Odd noise from hub

[brysawn]

Hi, I'm posting this for a friend so we can get her car fixed quickly. First, she has a '92 Explorer with a 4" lift (I think), and 33" wildcats.

She was driving it the other day when all of the sudden it started to make a weird grinding noise, the wheel started vibrating, and it pulled a bit to the passenger side. The grinding noise it the biggest of my concerns.

It's currently in our university's parking lot, so we don't have access to a lot of items to tear it apart, so I'm wondering if this has happened to anyone here, and what it could be?

I'm assuming it could be a bad cv axle, or hub. Any thoughts?

 

[FIND]

Bad wheel bearing or brake problems. You will need to take the wheel off and inspect it. First test, jack that side up, see if the wheel moves when you apply pressure back and forth at the 12:00 and 6:00 positions.

1st gen explorers do not use CV axles. Furthermore, the axle on a first gen should not turn unless the hubs are locked.

 

[brysawn]

Sorry, I don't know too much about explorers. I guess I assumed it was the passenger front drive axle(?). But with the wheel on, I looked at the brakes, and pads and they didn't very bad. The pads weren't rubbing, the rotors are fairly new (as are the pads) so I didn't think it was the brakes. But I did notice the passenger side rotor was way hotter than the drivers, which would lead me to believe it could be the brakes. Hmm...

 

[DeRocha]

Jack the tire off the ground and push pull the tire with hands at 9 and 3 o'clock. The wheel should be rock solid and not have any movement. Hands at 12 and 6 are used to check for ball joint looseness, but wheel bearing looseness and or something hung up in your brake caliper would be your best bets..

Unless you engaged 4x4 or locked the hubs the whole front drive system (drive shaft, diff, and left/right axles) wouldn't come into play (ie rotate) at all.

 

[brysawn]

No, it was never put into 4wd. So I guess I can rule out the axle. The issue here would be between a wheel bearing, or a ball joint? How can I tell if the issue is a wheel bearing vs a ball joint?

How difficult is it to replace a wheel bearing? I imagine you need to pull the hub off, but is a press needed for the bearings?

 

[KPSquared]

If the rotor is way hotter on the one side, chances are it's that wheel bearing. You need a few tools and some basic knowledge to change a wheel bearing. No press needed...

Just search for "wheel bearing change" or something like that on here and all will be revealed.

A ball joint is a little more involved. Not a job for a parking lot...then again neither is a wheel bearing...

 

[brysawn]

Cool, thanks for the information

 

[FIND]

side to side (9 and 3 o'clock) is to check tie-rods. Wheel bearings will yield an in and out movement and should be able to rock in nearly any position. Ball joints should yield and up and down movement and sometimes a rocking in the 12 and 6 position.

I suggested what I did as a baseline to start at for collecting information.

OP, like the other guy said, a hot rotor with no apparent brake problems would suggest wheel bearing damage. There are two bearings on each side, both are the same bearing, an inner and an outer.

 

[brysawn]

What would be causing the grinding noise? I generally thought that a bad bearing made a howling noise?

Also, if it is a wheel bearing issue, isn't that something Les Schwab will do for cheap? For the amount of labor, and the cost of a bearing kit, I can't see why it would cost too much.

 

[DeRocha]

What would be causing the grinding noise? I generally thought that a bad bearing made a howling noise?

Also, if it is a wheel bearing issue, isn't that something Les Schwab will do for cheap? For the amount of labor, and the cost of a bearing kit, I can't see why it would cost too much.

Its definitely not your ball joints as a constant grinding noise is associated with rotational motion. (wheel bearings or brakes). If your wheel bearings get bad they can start to fall apart within the race and grind. If it gets beyond bad the race can fuse to the spindle and dramatically add to the repair cost. I worked on an explorer a few weeks ago where the pad wore to the point it slipped off the caliper and was wedged between it and the rotor.. (how someone drives it to that point is beyond me. . )

Cheap is relative. I don't know the official book time, but wouldn't be surprised if its a few hours..

 

[brysawn]

So the noise was a couple different things. The main one definitely being the passenger outer wheel bearing, the top cap of the bearing had broken apart and all the scraps were rolling around in the hub. And along with that, the brake pads had very little pad left over with, causing a very loud grinding noise.

So we took it to Les Schwab and they said that she needed new bearings, pads, and rotors. I knew it needed bearings and pads, and the rotors were pretty low, so I figured they might as well do it while they are in there.

But we got a call later on saying that it needed a new "spindle", and that they would have to contact Ford to figure out how to get it. Is this a common part to break, are there easier/less expensive ways to get it (rather than through Ford/Les Schwab)? Or are they just trying to pull the wool over our eyes and get us to spend our money?

And if I didn't previously mention it, this is regarding the front hub set-up on a 92 4wd explorer.

 

[DeRocha]

As I mentioned in my post if your wheel bearings fall apart they can easily fubar the spindle. The surface should be smooth without any scratches, pits etc.. The cheapest fix is to go to a bone yard and pull one off a junked 1st gen 4x4.