HELP! Strange sound in front end!

[808Born]

Hi! I have a 2wd 2005 Ford Explorer and it has been making a loud thumping sound in the front end. It starts off slow and picks up with the speed you are going. The sounds seems to go away slightly when pulling the wheel to the right and louder to the left.

We've already rotated the tires - they don't show any sign of separation. We also changed the front driver's side wheel bearing hub assembly and the noise never went away. It sounds as if it's coming from the drivers side. We tested the calipers and they are not binding.. also drove it down the road and dropped it into neutral to test the universals, but the noise still remains.

Anyone experience this? The next thing we were going to check was wheel alignment, but if we can avoid the shop... that would be great!

Any suggestions????

 

[tgreene92]

bad wheel bearings do not make a thump, but wheel bearing noises usually stop when the wheel is turned to the left or right pending on which side is bad. is it thumping all the time or only when you hit some sort of a bump?

 

[SeanEXP]

my first guess was wheel bearings but since you just replace them.......ummmm u might want to try the alignment..they are not expensive and..if that don't work i would just spend a few bucks and make a mechanic tell u what it is...u can always fix it yourself after the diagnosis ..trial and error after a while can get expensive

"i doubted myself with the ball joints and changed my response...i guess tgreene92 would agree with me...

 

[tgreene92]

my first guess was wheel bearings but since you just replace them.......ummmm u might want to try the alignment..they are not expensive and..if that don't work i would just spend a few bucks and make a mechanic tell u what it is.....trial and error after a while can get expensive

yea, definitely check upper and lower ball joints.

 

[808Born]

@tgreene92 - yes, it makes the noise continuously and it gets faster with speed.

 

[808Born]

You know... it's kinda hard to explain... not a hard thumping, like a spinning hum noise that gets louder with speed.

 

[tgreene92]

sounds like a pinion seal or wheeling bearing. drive around for 10 mins or so carefully, then pop off the lug covers and feel the area around the lug nuts if its hot or hotter on one side than the other odds are its a wheel bearing.

 

[Bottom Line]

How do you test the ball joints?

 

[808Born]

We did do the test feeling the hub area... no heat. I'm with bottom line... how do you test the ball joints?

 

[BigRondo]

You said you changed the driver's side wheel bearing/hub assembly. My guess is that it's the passenger side wheel bearing/hub assembly since the noise gets louder when turning one way and goes away when turning the other. Just my $.02

 

[tgreene92]

the first test for ball joints is the obvious visual inspection, the second is to jack the vehicle up and place it securely on jackstands. then grab the top and bottom of the tire on the suspected side and push on the top of the tire and pull on the bottom, vice versa. then take a prybar, crowbar, etc.. and pry up on the bottom of the tire with the other end of the pry bar on the ground. if there is any play in either of the tests you have a bad ball joint.

 

[808Born]

Thank you all for your help! I ended up taking it to a shop only for them to tell me that it was indeed the passenger side wheel bearing. They were nice enough not to charge me for the diagnosis, and I took it home and we did it ourselves!

Now.... there is one more thing that didn't go away. There is a loud click noise coming from what sounds like the rear everytime you slow down to about 15mph and below...

Suggestions? I've thought of the e-brake pads... just haven't had time to look for them....