Clicking noise in front end
 

FWIW....I had this clicking noise coming from the right front tire on my truck in my sig. Sounded just like a rock in the tread, which happens a lot, and we had just driven on a gravel road. I got rid of all the rocks and it was still there. But you could only hear it with the front passenger window open. Barely when the rear pass. Window open, and pretty much only if there was some kind of wall or hedge on the right side of the road for the sound to bounce off of.

It changed with speed, but not on braking or turning.

So I searched on here last night and found a bunch of good info. So today I drove to make sure it was warmed up and it made the noise and jacked up the front. Tire was solid, 4x4 hubs when in and out fine, brakes not scored, and no noise! I tried spinning it as fast as I could....nothing. So let it back down and I'm not 20 ft and there is the clicking noise! Back to driveway and remove the tire. There is a very faint noise from the hub where bearings are, but no clicking of any kind anywhere. So I put a little lube on the matting surface of the hub to tire, remount it ( the lug nuts weren't as tight as I might have thought), torqued em down and viola, no more noise! Seems the wheel was moving ever so slightly on the hub as it rotated. It needed the 2500 pounds of weight on it to move.

Sorry for the long winded post, but just one more little thing to look at when diagnosing sounds on these heavy trucks. I only have 14,500 miles on this, so couldn't believe it would have been anything actually wearing out yet, as was relieved.

Glad you found the problem. :-X22

Sucks that you had too. Was that the original location of that tire and wheel or have you rotated the tires?

Good place for a reminder: Always retorque the lugnuts after removing a wheel.

I have the service contract, so dealer does it every 5000 mi when I get the oil changed. So no, it isn't the original position.

I found when I picked up my truck, brand new ordered from factory, not one lug nut was to torque spec. I assume that is on the dealer's pre-delivery checklist but must have got skipped. Some of the nuts were only finger tight.

Hi @soling2003 It seems like I'm having the exact same issue right now on my 2014 Powerstroke. After reading your thread, I'm trying to understand exactly what you did you fix the problem. I don't quite understand the sentence "I'm not 20ft and there is the clicking noise." can you explain? Also, you put lube on the matting surface of the hub to tire? Do you mean where the rim meets the mounting surface of the hub? Is it a lube issue or is it a lug nut issue? Anything would help as this ticking noise going down the road is driving me CRAZY! I even greased up the U-Joints thinking it was them starting to wear, but nope, wasn't it. Thanks in advance.

I think he was saying that he drove about 20 feet and the noise came back in that short distance, I think he tourqued the lug nuts to make the noise stop. Try cranking down your lug nuts nice ad tight.

Yes, I put some grease on the matting surfaces of the tire to hub. Not sure if it was just that the lug nuts were not tightened enough from the dealer service Dept or combo of that and tire moving as it spun just a bit. Probably could have just re-torqued the lug nuts and it would have fixed it, but since it was off I pinned it just a bit too.
And yes, with the wheels back on the ground I didn’t move more that 20 ft and I heard the sound again. So this fix did it easily.

wow, bringing up an old thread. I sold the truck 5 years ago. I forgot I even posted this!

gary

@soling2003 Yea I saw the thread was really old lol. @Mwmx54 Thank you for the help as well. I'm on a mission to figure this out! I'm gonna check the lug nuts, I'll let you guys know, thanks again!

so I’m having this exact same problem on my f-350 right now and I was wondering if it was just the lug nuts but i dont know.