Front end growling bad and shaking!

[That1guy12345]

The explorer is a 97 with the awd 4x4 4L system. Moving its growling really bad at any speed. The noise will stop for a second if you gas it had and let off real quick. Doesnt change with turning or anything. It also shakes you bad when above 30mph. You can see the tire bouncing upfront.

It has had two new front hubs all new ball joints. I think it might be a bearing. I leaked all of the gear oil out without us knowing and was driving like that for awhile before we noticed. Any ideas? Thanks so much

 

[rhauf]

If it ran without oil it's likely that the front dif is damaged (ring/pinion gears and bearings)

of course the wheel bearings could be a possibility as well.. i'd start by putting it up on jack stands and rotate the wheels by hand and see how they feel.

 

[SmoothJimmy]

From where did the front axle lube leak out?

Possibly you lost a balancing weight on a wheel? Look at the wheel for a discolored spot where the balance weight might have been.

 

[Mbrooks420]

Firstly you don't have AWD. You have automatic 4wd, an entirely different system. If you have new front hubs the bearings have already been replaced. I would suspect the front diff, especially if ran dry, or a failed CV shaft between the diff and the hub.

 

[That1guy12345]

The cover is leaking. It sound like its coming from the divers side. Its not near as loud in the passenger seat.

The shaking started out as a side to side wobble. The tires are kinda screwed up so they may something to do with it. We are sticking it on a lift today to let it run in gear to try to find it.

 

[SmoothJimmy]

yeah, leaking at the cover could allow it to run dry, unfortunately. And you are correct that it could be bearings, as there are bearings that support the axle shafts that want gear oil, not to mention pinion bearings, etc ,etc.

How do you know ALL the gear oil was gone? The finger in the fillhole method?

If just some of the lube leaked out, the pinion/ring and it's bearings may have been saved, but the bearings at the end of the axle tubes that support the axle shafts may have run dry since the axle tubes on the Dana 35 IFS are 'higher up'

As MBrooks commented, could be the CV axles (halfshafts). Check for tears in the flexible rubber boots. Boots tear and grease leaks out/dirt leaks in and bye-bye CV, hello noise/vibration.

Do what rhauf recommended first tho. Jackstand the entire front end and rotate a wheel. Should rotate smoothly with a tiny bit of backlash.

 

[That1guy12345]

We took the plug out and put two bottle in it and it still wasnt coming out of the fill hole.

We just redid the boots on the passenger side and filled them up. Last we checked the drivers were good.

Ok question. How hard is the bearings to replace in the axle? MY buddy and I just replaced the spider gears in his dana 35 in the rear of his jeep. He is a heavy equipment mechanic. So we have the tools.

A friend is a ford mechanic at a dealer and he said if we were careful enough with the shims we wouldnt have to reset up the gears.

 

[That1guy12345]

Okay so it turns out the drivers tire has a bad belt in it. The noise seems to be coming from the bearing on the passengers side of the axle where the cv enter the housing.

How do you replace that?

 

[SmoothJimmy]

According to the Ford service manual, they pull the seal then use an inner race puller with a slide hammer to pull the needle bearing.

I have not replaced those bearings myself, but surely others have and can chime in. Before I replace bearings, I'd check the condition of the bearing and the halfshaft race that mates with the bearing.

Also check the inner race on the long axle shaft that mates with the halfshaft (may come out connected to the halfshaft) and extends into the 'pumpkin'

were it me, I'd remove the Dana 35, pop the cover and perform a thorough inspection. Once the halfshafts are out and the front driveshaft removed, it's only 3x 15mm nuts turned from the rear (no need to grip the front of the bolts since they have retainers built in). Do place a jack under it first as it weighs upwards of 50 lbs Seal that cover up with a bead of RTV red too!

 

[jremington59]

It sounds to me like a wheel bearing. If it's grinding and the tire is moving side to side why would you even be driving it? Jack it up, and move the tire in and out and see if there's any play. It's that easy to check a bearing, especially when it sounds like it's got to this point.

If that's not the problem then check the cv's

 

[That1guy12345]

It sounds to me like a wheel bearing. If it's grinding and the tire is moving side to side why would you even be driving it? Jack it up, and move the tire in and out and see if there's any play. It's that easy to check a bearing, especially when it sounds like it's got to this point.

If that's not the problem then check the cv's

Well both wheel bearing are less than a year old and the cv's are good. The wobble and shaking was from a bad belt on the front tire. I think most of the howling is from the bad tire as well.