I am hunting down a noise in my truck. I recently purchased a 2000 F350 4WD with a 7.3. Ever since I bought it, I have heard a slight "rolling" noise. Kind of sounds like a metal barrel rolling down the road. It made the sound whether or not I had the hubs locked. It seemed to be coming from the driver's side.

So, I tore into the axle. The truck has 106,000 miles on it. I noticed that one of the wheel hub assemblies made a slight noise when I spun it by hand, so I thought that was the problem. I put two new wheel hub assemblies on the truck. Since I was in there, I also replaced ball joints (the uppers turned out to be fairly bad), axle u-joints, rotors (one rotor had a crack), and brake pads. I also repacked the hub-lockouts.

So, I threw everything together and took it for a spin - the sound is still there.
There is no vibration. I lifted the rear end of the truck up and spun the wheels the best I could by hand and couldn't really hear anything. The carrier bearing has some play, but usually carrier bearings have a vibration associated with them if they are going bad, don't they? I can feel some vibration at speeds higher than 60, but it is very faint.

I thought maybe just tire/road noise, but I can't hear it nearly as much when I am in the passenger seat - it really seems to be coming from the driver's side.

I am at a loss here. Could it be the carrier bearing? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Tomorrow I am going to put the rear end up on jack stands to see if it makes the noise while driving the wheels (with the motor) in the air. I sure as heck hope this isn't some sort of trans or rear end noise....

 

Check for brakes dragging.....especially the emergency brake.

 

I second AZ Pete. Check for dragging brakes up front as well.

 

Look at your old rotor, is it more worn on the inside? Slide pins go bad on these trucks all the time and the calipers push hard on the inside of the rotor. Cracked rotor? Look real hard at those slide pins.

 

The front slide pins were moving fairly well. One was a little "sticky". I pulled all of them, cleaned them up, and regreased them. I haven't checked the rears yet. The rear rotors look good - the fronts had a bunch of small heat cracks and one side had a large crack near the outer diameter.

Good suggestions. Thank you very much for your input.

 

Those pins.........I've massaged all of mine once or twice. They will get stuck. Ask me how I know.

 

I greased the slide pins on the rear. One was sticky, the others seemed fine. One of the pistons on the driver's rear seemed to be extremely difficult to move. Wondering if I have a caliper piston sticking. Also, the driver's side parking brake cable is applying some tension to the lever, while the passenger side is not. Is there any way to adjust the cable itself so that it will allow the lever to sit back.

I still don't think that the main rear brakes are the cause - I have felt the rotors after driving and they don't get hot. It may be the parking brake, I can't really get my hand up in there to feel that.

How can I tell if the rear wheel bearings or diff carrier bearings are shot? Anyway to do it without opening it up?

Sucks getting a new truck with all sorts of problems. I also found out this morning that the ICP is bad. Had a fluctuating idle in high idle mode. So, I pulled the connector and there was oil in it. That means it is bad, correct?

 

I had a seized caliper piston as well after purchasing with 222k on it. Driver's rear was mine too, but that's probably coincidence. Have you tried re-bleeding by chance through the fittings? Could be an air pocket in that caliper if only that one is stiff.

Could be the bearings at the wheels just need some lubrication, too. That would make them pretty noisy. Grease the fronts by removing the ABS sensors. Since you've had the wheels off a lot by now you're probably getting really good at it.

You're right on the ICP connector.

 

Don't discount the driveshaft bearing, I had a "rolling" type noise that I THOUGHT was coming from the front end, ended up that my carrier bearing was going bad, even though it had no play or vibration. New bearing, noise gone...

 

Back brakes - pleh. While the rear main brakes are rotors, the parking brake is a drum. I can hear you say "But Tugly, how can you have a drum and a rotor on the same axle?" Like this:











There is a lever that the parking brake cable attaches to, they commonly rust and sieze up. I had a stuck/burnt brake piston, a burnt rotor, two siezed park brake levers, two sets of siezed slide pins (one in front, one in rear), and more rust in the parking brake shoes than the whole Arizona. Everything was ejected and I had to start over. I don't mess around when it comes time to stop 8000 pounds and whatever it's towing.

 

(whistling) Man that's pretty!

 

You left off the word "expensive".

 

Just trying to be supportive. We're all addicts here...

 

Nah.... I can quit any time I want.

 

Thanks for the replies. The parking brake levers on each side are not frozen - they move easily. It is just that the driver's side appears to have some tension applied to it be the cable. I know that the parking brake shoes can be adjusted, I was just wondering if I could adjust the cable itself.

I am going to pull the rear driveshaft and take it for a spin and see if the noise goes away.

Thanks again, everyone.