• Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and Register for our forum. Even if you don't want to post, you can still 'Like' and react to posts.

noises coming from front axle area'ish


baxtej44

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2009
Messages
1,794
City
Omaha, Nebraska
Vehicle Year
1988
Transmission
Automatic
well, i would post this in a different forum, but idk what the actual problem is, so i guess i'll start here.

88 ranger xlt
2.9L
4x4
bone stock replacement parts

okay well there's two different noises that have been going on.


1) squeaking from pretty far right, possibly tire or a bearing or something? it's repetitive, like it would be with it being on the axle, and it's pretty audible. pretty sure it completely stops once i push on the brake pedal

2) almost directly below my seat, might be a little bit more towards the middle by a bit. it's a clunking. repetitive, just like the other sound. and this one may happen a little bit all the time, but gets really loud when i'm about 20-40% pushing on the brake. this one is the noise that worries me the most. it's very audible, and even tangible (i can feel it when it gets louder, very much so)


not any other info as of right now.
thanks in advance for the help
 
the squeek sounds like it might be the warning tab on the brake pads telling you they need to be replaced and the clunk or thump under your feet it most likely the trailing arm bushing. they go bad and get loose and clunk.
 
the squeek sounds like it might be the warning tab on the brake pads telling you they need to be replaced and the clunk or thump under your feet it most likely the trailing arm bushing. they go bad and get loose and clunk.

the pads are just under like a year and a half old... they should be lasting longer than this shouldn't they? and no, it's not a pad sounding noise. cuz they squeak every once and a while, and it's not the same.

is the trailing arm the technical term? sorry i am just trying to get to know parts, i'm not auto savvy at all really lol.
 
trailing arm is the part of the front suspension that runs from the front suspension beam back along the frame to a bushing under the cab,also known as a radius arm.the bushings wear out and give a nasty clunking sound....fairly easy to check and to fix.
 
trailing arm is the part of the front suspension that runs from the front suspension beam back along the frame to a bushing under the cab,also known as a radius arm.the bushings wear out and give a nasty clunking sound....fairly easy to check and to fix.

i have a friend who's dad races cars, we're gonna try to look at it on monday.

i have some graduation money that i'm willing to spend on some polyeurethane bushings, because i want these to last, even though there's a good chance these are the original bushings, so the rubbers lasted 22 years already lol.
 
the first one sounds like a dirty wheel bearing. myne does that in the winter on the driver side, i dont have a dirt gard behind the rotor on that side.
or there is crud inbetween the pad and rotor try greasing the bearing and spraying break parts cleaner on the pads and rotor. .

the second one maybe a broken body mount or bushing somewhere? could be other things depending on if urs is an auto or stick.
 
Last edited:
he first one to me sounds like a bushing needs greased real bad or replaced, the second one Im at a loss.
 
just thought i'd update you guys, unfortunately it's bad news....

was driving on the interstate and BOOM, next thing i know i see my tire bouncing wildly in front of my truck before it bounces off over the overpass down to lanes of traffic below (luckily didn't hit, or worse, kill, anyone). so then i'm like holy ****! so i pull over and my rotor is completely shot obviously, but wait... my lug nuts are still on there! WTF! well, it had to have ripped my entire rim and tire off somehow, OVER the lugnuts.... (well one of the lugnuts was missing, but that's all, strong head scratcher in my opinion)

0603101633a.jpg

0603101633.jpg

0603101634.jpg


I guess i'm lucky that i didn't end up killing myself, my mom, or anyone else on the road... but this whole thing today just kind of makes me wonder what ever happened to the whole "good things happen to good people" quote? because i can't seem to get a break for the life of me...

it's just extremely frustrating, because i was on my way to drop off like 5 folding tables, and then off to have someone look at my truck for the noises... JUST MY LUCK... like i said, extremely frustrating and depressing.

got it towed to a shop, they are gonna tell me what they would all fix and an estimate, got a friend's dad who races cars, and thinks we may be able to do it ourselves, depending on the extent of the damage that firestone finds... firestone might think it could have been a front wheel bearing? could that have caused my ENTIRE wheel (rim included!!!!!) to completely rip off leaving lug nuts and what not?


big -10/10 day :-(
 
Wow, OMG. Yes, good things happen to good people. Had you been a bad person this situation would have been much much worse. This was NOT a wheel bearing. This was most likely caused by improperly torqued lugs. The lugs were loose and allowed for movement. This will enlarge the lug holes in the wheels and eventually the whole wheel and tire will come off and pass you going down the road. The good news is it's not too hard to fix. The better news is your alive, so you can fix it!
 
