack the front of the truck and take a rubber mallet and try and duplicate the rattle.

 

Warn hubs ( per the instructions ) may be loose. So yeah, I would think a rattle could be there. I know I kept taking mine apart and trying to find the problem, up until the point where my wife wanted me to read the instructions..

 

That's just like-I don't need directions,I know where we're going.

 

I've had the baby rattle noise coming from the front end of my Ranger - very small bumps or just gravel roads even to some degree, railroad tracks, etc ALL MAKE THE LIGHT BABY RATTLING NOISE on the front of my Ranger. I also get a heavier more solid thud noise on bumps as well that i can feel in the floor board, BUT THIS IS A TOTALLY SEPARATE ISSUE, IMO.

THE RATTLING STARTED THE DAY I DROVE HOME FROM THE OFF ROAD SHOP SEVERAL YEARS AGO when i had them replace my auto-locking hubs with WARN MANUAL HUBS.

So, i know its the hubs or end of axle/spindle area in my case since that was all they touched, and i complained twice to the off-road shop and they just told me that it was normal for there to be some play in that hub and rattle a little. I could never get them to try to help me figure out a fix for it. The sound does NOT sound like its in the axle, to "baby rattly" lightweight for that, so i am 100% convinced it is the hubs.

I did just read a couple days ago in another post that somebody had a new snap ring, the c-ring maybe, sent to them from Warn that was a little bigger to help hold the hub in place. After looking at mine numerous times, i really don't think that will fix mine. I don't know, i've not thought about contacting Warn, but i may in a couple weeks, because i've always hated the rattle and now that i'm fixing this old thing up I want to STOP IT!!

Any ideas on the thud/floor board bumps i get when hitting bumps?

 

i found the post by KREWAT in another thread, maybe this is it?

"There is an issue with the Warn hubs where the snap-ring groove is machined too big and the Warn snap ring doesn't completely hold the hub still - so they rattle.

I'd think the MM hubs could suffer from the same issue.

Call/email MM and see what they say. I contacted Warn about the issue and in 2 days I had additional snap-rings in my mailbox. No proof of purchase required with Warn. ""

 

Also, i can't believe i forgot this... when I lock/engage the hubs the baby rattle goes away pretty much entirely! If it is indeed the hub itself rattling, then i would expect it to.

Hey Krewat, did your rattle go away when engaged?