Grinding while driving.

[Blacksheep Josh]

Okay, let me try to explain the sound...

Imagine you have a rotor, that has high spots and low spots... and you had the brake pad which rubs it, but rubs it harder in the high spots, kinda like a whirring sound.

Only problem is, it's not the brake pads or rotors.

This is what I've done so far:

New Rotors
New Pads
New Bearings (inner and outer)
New Seals

I don't know what's causing it, the transmission is a few years old, I haven't called my mechanic yet, any ideas y'all?

This is happening on a 1993 Ford Explorer XLT 2WD Stock Suspension.

I've searched but am not coming up with any answers.

Thanks.

 

[Blacksheep Josh]

Oh, and i'll answer this question all ready.

i'll try to get some form of sound clips up later this week, not sure how i could do it though.

 

[Tbars4]

...when does it make the sound??? what speeds??? does it ever go away??? is it at a wheel??? have you checked your u-joints???

 

[DevDog]

I used to have noise while turning at high speeds, but that was gone after i changed the rotors and the bearings.

Oh wait, the worst grinding noise that I heard was the compressor pump. It worked ok but it was crazy loud. Try turning on and off the defrost or ac, if that changes the pitch that is your deal. (just a guess from a non-car guy)

 

[Blacksheep Josh]

it's not the compressor. it's not even hooked up, no belt on it either.

now i'm wondering if it's maybe another pump? like water or oil?

 

[Spdrcer34]

Does the noise change with Engine Speed (P or N, reving it)

-or-

Does the noise change with Vehicle Speed (louder @ 40mph vs. 15mph)

If it changes with motor speed, it is motor related, like a pump, or a pulley. I would check the Idler, and tensioner pulley bearings.

If it only changes with vehicle speed, I would check U-joints, speedo cables including the Cruise Control one, and the speedo drive gear.

Another way to diagnose it, is to jack the car up in all 4 corners, and put it in drive, see if the problem replicates itself in the air, with no load on the components.


Ryan

 

[YourNameHere]

It's not a hub, is it?

 

[DeRocha]

It's not a hub, is it?

No.. blacksheep josh indicated he is driving a 2wd explorer (No hubs).

 

[YourNameHere]

How about the dust shield behind the rotor? Fords tend to rot out and scrape the rotor.

 

[Blacksheep Josh]

I'll try the lift idea, I took the car to my mechanic, and he tightened up my wheel bearings and some of it subsided, he also found that my lower ball joint had some play in it. he's thinking it might be a combination of the ball joint play, and the fact that the tire on that corner is weared down WAY unevenly (almost bald on the inside, good on the outside), it might be relayed noise... i'm going to fix that, and go from there.

 

[Tbars4]

...thanks for the update...

...currently i am swapping out my spindle bearings on my 91 4x4...

 

[Blacksheep Josh]

haven't had any time with the holidays to get in there and change anything, i'm gonna take the wheels off, and take the brake dust covers off, and then drive around the block.. i mean, it's simple, and if that's what it is, time to get a hammer out and hammer it back some.

plus i can swap the tires... keep a fresh one on instead of wearing down just one... for now at least

 

[smtcapecod]

My truck has suddenly turned into a cacophony of noises...intermittent popping, banging, gridning. Attributing the first two to ball joints and RABs, respectively. Grinding I thought was hubs. WHile I was driving home this morning, though, the grinding got louder and then I felt something 'adjust' in the right front. The tire must have pivoted inward, because I had to crank the wheel a quarter turn or so to avoid darting into the left lane. It became less severe pretty quickly. I checked visually for any catastrophic failures, then nursed it the few hundred yards remaining to home. Grinding actually got less pronounced. My current theory is that the wheel bearing popped a roller, or was so loose that it slipped. Unless a tie rod is loose, but I didn't see any indication of that. Got so much work pending now, it's parked 'til the weather gets a little better and the working surface (lawn/drive) dries out.

 

[Blacksheep Josh]

My truck has suddenly turned into a cacophony of noises...intermittent popping, banging, gridning. Attributing the first two to ball joints and RABs, respectively. Grinding I thought was hubs. WHile I was driving home this morning, though, the grinding got louder and then I felt something 'adjust' in the right front. The tire must have pivoted inward, because I had to crank the wheel a quarter turn or so to avoid darting into the left lane. It became less severe pretty quickly. I checked visually for any catastrophic failures, then nursed it the few hundred yards remaining to home. Grinding actually got less pronounced. My current theory is that the wheel bearing popped a roller, or was so loose that it slipped. Unless a tie rod is loose, but I didn't see any indication of that. Got so much work pending now, it's parked 'til the weather gets a little better and the working surface (lawn/drive) dries out.

Yes, my brake pads just wore down again, because I'm getting the "rotor grind" now when I stop... but the thing that's blowing my mind is I replaced them back in September... they weren't the cheapo cheapos, but they weren't the best ones, I think I'm just gonna bite the bullet and get some Duralast... as for my other sounds, I've been told a bunch of things, from shocks to struts (do we have those?) to engine mounts, it's crazy. But hopefully before Summer I'm going to tear into the ball joints on both sides, redo the bearings to...

All in all, should be another learning experience...

btw ryan, instead of jacking up the truck, i just went down our neighborhood hill in neutral, sound was still there, revved the engine in park, no sound. has to be something on the spindle.

 

[Rosscup]

have you checked your wheel bearings? or greased them?

 

[Blacksheep Josh]

read post number 10...