Last edited:
Wow, OMG. Yes, good things happen to good people. Had you been a bad person this situation would have been much much worse. This was NOT a wheel bearing. This was most likely caused by improperly torqued lugs. The lugs were loose and allowed for movement. This will enlarge the holes in the wheels and eventually the whole wheel and tire will come off and pass you going down the road. The good news is it's not too hard to fix. The better news is your alive, so you can fix it!

"wow, OMG" is an understatement lol... my mom freaked out when it happened... it was weird, i really wasn't even scared, i was pretty focused. i don't remember anything i said, but my mom apparently told me to just turn on my hazards and slow down and blah blah blah and i told her to shut up i can do this lol.... funny

idk, i feel like they shouldn't have been loose, but they could have been i guess.


i mean the last time i had the wheel off was about a year and a half ago doing my front brakes.

and well i'll have to get a new rotor for sure, not too bad.
might as well get new bearings (are wheel bearings different than the ones that i would have had pretty easy access to doing my brakes? because those are new enough, 1.5 yrs old) and the rotors were new, pads were new, might as well get new hubs i guess? i'll just get new lug nuts for every wheel.... i'll just splurge and hope that it was worth it in the long run, since a few are unmatched and what not......anything else on the very end of the axle i might as well replace?
 
First, look in the tech section for an exploded view of the dana 28. Then carefully examine what got trashed in the "incident". Compare the two. If something looks questionable replace it. If it has to come off anyway to get to something else replace it.
I say this because your dealing with 22 year old parts that may be original. You may even consider doing the same repairs to both sides so all components wear evenly. Rotors, wheel bearings, lugs are a must. The rest may not be evident until disassembled. Look closely at the lower ball joint as it may have made contact with the asphalt.
Take a look at www.rockauto for the replacement parts.
 
First, look in the tech section for an exploded view of the dana 28. Then carefully examine what got trashed in the "incident". Compare the two. If something looks questionable replace it. If it has to come off anyway to get to something else replace it.
I say this because your dealing with 22 year old parts that may be original. You may even consider doing the same repairs to both sides so all components wear evenly. Rotors, wheel bearings, lugs are a must. The rest may not be evident until disassembled. Look closely at the lower ball joint as it may have made contact with the asphalt.
Take a look at www.rockauto for the replacement parts.

those exploded views make my eyes hurt.. but i'll give it a try

and yeah, i kinda planned on doing the same repairs to both sides.

i'll try and give everything a nice coat of nice paint also if i can lol. might as well try to combat some rust while i'm in there and also make it look nice.
 
Your lug nuts were loose for a while. The 5 holes in the rim egged out, the wheel came off and you were left on the side of the road.

No failed wheel bearings, no failed rotor, no brake problems.

Loose lugnuts.

Your rotor actually looks fine to me but it couldnt hurt to replace it. You will at the very least need a new wheel and new wheel studs and lugnuts.
 
Same thing happened to me years ago when I had a 71 buick riviera. I never did find that tire.
 
i had a wheel bering go this winter at 55. tire passenger tire locked up on me and almost rolled the truck. i was happy the highway was snowy and wet. worst thing it was xmas eve!! just thuoght i would throw in my horror story
 

Sponsored Ad


Sponsored Ad

TRS Events

Member & Vendor Upgrades

For a small yearly donation, you can support this forum and receive a 'Supporting Member' banner, or become a 'Supporting Vendor' and promote your products here. Click the banner to find out how.

Recently Featured

Want to see your truck here? Share your photos and details in the forum.

Ranger Adventure Video

TRS Merchandise

Follow TRS On Instagram

TRS Sponsors


Sponsored Ad


Sponsored Ad


Amazon Deals

Sponsored Ad

Back
Top