hello guys,
I have a 2003 f-250 6.0 and I am getting noise in the front in 4x4 and in 2wd when I hit pot holes and when I turn sharp left, deff feels like it is on the driver side ?? any ideas? I am thinking u-joint, should I go deeper??

 

Moved to SuperDuty, have you checked the ball joints, my 03 is needing the lower ball joint and makes the same noise you describe when turning.

 

Sounds like the needle bearings - guys? Care to fill him in?

 

Make sure your exhaust isn't rubbing on the frame rail. I had that type of noise. Shake your tailpipe and see if it hits or clanks on anything. If it does, tighten up! Cost to fix is free!

I had a left turn noise that I could never figure out and after being told it was the hubs, tires, etc... I found out the truth by showing off the 5" exhaust when I put my foot in it and heard a clank.

 

Just a suggestion. Mine had the same noise and I replaced the sway bar links and bushings and it stopped. Hope this helps.

David

 

I was told by a shop my cab mount bushings on the front left needed to be replaced. Haven't done any repair yet.

Another shop told me Sway links.

 

Funny thing is I have a 2008 Ford F-250 and I have the same problem. I looked at the exhaust routing and found the exhaust is too close to the right frame rail in the area near the engine. It's just too close. The exhaust pipe is flatenned in the area of the frame rail. It does'nt make any sense to hey FORD put the exhaust so close to the frame rail as there is clearance on the opposite side of the rubbing. Now I need a solution. In this area the exhaust is not very flexible. Will revert if cheap solution. Maybe aftermarket.

POM

 

I have a 03 F250 SD 4x4 and I'm also having issues with front end noise and also vibrations at over 50 mph. The best way I can describe the noise is it sounds like I'm driving on nobbies or super swampers. I did some preliminary trouble-shooting today, by just removing the front wheel and rotating the hubs. The drivers side has a lot of play when the auto locking hub is locked. I can rotate the wheel ~ 1" before the axle starts moving. The passenger side is nice and tight,but there's a wobbly noise when it rotates. I sounds like a dry bearing.

One of the many things that I don't understand is how the auto locking hub works. I know that it works on a vacuum system, but if there's a vacuum leak do the wheels lock or unlock. When I first started truning my hubs they were both locked, but the autohub was set to auto.

I'm going to see if my local ford dealership has the seals and bearings I'll need so I can work on it this weekend. I'm going to try and inspect/replace the needle bearings. Theres a great write up on the replacement of them in another post. Hopefully that will fix the passenger side, but not real sure about the driver side. I'm hoping I will find something while I'm replacing the needle bearing.

Any suggestions you guys have would be very welcomed. I don't have a whole lot of experience with this, so any help would be appreciated.

 

Sounds like the needle bearing inside the wheel bearing - the "inner spindle bearing" where the axle stub rides.

If you lock the hubs, does the noise go away?

 

Art, i think in his initial post he stated it occurred in 4wd and 2wd. I am working on the same noise and most seem to have had luck with front cab mount bushings and/or sway bar bushings. Just havent got the time from work to get into it yet.

 

Sorry, I was responding to shake-n-bake

 

Art, thanks for the reply. No, the noise and vibration are there when I'm in 2wd, 4wd or have the hubs locked. What I have noticed is it seems to vibrate more after I hit a bump in the road. From previous posts, that sounds definetly like a needle bearing. I'm hoping that I haven't worn a big groove in the axle stub. I'll let you know after I gte it apart.

 

If it's there when the hubs locked, it's not the needle bearings. Those bearings do not turn relative to the axle stub unless the hubs are UNLOCKED.

 

Yeah, that makes sense. The thing that I saw on it yesterday, that I thought might be a problem, was that on the driver's side, I could rotate the wheel about 1" before the u-joint/axle would start turning. Is that normal, or is that amount of play a problem. It looked like the play was in the hub. Passenger side seemed alot tighter.

 

There shouldn't be that much play... especially if the other side isn't that loose