I thought this might have been the case, as the blower motor was making some unhappy noises. I replaced the blower motor this past weekend, yet the sound still persisted.

 

Do you know the maintenance history? When was the last time they we're repacked? If they were smooth turning damage free I think I'd repack them and reassemble the wheel and readjust the bearings. If jacked up and adjusted so they aren't loose and spin freely and smoothly and looks good drive it and see if you were hearing dry bearings before if not recheck the brake caliper and pad.

 

I'll go ahead and repack them and see if it makes a difference. I bought the truck about 2 years ago from a widow, and paid a family mechanic to get the truck up and running, and then put a good bit of work into it myself. The bearings, brakes, hubs, ball joints, and tie rods were all replaced as a part of getting the truck back up and running/ work I've done since. Talking this mystery on my own now since moving away from home to a different city for work.

 

When I grabbed the tire at 6 and 12 o clock and shook it there was some play, I'd say about a 1/4 front to back. I don't have much experience with this stuff, but it did seem to have less play on the drivers die when I did the same test.

 

1/4" of slop is excessive. I highly recommend you pick up a shop manual for guidance on wheel bearings or have an experienced mentor work with you. You want to be a clean freak and avoid any dirt or rust contamination. You'll need a torque wrench to set the nut.

 

Wheel tramp, look it up

 

^ and make sure you use high temp wheel bearing grease, it's red in color, Tractor Supply will have it as well as some other places, like Walmart, etc.

I have not used a torque wrench to set wheel bearings in my 71 old, but I have been working with my hand on mechanical for all my life. You may want to check out Gary's site, https://www.garysgaragemahal.com/1986-evtm.html

Lot's of great info there.

 

Valvoline wheel bearing grease I have is blue.

I also dont use a TQ wrench, been doing it by hand after daddy showed me how to do it and has not failed me yet.
Tighten the nut while turning the wheel till the nut is tight but not ape sh** tight.
With out turning the wheel undo the nut about half a turn and then tighten it just till you feel the nut get resistance and can line up for the cotter pin.
Give the wheel a few spins and check if you have any play, you should not.
Its all in the feel and 50 years of doing this
Dave ----

 

I knew Dave would come in and explain the non torque wrench method. He's the kind of experienced mentor I was mentioning. The shade tree method is effective as long as you know not to go ape ***** tight and have that "feel".

 

Hey y'all,
Reporting back in after doing some testing. I cleaned and repacked the bearings and then took the truck for a drive. The noise is still there, so I redid the tests mentioned earlier in the forum. When lightly applying the brake the noise persist, but with a medium pressure and gas to maintain speed the noise dies down. That leads me to assume it might have something to do with the front brakes? What do y'all think? Appreciate all the response and help so far

 

Calipers are not much money. I put NAPA parts on my truck. I did the flex lines too.

 

Since it takes a bit of brake pedal pressure to quiet the noise I'm wondering if your disc is warped? When I have had a floating brake pad that clunking went away with very light brake pressure.

 

Good point ^

Can the OP get a photo of the rotor, so we can see if it has some build-up on it ?

Maybe just, "rebedding the brakes" will work. google it.

 

No problem, I can post some pictures when I get home from lunch. I’m also thinking a warped rotor could explain it, because the caliper was sticking some until I regressed the slide pins.

 

You might need to have a machine shop resurface the rotors if they got that hot. Some auto parts stores used to do that. But you'll need to call and verify and if you need to remove the bearing races.

I see new rotors can be $114, so...