What in the world is this noise!!!!!!!

[EMK]

I thought I had a wheel bearing bad, which corner? I don't know. I lifted all four and gripped the tires and nothing moved. I spun them and couldn't hear anything.

My symptom is: As I pick up speed I start to hear a hum, starting around 30 MPH, and it gets louder up to around 60. If I turn the wheel to the right, no change. Turn the wheel to the left it gets louder. This is why I'm thinking wheel bearing. Only thing is, if you turn to the left and hear it it should be the right bearing. The sound to me is coming from the left front. But sound travels a lot and to help things more, I'm hard of hearing.

I rotated my tires and aired them up to 40 PSI. They were all down to around 30-32 PSI. I have the 17 in. Bridgestone duelers and thought it just might be tire noise. Doing that seemed to quiet it down a little but it still is there.

My neighbor came over and we used a stethoscope and listened to all four wheels again and they all sounded pretty good to me. I don't want to shell out 200 bucks and figure out it wasn;t that wheel.

Is there ANYTHING else that could cause this sound?

 

[Asmegin]

Don't know about the noise, but you should inflate the tires to the proper amount as written on the driver's door sticker.

I believe it's 30PSI front, 35PSI rear.

 

[stuartr]

Lots of times the wheel bearing won't make a noise unless it has the weight and the force of the curve on it. It will be fine till all that force is on it. Doing it on a left hand turn sounds like a passenger side bearing but those sounds can be wierd and hard to pinpoint. Seems like it travels in the car don't it?!

STU

 

[EMK]

Don't know about the noise, but you should inflate the tires to the proper amount as written on the driver's door sticker.

I believe it's 30PSI front, 35PSI rear.

Thats for the factory tires that came on it.

Lots of times the wheel bearing won't make a noise unless it has the weight and the force of the curve on it. It will be fine till all that force is on it. Doing it on a left hand turn sounds like a passenger side bearing but those sounds can be wierd and hard to pinpoint. Seems like it travels in the car don't it?!

STU

Its crazy, everyone who gets in says its somewhere else.

 

[rlidinsnky]

Did you figure out what the sound is? I have the SAME noise and it sounds like the left front. Gets worse when you steer/turn right. I thought it was tire noise and rotated the tires, but it is still there! I'm at 80k miles. Is it the bearings?

 

[therealblinky]

maybe the rear diff?

 

[thepotroast]

How many miles does the truck have? Bearings go bad pretty much at the 100k mark, rear diff noise starts poking its notoriously common whine sound around the 60k mark.

I think you have rear diff whine, especially considering the sound is only present within that 30-60MPH range. It's extremely common on these trucks, and yes sound does travel and can be deceiving.

My rear diff was already all rebuilt at 60k miles from Ford, and now and the rear diff noise came back again at the 100k mark. I'm at 134k right now, sound is still there, and I'm not shelling out cash for it to be rebuilt...it's not a ticking time bomb, just more of an inconvenience that you just "have to get used to" which is unfortunate.

Ford owned up to the fact that in these trucks, they used inferior parts in the rear diff from a 3rd party vendor that manufactured the gears on worn equipment. The whine comes from the mesh and groove not being correct...the ring and pinion do not mesh as they should, and quickly wear...causing the whine. There is a TSB on this, and more threads than I care to link...but just do a search on "rear diff" or just "whine" and you will see a lot of redundant posts, that this will likely be added to.

 

[EMK]

Wife took it to her brothers shop today. He put it on the lift and listened to each of them, and it is the left front and right rear thats bad so I'm in the process as I write this of taking the front apart.

I'm searching for the thread that showed the wrench that was used to take the three rear bolts out.

 

[miker104]

This one:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=194002&highlight=bearings

13 & 15 mm deep offset wrench from Sears

 

[thepotroast]

This one:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=194002&highlight=bearings

13 & 15 mm deep offset wrench from Sears

That looks like a familiar picture! Oh wait, I posted it :

So if it's the rears that are bad, explain why you're undoing the fronts again?

 

[miker104]

Potroast,

I posted a link to your great thread first! Just thought the photo might make it easier to see that yours was the thread he was probably looking for.

Thanks for another wonderful thread on DIY for jobs that some may not tackle (like me) but once they see it done are willing to give it a try.

Thanks again

 

[miker104]

So if it's the rears that are bad, explain why you're undoing the fronts again?

Think he means the rear bolts on the front hubs

 

[EMK]

and it is the left front and right rear thats bad

I have a front and rear bad.

Since I last posted at 5:17 pm I have went to Autozone and picked up the hub and some PB blaster at $147. and change stopped at Sears and picked up a 13 X 15 mm wrench at $15.89. And completed the front replacement. Actually I finished cleaning up my tools at 5min. of 8pm. Not a bad job at all.

Took it for a ride and it sounds great. I can now hear the light hum of the right rear, which I will do tomorrow.

I could not feel or hear the bearing at the wheel, but after pulling it and feeling it in my hand...WOW!!!! that thing was really bad.


Front wheel bearing hub total $163.39 and roughly 2 hours labor. I think I saved myself a huge chunk of change.

 

[miker104]

Hub from Auto Zone?

 

[EMK]

Yes sir

 

[miker104]

Any idea where it was made? I probably will need two soon and dealer price is high, but wondering about the az part quality.

 

[EMK]

Their Duralast brand, Made in China. The Timken and SKF brands were double and more the price.

I have ended up using bearing of all makes at work and never really had an issue with some from china. And these are running anywhere from 1500 to 5000rpm's for an 8 hour stretch. So I figure I try them out.

If they fail somewhat fast I will let everyone know, and never make that mistake again.

 

[thepotroast]

Perhaps you've already prepared for it, but the rears have to be pressed in. Not sure if you're replacing the hub and bearing in the rear, or just the bearing and re-using the old hub, but either way, you need to have it machine pressed.

 

[EMK]

I'm doing a search right now as to how the whole process goes.

I figure I'll just take it into work and press it out and in.

Is it a better idea to replace the entire hub or just the bearing?

Is it easier than the front?

 

[miker104]

Rear is a bit more difficult:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=251915&highlight=rear+hub

I would change the hub, bearing and seals.