I have got a 96 X 4 door, 4.0 4WD. I have recently started getting what sounds like a wheel bearing going out on this thing. I first thought it was my tires cupping making the howling sound since I had that problem before. Its not the tires. I pull the wheels off and rotate the shafts and I just cant feel anything in the wheel bearings, I do hear some noise coming from where the half shaft goes into the differential housing on the drivers side. The noise is pretty loud while driving straight down the road however when you turn the wheels to the left it will stop until you straighten back up. Turning to the right does not seem to make any difference better or worse. I guess before I go tearing into this thing is what I decribed a dead ringer for a particular bearing. When your driving this thing it is hard to tell just where the noise is coming from, right side or left side. The fact that it stops while turing left tells me that is is a bearing that sees some thrust. I woud thing the wheel bearings are the only bearings up front that would see thrust. Are the axle bearings in the differential needle bearings?? If so they would not take any thrust. I appreciate any insight on this problem, thanks, K.B.

 

How bout it folks???

 

I had the same problem with my 2000.It turned out to be the passenger side
wheel bearng.When you turned to the left the sound lessened.On my 4x4 you cannot just change the bering,it comes as a hub assembly and it is not cheap.Hope this helps and good luck.Also you could not feel or hear the problem with the wheel off and turing the rotor,there is not enought load on the bearing.

 

Thanks for the info, yes they are expensive about 165.00 at autozone. Thats why I wanted to get some input before I just started throwing money at it. Where you able to tell it was bad once you had it out in your hand? Thanks.

 

With the hub assembly off the truck,you could not tell it was bad.IT spun
freely and did not make any noise.The only way you knew it was the problem was after it was replaced ,the noise disappeared when driving.It must have to do with the amount of load on the unit.Hope this helps.

 

Thanks again. Good info.

 

I have to do the same thing on my 96. the thing about them hub assemblies is that the bearings are so close together that its hard to "feel" any play. if you look at the specs on alldata the limits are 0.000"-0.003" end play, hardly anything you can "feel"

Duane

 

Replaced the hub assembly on my 96 Explorer Sport (4.0L 4WD) about two weeks ago. Also replaced front Struts and rear shocks while I was at it. When I took e3verything off, I noticed that the boot on the upper control arm ball joint was torn up so I replaced them as well on both sides. Wasn't a difficult job, just expensive but what a difference it made.

If you choose to do the hub assembly only, you will spend as much time acquiring that parts as it takes to replace them. Good time to check brakes as well since you will be right there. Good luck with it. Oh yea, mine may have been a little worse because you could certainly tell mine was making noise, especially when you got it off.