I was hoping you guys could help me diagnose a problem before I have to take it to a mechanic. I have been experiencing a little wheel jerking when I hit the breaks in the last few months. I was assuming it was the brake rotors and stopped in at Napa to get a set but after I told her the Napa tech the symptoms, it may not be the rotors.

While traveling down the road at proximally 60 to 70, I feel a vibration/humming sound coming from the left front wheel area. I can feel the vibration in the steering wheel and the gas and brake pedal. When I hit the brakes, the steering wheel jerks side to side or back and forth as if I need new rotors. However it does not feel like the usual rotor problem I have felt with other F250s. So maybe a wheel bearing issue? Our hub issue or maybe it's the rotors. I noticed if I turn the wheel right away off while traveling or going around the curve the vibration and humming sound stops.

Although the humming sound has been there for a while intermittently, this latter vibration just started today. It started after I got on the brakes pretty hard while stopping. Don't know if that makes a difference or not .

Thanks in advance

Jed

 

Is it a 4x4? It sounds like you may have a couple of things going on. The vibration, especially if it goes away round corners could very well be your unit bearings going bad (if it is a 4x4). Timken or OEM is what is generally recommended. The ones from the parts stores don't last in these rigs, ask me how I know.....

The brake thing could be a couple of different things. The slide pins in the caliper could be sticking, pulling them and cleaning / lightly greasing may fix this. The other could be failing brake lines. The rubber hoses in these truck have been known to break down internally and collapse causing a sort of check valve in you brake system. The good news is that it is easy to address all these at the same time as you have to remove the brake calipers to do your unit bearings anyway....

 

Thanks much. Got some added information that may help:

I jacked each side up to make sure my 4x4 hubs were not sticking. Left tire spends nice. Right one has resistance and sounds like little sand in the bearings. It doesn't roll as good as other one.

 

If you have the ESOF system it may be that one hub is stuck and not free wheeling as it should.

 

I would pull your locking / 4x4 hubs and check again. They can make all kinds of grinding noises if they aren't working properly

 

Got WARN hubs and they seem to be locking and unlocking ok when jacked up.

 

I'd say the hub... see how much play you have where axle goes into hub assembly

 

Problem was bad hubs, rotors and brakes. All replaced by mechanic. All seemed ok for the 2 mile test driv but now the calipers seem locked or too tight. The right front is hard to spin when jacked up. Took off tire and brake pads are touching rotor. The tire will not spin. I can move it but not very smooth.

Mechanic said since the old pads were so worn, the caliper has probably gone bad. Trying to stop the bleeding here and fix this myself. Not sure why the problem wasn't fixed when he had it. The caliper was not sticking or pads touching before I took it to him. He may be right.

So, apparently he just replaced hub, brakes and rotor and did not mess with calipers. Anything I can do to trouble shoot this?

Bleeding brakes, check pins, pumping brakes, etc. any help or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks Jed

 

199000 miles
4x4
2001 7.3

 

Your mechanic had to remove the calipers to replace pads & rotors.... he should have realized there was a bad caliper while removing the brake pads. You spent a lot of money to have to go back for something he should have caught when he tore it down.

Sticky slide pins or a bad caliper.... either way he should have caught it.

 

Sticky slide pins is an inexpensive and easy place to start looking. Also a very common problem on these brakes. There was a recent post about the best lube to use but I don't recall what it is.

 

Probably bad slide pins, bad caliper or brake line. All easy fixes.

It's not uncommon to have a calliper that operates correctly before a brake job and hangs after. The piston can be corroded outside of the square cut seal around it with the worn out pads. When you put new pads on and compress the piston to fit, the corrosion is now interfering with the seals ability to "pull" back the piston. And you get a hanging caliper

The broken down rubber hose check valve, as mentioned above is also very common, with no great way to test until you know there is a problem. 15- 20 dollar fix for me rubbers. 30 min and a little mess More for stainless.

Slide pins are also super common but a good wrencher should have noticed.

 

I agree. My bad on that one. That's the reason I would like to try to finish the job myself (with help from you guys).

 

This guy is a friend and I find it hard to believe as many 7.3s around my rural area that he works on he didn't catch a bad caliper or pins. It drove home fine, or so I thought. The truck is old and 200k miles so new calipers probably a good idea anyway. The steering wheel shake and front end roar was pretty bad. I'm sure all is original. Only have a Napa around my parts so I ordered them a minute a ago and they will be here Tuesday. $80 a piece with "limited life time warranty" -- what that gets me.

Thanks

 

I guess I check the sliding pins tomor before parts arrive .... Maybe that's the easy fix. From looking at YouTube, doesn't look that hard. ???