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Humming Noise Front End- Any Ideas?

98 EddieB

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98 Eddie Bauer
Have a 98- Eddie 4.0 SOHC, 4WD with a 100,000 mi. When driving it has a humming noise, it almost sounds like a bad tire, or a loud snow tire but tires looks good, no abnormal wear Michelin LTX's about 50,000 mi on them.
I start to hear the humming noise at 20 mph, it is very loud at 40 to 50 mph then much less noise at 60 mph. No vibration, no clunks or grinding, the CV boots look ok.

Can anyone suggest what this may be? All suggestions welcome, thanks.
 



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Have a 98- Eddie 4.0 SOHC, 4WD with a 100,000 mi. When driving it has a humming noise, it almost sounds like a bad tire, or a loud snow tire but tires looks good, no abnormal wear Michelin LTX's about 50,000 mi on them.
I start to hear the humming noise at 20 mph, it is very loud at 40 to 50 mph then much less noise at 60 mph. No vibration, no clunks or grinding, the CV boots look ok.

Can anyone suggest what this may be? All suggestions welcome, thanks.

Could be broken belts, or no gear oil in the front dif causing the noise on the axles.
 






Have a 98- Eddie 4.0 SOHC, 4WD with a 100,000 mi. When driving it has a humming noise, it almost sounds like a bad tire, or a loud snow tire but tires looks good, no abnormal wear Michelin LTX's about 50,000 mi on them.
I start to hear the humming noise at 20 mph, it is very loud at 40 to 50 mph then much less noise at 60 mph. No vibration, no clunks or grinding, the CV boots look ok.

Can anyone suggest what this may be? All suggestions welcome, thanks.

Check your wheel bearings.
 






Note on the wheel bearings: though they seem tight they may still have problems. Sometimes it is necessary to pull them completely out and turn them in your hand. If they are at all rough, time to replace it.
 






Rotate tires front to rear to see if there is any difference. If so, it's a tire problem.
 
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Rotate tires front to rear to see in there any difference. If so, it's a tire problem.

I would def. do that first. Doesn't hurt to check the diff. fluid & wheel bearings while it's up too.
 






If your front axle is engaged then is highly likely the axle bearing pack in the dif. Check around the yoke for play usually also a lot of oil leak there. You can pop the fill plug and check the fuild level with you itty bitty finger. If you can't touch fluid top up the dif with dif fuild (owner manual lists what it uses but something like 80W90)
 






Does the noise get louder when you accelerate? If so it could be the alternator.
 






Thanks to all for the suggestions. I checked the bearing hub and it was the source of the noise. I had to remove it off the steering knuckle and turn it off vehicle to determine that it needed replacement, could not detect a problem with it on the vehicle by turning the wheel, no play either just a rough feel when turning it. Now in the process of replacing it.
 






good work. please be sure to tighten the caliper bolts down very tight, and use some locktite. there have been a few peeps where theirs has fallen off
 






I was just posting to suggest wheel bearings as well before I caught that last post that said you tracked them down to be the culprit. When mine went bad, it sounded like a Jet running down the runway while I was driving down the street, haha. While you are in there, I'm not sure how the newer Explorer bearings function but if there are bearing seals be SURE to replace them as well. No sense in replacing a bearing just for it to get all dirty and gunky again prematurely.
 






Yes, applied Locktite Blue on caliper bolts, hub bolts and the axle nut, all were torqued to the suggested spec ft. lb.
I bought the hub from the local NAPA dealer...I noticed when I got it at home that it was made in China! Hub came with a 2 year warranty...we'll see how long it lasts.
Thanks again Explorer forum.
 






I am posting here to help anyone who comes to this thread now..
I have 2006 Ford Explorer 100k mi it has been making this loud growling/humming noise for about a year.. The noise had gotten progressively louder over the year..
I read this thread and many other forums as to the cause. Mine would get louder if i turned left, loading the passenger side with pressure and would go away completely when turning to the right, loading pressure on the drivers side.
I rotated the tires no change... I changed passenger side wheel hub assembly. no change.. I changed the drivers side wheel hub assembly and whala...

NOISE GONE !!!!!!!

Thx

PS anyone with marginal mechanic ability should be able to change those out..
It's a total of 7 bolts on each side....
 






The few bolts are a piece of cake, it's that one NUT that's a real bugger . . .

When I did mine it took 2.5 hours for the first side from tire off the ground to tire on the ground. About 45 minutes for the second side. Not bad for a 55 year old guy who works on computers and spends way too much time in front of the TV. Ford wanted to charge me over $600 per side!
 






The few bolts are a piece of cake, it's that one NUT that's a real bugger . . .

When I did mine it took 2.5 hours for the first side from tire off the ground to tire on the ground. About 45 minutes for the second side. Not bad for a 55 year old guy who works on computers and spends way too much time in front of the TV. Ford wanted to charge me over $600 per side!

I paid a shop to swap out a bearing for me when my normal mechanic was busy and they misthreaded the axle nut, so a few months later when I had my guy change out my lower ball joints he had to sawzall the nut off.
 






Those nuts are single use, you shouldn't reuse them anyway...
 






My son has a '94 Mirage, it had a noisy bearing.
It was the weekend so I flushed the bearing with Inox, a good quality spray lubricant/penetrant, then squished some grease into the bearing.

That shut it right up. It was supposed to be temporary until the parts were ordered but it's working so well he left it like that. So far.

I know, different vehicle etc.. the Mirage has a smaller bearing than the Explorer.
I guess he was lucky that the actual bearing mustn't have been damaged, just dry.
 






I am posting here to help anyone who comes to this thread now..
I have 2006 Ford Explorer 100k mi it has been making this loud growling/humming noise for about a year.. The noise had gotten progressively louder over the year..
I read this thread and many other forums as to the cause. Mine would get louder if i turned left, loading the passenger side with pressure and would go away completely when turning to the right, loading pressure on the drivers side.
I rotated the tires no change... I changed passenger side wheel hub assembly. no change.. I changed the drivers side wheel hub assembly and whala...

NOISE GONE !!!!!!!

Thx

PS anyone with marginal mechanic ability should be able to change those out..
It's a total of 7 bolts on each side....

I would have expected, based on your description, that replacing the passenger side wheel hub would have fixed things. By turning left and putting load on the passenger side making the noise louder, I figured that would've been the bad hub, but it was the driver's side?
 






Hello all. I am wondering if I have a bearing problem or something else.

I have a noise seemingly coming from the passenger front that is kinda like a whirring. It's continuous and doesn't change if you turn in one direction or the other. In my limited understanding is that bearings will make different noises when you turn. I pulled the tire and swapped the front ones. It's hard to turn the hub when the tire is off to really see where a noise is coming from.

Anything else to look at with this one? As a last resort I'll have to do the $100 test of getting a new one.

Thanks,
Scott
 



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Replace the right front hub and all better.
 






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