growling noise in front end 99 explorer

[ksvtwin]

I have a 99 explorer 4 x 4 256,000 miles on it. lately I have gotten a growling noise in the front end. is not noticeable until about 45 to 50 mph. when you swerve hard to the right, the noise goes away. when you are straight or turning left, the noise is there. thought for sure it was the RF hub. I replaced that and the noise remained. tore it back down, replaced the CV shaft. still same noise. the hub and CV shaft on the LF have less than 20,000 on them too. what in the world is left to try ? a bearing in the differential? a rear bearing that is fooling me ? appreciate your help

 

[koda2000]

I have a 99 explorer 4 x 4 256,000 miles on it. lately I have gotten a growling noise in the front end. is not noticeable until about 45 to 50 mph. when you swerve hard to the right, the noise goes away. when you are straight or turning left, the noise is there. thought for sure it was the RF hub. I replaced that and the noise remained. tore it back down, replaced the CV shaft. still same noise. the hub and CV shaft on the LF have less than 20,000 on them too. what in the world is left to try ? a bearing in the differential? a rear bearing that is fooling me ? appreciate your help

With the number of miles you have on your truck, diff gears or bearings are suspect. It could be the spider gears are worn out (about $125 from RA), but as you've replaced the hub bearings it's something inside the diff. Might also be a carrier bearing. Only way to know is to take the cover off, clean everything up with parts cleaner and see what you find. Spider gears are pretty easy to change, but the carrier bearings are harder and if not done properly can leave you with a howling diff.

 

[ksvtwin]

yes I have a tendency to agree with you. I did change the oil and took good care of the diff but things do wear out. only thing that I find odd is that the noise goes away when steering hard to the right at highway speed. I would have though that the wheels would not transfer any load to the center differential. I figured the cv shafts would buffer all of that. but I'm not certain

 

[Mike65]

I would check the front hub & bearing assembly's. Our last 99 Sport had a similar noise & we replace the hub & bearing assembly & the noise went away.