Hello all,
I have a 2003 Expedition 4x4 with a 5.4L. I'm having a problem with a noise that happens as I drive. It sounds like I'm rolling over a washboard. It seems loudest at about 35 mph but can still be heard as I go faster. I had a similar problem while it was still under warranty and Ford replaced both of the front hub assemblies as well as the front tires.

How can you tell for sure if the hubs are the problem again. Usually when you have a bearing problem moving the steering wheel back and forth, while you're rolling, makes the sound change. The sound I'm having doesn't seem to change when I do this. I just jacked up the truck and wiggled the tire at 12 and 6, on both sides, and everything seems tight. I hate to spend a couple of hundred dollars and that not be the problem.

On a different note. Getting the disc rotor off CAN be a problem. I've experienced it first hand and have read about it in this forum. Last time I had it off, for a brake job, I clean everything and slathered it with anti-seize. I'm happy to say that if I need to change the hub assemblies I wont have that struggle to deal with. When checking things out I wiggled the rotors and they are loose!!

Any hints on how to verify the hubs are indeed bad would be helpful.

 

are the tires cupped? mine are and it sucks. alignment can cause wierd things also. WHen i check for bad bearings i wiggle from 2 and 8, or 10 and 4. 3 to 9 for steering play and 12-6 for ball joints.

 

The tires are brand new and I don't want them to become cupped. An alignment was done when the tires were purchased. I didn't wiggle from 2 to 8 or 10 to 4 but everything seemed pretty tight. I hate to spend a bunch of money for hub assemblies only to find out thats not the problem.

Can the bearings/hubs be bad and you can't appreciably feel the looseness?

 

Punchback,

I had a noise that I was absolutely convinced was a wheel hub assembly. I bought one and installed it and found that it did not help the problem. As I am not a mechanic, nor an expert at trouble shooting, I didn't go through other possibilities. Well, then the Mrs. raised a big enough stink that I took it to a local shop for diagnosis. He road tested it and diagnosed it as bad alignment and resultant tire wear. He left the "bad" tire on the rear and the noise followed it. We had it aligned and will be getting new rubber soon.

Just try to rotate the tires (unless you already have) and see if that helps.

I just re-read. Apparently this has been going on for some time. Maybe the rotation won't work for you. Hopefully it may help someone else with a similar noise issue, though.

good luck.

Big

 

A bad front 4x4 hub will cause a grinding noise that may come and go at any speed. The best way to check for this is to put your 4x4 selector in A4WD and drive the car. This locks both front hubs in, unless one is damaged bady.

If the sound goes away, then you can be sure it is a bad hub. You will then have to drive in 2WD with the windows down to try and figure which one is bad.