Front Hub issue?

[JMBRaven83]

I have a 97 XL handed down to me by my father who bought it brand new back in the day. It is only a V6 2WD and it recently ran over 244,000 miles. The other day I noticed that while I was driving it there was grinding noise and vibration coming from the front driver's side. It seems to go away when I turn left and it gets a little worse as I speed up. I've been doing some research since I'm not a mechanic by any means (although I'm no stranger to working on stuff) and it seems to me that passenger side front hub is gone bad. Is there any way to know for sure before I tackle this problem? Thanks!

 

[imp]

I have a 97 XL handed down to me by my father who bought it brand new back in the day. It is only a V6 2WD and it recently ran over 244,000 miles. The other day I noticed that while I was driving it there was grinding noise and vibration coming from the front driver's side. It seems to go away when I turn left and it gets a little worse as I speed up. I've been doing some research since I'm not a mechanic by any means (although I'm no stranger to working on stuff) and it seems to me that passenger side front hub is gone bad. Is there any way to know for sure before I tackle this problem? Thanks!

2WD front hub is exactly the same as just about any automotive front wheel hub- 2 tapered roller bearings and an adjusting nut to properly assemble and hold them in the hub. You may have done bearings like these before. Pull it apart and clean and inspect them, after manually turning the wheel, checking for roughness, and checking for "play" by grasping the tire/wheel ass'y at top and bottom and pulling in and out. imp

 

[James909]

What imp said is good advice. I would just like to add that it sounds like it is more likely the driver's side wheel bearing that is going bad. A left turn unloads the driver's side and loads the passenger side. Since a left turn makes the noise go away that side is the more likely culprit.

 

[imp]

....... I would just like to add that it sounds like it is more likely the driver's side wheel bearing that is going bad. A left turn unloads the driver's side and loads the passenger side. Since a left turn makes the noise go away that side is the more likely culprit.

This is a good point, and I thank you for making it! A way to visualize this is that while turning left, the vehicle tries to "roll over" onto it's right side, thereby removing the weight from the wheels on the left hand (driver's) side. imp