99 automatic w/ some type of grinding sound.....

[frenchy chan]

i have a 99 flex fuel ranger automatic with 76K
we bought it used last year, but i think it sat for a while....

recently we've noticed some type of "grinding"?? noise
the best way for me to describe the sound is...like when you are driving on older, rougher pavement and then you suddenly get to nicely new paved road...but the issue is that i never changed pavement types.
i also do not think it is tire noise because it isn't constant. my boyfriend got under the truck and made sure nothing was loose and the brakes are not catching.
i don't know if it may be a transmission problem. my boyfriend thinks that we are starting to have issues with the transmission....not shifting right, etc

it is driving us nuts....if anyone has any thoughts, that would be great. we'd like to fix it ourselves

 

[bigcountry]

thats awesome to hear that u and ur bf are willing to fix the truck togther i wish my gf would be that willing hahahahaha. on a more serious not i would start by changing trans fluid and filter and checking the pan for debris. if you dont have any debris in the pan. as for the brakes not catching check out the wheel cylinders in the rear durms and the rear shoes might need to be replaced and it could be as simple as adjusting the drums and or you might have air in the lines and bleeding the brakes might be a good step to make sure its not that. when you change the trans fluid use lucas trans treatment and that should help with the shifting. and after all that and you still have the noise change the rear diff fluid and check for metal shavings. hope that helps narrow it down

 

[frenchy chan]

we already checked the transmission fluid and added the lucas stuff....it seems to shift better than it did, but we still have that weird noise

 

[bigcountry]

have yall done anything with the brakes yet?

 

[graff104]

Does it occur in park at any rpms? Or only while moving? You can usually feel an automatic shift from one gear to the next. Pay attention to what gear it is count each time it shifts. You might have a bad gear I would give the brakes a good look over. Also one more question. Does it seem to come from a certain area on the truck?

 

[frenchy chan]

we broke down and took it to the dealer. it was our wheel bearings....we had just replaced them, but apparently they were the cheap ones. we had bought the better kind at napa for $200, but the quote at the dealer was like $250 to replace them, so we decided to just have them do it. that way we don't get dirty and bust our knuckles

 

[fourwheelford]

Its cool you two work together on your rig I can't get my girl interested in it at all Changing the wheel bearing is actually really easy if you have a jack and basic sockets and wrenches and takes about an hour per wheel if you take the time to clean everything really well, glad to hear you got it figured out

 

[Will]

An hour per wheel? Are you reading poetry to the spindles?

It wasn't the cheap bearings. It was the setup. I use the cheap bearings.

It's like my wife's grandpa used to say before he went on to his reward: you plant a $1 tree in a $10 hole and it lives. You plant a $10 tree in a $1 hole and it dies.

 

[fourwheelford]

When I did mine the first time I spent more time cleaning out bearing dust and dirt than the time it took to take everything apart, plus i did the brakes while I was at it and the passanger caliper was seized on one side so I had to clean that and grease it also.