Has anybody experienced a failure in the center driveshaft bearing? When driving my truck at all speeds, I can hear what sounds to me like a bearing failing. At idle speed, it is a mild grinding sound. At high speed it sounds like a high pitch squeal and chatter. I have checked all the wheel bearings and brakes, and everything looks and sounds normal. I thought of running the truck while on jackstands, to see if the noise was in fact coming from the center bearing.
If I do find the bearing to be bad, is this difficult to replace? Does it involve bringing the driveshaft to a machine shop, to remove and reinstall U-joints?

 

What year, engine, and tranny do you have?

Thanks for using FTE!




[font color=red]As a Moderator I do not "Subscribe" to most topics,
please send email/pm if you need a reply -Thanks![/font]
-

 

What do you mean about "at idle", coasting or sitting still?

 

The truck is a '95, with 2.3L, and 5 speed manual tranny. The problem started at around 90,000 miles.

 

"Idle Speed" was meant as the rolling speed of the vehicle, at engine idle.

 

The Center Support Bearing could be bad although they ususally last longer than that. I might also suspect a u-joint.

The center support bearing is not hard to replace. You need disconnect the drive shaft behind the center support. Make sure you mark the position of parts relative to each other so you can reassemble it the same way. The drive shaft is balanced as a unit so it is important to make sure it is assembled with all parts relative position wise to other parts. Remove the bolts attaching the center support. Remove the short drive shaft. Remove the nut holding the u-joint yoke at the bearing end and pull the bearing. You can borrow a bearing puller from a parts store if you don't have one. Reassemble in reverse order, again carefully watching the alignment of the marked parts.

Good luck.

 

My 94 2.3 l went to about 120K moles