Road noise consistant with speed
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Road noise consistant with speed
While doing about 70 on the highway, in the middle of a 5 hour drive, I suddenly got a strange sound. It's fairly loud and sounds like it's consistant with tire speed. It's sounds kinda like I'm hitting a rubble strip but not as loud. I drove the rest of the way, about 150 miles, and it seems to just make noise. Seems like it might be coming from the left front wheel, but hard to tell. It dissapears briefly sometimes, usually when I go over a bump on the highway and the truck "lifts" a little. Any ideas?
Lead Driver
Joined: Jul 2003
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From: Wheatland, Mo
I agree with Buckeye...rumbling like that usually is typical of the ujoints as they go bad. They will still hold up but....I wouldnt depend on em . They arent expensive and if you have done em before, they are easy to do. But....(Yes there is a butt in here), if your ujoints are ok, then check the centering pin in the yoke on the rear driveshaft. If you lost even 1 of the needle bearings in there, then you will get a rumble as well. Thats what keeps the ujoints centered in the yoke as it it turning. If a needle bearing is missing, it will spin off center, and then you have noise.
Good Luck!
Good Luck!
Elder User
Joined: Apr 2002
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From: NJ
u joints sound like a good answer but i would lean more towards wheel bearings because the front u joints would not be turning unless the hubs are locked. you did say that it is in the left front wheel didnt you? jack up the front end and spin the wheels by hand and see what you can hear or feel. whaen you say the sound gets lessenened when you go over a bump and the truck lifts alittle makes me think wheel bearings because some weight is taken off of the front end for a second and there is not as much pressure on the bearings.they may just need to be cleaned and repacked with grease and adjusted.
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Following the wheel bearing idea, it seems to increase when I take a turn at higher speeds. It's definately the front right wheel. You can feel it rumble when you put your feet on the floor in the passenger seat. How hard is it to repack the bearings? I have swapped to manual hubs so I know how to get that far but have never done bearings before.
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Joined: Apr 2002
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From: NJ
after removing the hub you will see a big nut that takes a special four prong socket, this will have to come off and it should be on very tight, about 100 ft lbs. you will then remove a washer with a pin sticking up . then there will be another one of those four prong nuts. this one will not be tight at all because this is the one you adjust bearing preload with.once removed you will see the outer wheel bearing. now if you remove the caliper you will be able to take out the whole rotor and hub assembly. turn it over and there is a grease seal and behind that seal is the inner wheel bearing. clean and inspect and if ok you can probably repack and install it back together. but you are this far so i would just go get new bearings and replace them. not hard to do but it will take about an hour and a half per side.
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Postmaster
Joined: Jun 2001
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From: Loveland, CO.
Before you go crazy tearing stuff apart, this sounds like a seperated tire. You won't really be able to see it, but you'll hear it; then one day the tread will come flying off and possibly damage your truck or even cause an accident. I would put your spare on the wheel where it sounds like the noise is coming from to rule this out.
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I'm running 32''s and the spare is a 31'' (I know, bad move). Perhaps I can swap the wheel to the other side and see if the rumbling moves, or swap to the rear. How does a tire get separated, how can I tell? The tries are just over a year old, with maybe 6000 miles on them.
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The noises have gotten far worse, they now seem to come from everywhere and incluse squeaking and ratching sounds. The ABS light is on and had been on for awhile, even before the original start of the sounds. I'm positive it's some sort of problem with the brakes. Tonight I got some sporatic fade and even felt the truck handleing strangly and pulling slightly in random directions with a loose feel to the already kinda loose steering. Any insight?