Noise diagnosis - wheel bearing???

[fordbluefamily]

Not to mention the beating that last bit of fluid takes from the repeated heat cycles. Cant say ive cracked them open every time, but I can see why they recommend it.

I too use a giant C-Clamp, but the one I have is huge and ive never had troubles fitting it over any calipers. Some rear calipers pistons have to turn as they go into the caliper, thats when I will buy the right tool

I think reman calipers have come down in price, so combine that with the hassle of stocking/finding the individual pieces, and its not worth doing yourself.

 

[Visigoth]

I just had the same issue with my 2002 Explorer XLS. I was certain it was a bad brake pad based on ths sound so I changed them out on the front. Alas, the problem was still there. Mine would only act up on turns' and quiet down while driving straight. I took it to a trusted mechanic who assured me I was wrong and he was certain it was the passenger rear wheel bearings. 2 hours later, as well as 394.00, it was fixed. No noise and no fear of the wheel flying off at 100kmh.

 

[gsmaclean]

Not to mention the beating that last bit of fluid takes from the repeated heat cycles. Cant say ive cracked them open every time, but I can see why they recommend it.

I too use a giant C-Clamp, but the one I have is huge and ive never had troubles fitting it over any calipers. Some rear calipers pistons have to turn as they go into the caliper, thats when I will buy the right tool

I think reman calipers have come down in price, so combine that with the hassle of stocking/finding the individual pieces, and its not worth doing yourself.

I haven't had a car with rear pistons that had to be turned since my 1982 Datsun 200SX...but even then, they were easily turned by putting the ends of a pair of needlenose pliers in the holes and rotating. No special tool required.

I did buy a piston retractor tool some years back, and it is a lot easier than C-clamps, and it fits EVERY caliper. I see them on sale at Harbor Freight for $10 or so, well worth it.

 

[goatman]

I don't know, it might still be your wheel bearing.

This seems to be a front end problem, so this eliminates the problematic rear differential.

The two major problems on these trucks are wheel bearings and differentials. With those two eliminated, I don't know what else could be wrong.

Well the noise in rear of mine is at the point that something has to be done. In other vehicles I could feel the bad wheel bearing while turning the hub by hand. I'm not feeling what I think I should be if the bearing is bad. So I'm leaning toward the differential.

Am I on the right track??

 

[Pontisteve]

Goatman, since the rear cv axles are engaged in the hub at all times, I don't see how you can spin the wheel bearings and feel if they're bad, unless you have the knuckle off the vehicle. In mine, you could definitely feel the junk wheel bearing. I would listen for where the noise comes from, and do some swerving on a deserted highway. If the noise gets louder when swerving to the right, then the left side bearing is bad, and vise versa.

I saw the standard brake pad spreader tool at Advanced Auto for about $7. Seeing how easy that thing would work as opposed to a C-clamp, it's not worth it to not buy one. I bought the fancy Kinetic one on Ebay for about $40, but I'm pretty sure the $7 one would work just as well. The design is different in the $40 one, and I just liked it. I thought it might work better on 4 piston calipers.

It's true the wheel could come off, but it would also have to jerk the axle out of the hub to do it. But it has happened. I think I read an instance on carcomplaints.com, where the guy was traveling down the interstate with his family, when it happened. Bad story.

The rust at the end of the brake line that should be bled out is unlikely to get pushed back to the front of the car and the ABS unit. But the pressure would feed back, so that must be the culprit, if any, that causes the unit to fail. Whether that really happens or not, cracking the bleeder screw costs nothing!

Reman calipers cost $35+ at rock auto. The rebuild kit costs $3. Double that, and I think it's well worth replacing 2 seals to save the dough. But mostly, I want to do a clean and paint job on the calipers, which is the only reason I want to rebuild them. I hear that when you take them apart, the seals swell and cannot go back in unless they are new.

 

[Thelt]

Well the noise in rear of mine is at the point that something has to be done. In other vehicles I could feel the bad wheel bearing while turning the hub by hand. I'm not feeling what I think I should be if the bearing is bad. So I'm leaning toward the differential.

