Hi everyone, so I'm new to the forums, and I'm hoping someone here can give me a hand.

I have a 2001 Explorer Sport, and recently it started making this crazy humming almost vibrating noise in the front end. I believe it's coming from the passenger side. . . The noise happens at any speed ranging from 5mph, all the way up. However, if you're going say 10mph and turn the truck to the left, even a little, the noise goes away. . . If you go around a traffic circle, it's gone completely as well (still turning left).

I took it to a local goodyear dealer, and the guy tells me it's a bad left wheel hub bearing (because when you turn left the weight of the truck is removed from the left hub. . his words not mine). . . ok, change it. . . he does, and then comes back later and says . . ."yeah you're going to need a right bearing too". In all honesty, I know you should replace them in pairs, but the point is, it obviously wasn't the left one if it was still making the noise after they changed the first one. . . After asking him if he really knew what was going to fix it, he said no, and put all of my original parts back on. . . a great waste of 4 hours. . .

My question to you all is, could it be a ball joint? Could it be the right wheel hub? How can I tell the difference? I work on planes, not cars, so I'm at a loss here. I have access to all of the tools and such through the local hobby shop, so I'm pretty sure I can fix this on my own or with a little help. . . I just need to know what I'm looking for. . .

Thanks in advance!

 

My car seems to go through hubs left and right. I had a similar problem with noise and vibration on the right side of my truck, I took it to my local auto repair place and he assured me it was the left. I wasn’t convinced b/c every time I turned to the left and put weight on the right side of the truck the noise would all but go away. So told him to replace the left hub (he said he would do it but if that didn’t solve the problem he wasn’t going to put back on the original part for free); that solved the noise and vibration for me. I have had the ball joints replaced on this truck before so I knew they couldn’t be acting up so soon. Also, I don’t think that ball joints that are going bad usually cause a noise (well at least not in my case- but some say they can make a ‘clunking’ noise), but will cause vibration, decreased handling. There is a test you can do to see if the ball joints are worn, although I don’t remember the specifics. You can do a Google search or search on here. Hope this helps a bit.


Chris