Am I on the right track??

It could be either one but the wheel bearings are known to go out on these pretty regularly.

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

You can still spin the rear wheels even while the ruck is in park if its an open differential.

And yes I read about that too a while back, where that guys wheel came off his truck while he was on the highway. I would think he would have had plenty of warning signs well before that happened to let him know the bearings were bad though.

 

[Pontisteve]

Yeah, I agree. Mine have been making noise for a year. I just thought it was tire noise, until the front one finally failed hard.

By the way, I finished my job up the other day and it's nice and quiet now, except a minor tire/rear end noise that doesn't change when swerving. It's probably pretty much a normal noise at this point though, and loads quieter than it was! What a mother it was to replace that rear wheel bearing though. Now that I know the pitfalls, I could do the job much much faster.

For the future bearing swappers, here's some advice: soak the pinch bolts with PB Blaster the day prior to the repair, remove the pinch nuts and bolts completely, smack the side of the control arm and the knuckle with a mini-sledge hammer to shock the parts apart, use a 1x1x10 wood block and a mini-sledge to knock the cv axle out of the rear end, and use the block from the front side of the rear end, and you'll probably have to use a 3" cutoff wheel to cut thru most of the bearing race in the knuckle. The bearings and inner race will pop out with a hammer and socket, but the outer race will have to be cut out, and then pressed out using a tapered press adapter, or an old tapered wheel bearing or something. Cut the race in two opposite sides, and it should shatter once you start using the press on it.

 

[goatman]

Goatman, since the rear cv axles are engaged in the hub at all times, I don't see how you can spin the wheel bearings and feel if they're bad, unless you have the knuckle off the vehicle. In mine, you could definitely feel the junk wheel bearing. I would listen for where the noise comes from, and do some swerving on a deserted highway. If the noise gets louder when swerving to the right, then the left side bearing is bad, and vise versa.

Well, It's a wheel bearing. After finding a stretch of road I could shift some weight on I have the passenger rear going. I had to lay into it pretty good to hear the noise change. I'm going to NAPA on Friday to get the bearing and to gather the tools I will need. Oh by the way... with those double sway bars, you can whip the Ex around pretty good.

 

[Hitchhikingmike]

Oh by the way... with those double sway bars, you can whip the Ex around pretty good.

Just be sure you switch off your Firestone tires for other ones before doing that.

 

[Pontisteve]

In my case, it didn't really take that much swerving to get the noise to be louder or quieter. Then again, it was making noise all the time, just louder when turning right and quieter when turning left. So it was probably a pretty advanced case of bearingitis.

Just as louder was a telltale sign, so was it getting quieter when I turned in the direction of the bad bearing side.

If it was a tire noise, I doubt it would really change much in volume as you swerve. Good luck getting the old bearing OD race out! It's a pita. Keep the removed bearing OD race, so you can use it to press in the new bearing.

When I examined the bad OD bearing, there was metal flaking off (sort of a pitting look) in some places. Reading up on bearings, it appears that is a sign of no lubrication or way too much load. Either way, since it's a sealed bearing, all faults still just pointed to a failed wheel bearing. FYI, I used a 35mm socket to remove the axle nut, and a 34mm socket to press in the new wheel hub.

If you want to buy just the bearing and not the whole hub assembly, you should be able to press the hub out, but then half of the bearing will still likely be stuck to the hub. This comes off in a press using a bearing separator. Instructions call for a new snap ring, but if you clean the old snap ring and groove carefully before removing the original snap ring, you could probably reuse it. I can't see how it really needs to be replaced unless you break it taking it out. By the way, the snap ring is tapered on one side. Tapered side up, when installing the new snap ring.

 

[goatman]

Well I have the knuckle off and I found a shop to press out the old and press on the new for $20. So I said heck with trying to beat it out. I'm about to go pick up the renewed piece.

 

[Pontisteve]

For whatever it's worth, I would do it the way I stated, because I have been told by a mechanic friend that he has broke the knuckle in a press before, by trying to press it out when it just didn't want to go.

In my case, I had a regular cheap 20 ton shop press that just uses a bottle jack as a ram. I simply couldn't pull the handle down hard enough to break it free, and I wasn't about to start beating the handle to add more pressure. There was already way too much pressure. Even after I cut through the outer race some on both sides, it still took a good bit of pressure from the press. Probably 95% max pressure. When it finally popped, I thought the press broke, it shook so hard!

Good shops might have much stronger hydraulic presses, but that just means they're more capable of breaking the knuckle too. I'll bet an experience machine shop would use some sort of trick like cutting the race too.

By the way, the inner race and the bearings pop right out, with just a socket and mini sledge or heavy hammer. It's only the outer race that don't cooperate. Let me know how it went!

 

[fordbluefamily]

It would be the exception to break the knuckle. It can be tricky to get a press set up right to put the force straight down on the bearing, get just a little off and it will want to bind up. Ive broken a drive shaft that way trying to get a stubborn bearing cup out. At my family's body shop we have a very nice press with an I beam support, and I still struggle to get things straight in it. Just when im going to give up on something, one of the elders will come over and just do it before my eyes without a hitch. A good machine shop should have good equipment and be able to press them in/out with no worries.
On that thought,I bet there really is money in a mail order knuckle exchange.

 

[Pontisteve]

Anything more than a slight angle on the knuckle, and you will be pressing that bearing at an angle, forcing it into the side of the knuckle instead of straight out the bottom. I noticed that when I positioned my knuckle in the press, there was one position that seemed to greatly eliminate the need for so much shimming. It was just a much simpler angle than some of the others I tried. Once I found that position, very little shimming with washers was needed.

Mail order knuckle exchange, with a cleaned and painted part and a new bearing already installed... neat idea!

 

[goatman]

Well y'all about scared the fool out of me with the talk about breaking the knuckle. However, no problems and the new bearing is in and all is back together.

 

[Pontisteve]

For future readers, I don't think breaking the knuckle is normal or easy to do. But it is possible, because there are ears sticking out of the main body, and they are at different depths and angles. This could put undue stress on any one part of the knuckle if you have it in a press, and don't try to make sure the knuckle is in a nice, flat, stable position. Don't be afraid, just be careful.

 

[JarheadK5]

Update

Well, now it's December and life got in the way of my plans to fix this in October.

Just ordered the new front wheelbearing assy, Ford part# 4L2Z-1104-AA, from an eBay seller. We shall see...

 

[stsmoker]

I have a similar noise/problem. It's been there since I bought the truck used with 43000 miles. But the noise is just as described EXCEPT when going straight, whether i turn left or right even the slightest the noise increases at least 50%. Seems to get somewhat louder when turning even sharper either way. The noise is considerably louder in the drivers seat, and i have a very bad vibration (very fast vibration, almost like a buzz, makes everything under the dash rattle) and the vibration also gets worse when turning. I dont think it would be the bearings due to the lower miles, but I'm not sure. Tried shaking the wheels and turning all 4 wheels to see if i could notice any syptom for bad bearings but nothing. Noise is the same in 4WD AUTO, 4WD HIGH, and 4WD Low...

can anyone shed any light on this problem, noise seems to be worsening

 

[gsmaclean]

I have a similar noise/problem. It's been there since I bought the truck used with 43000 miles. But the noise is just as described EXCEPT when going straight, whether i turn left or right even the slightest the noise increases at least 50%. Seems to get somewhat louder when turning even sharper either way. The noise is considerably louder in the drivers seat, and i have a very bad vibration (very fast vibration, almost like a buzz, makes everything under the dash rattle) and the vibration also gets worse when turning. I dont think it would be the bearings due to the lower miles, but I'm not sure. Tried shaking the wheels and turning all 4 wheels to see if i could notice any syptom for bad bearings but nothing. Noise is the same in 4WD AUTO, 4WD HIGH, and 4WD Low...

can anyone shed any light on this problem, noise seems to be worsening

Get ready to replace your front bearing hubs. 43,000 miles is low for front bearings, but not unheard of.