Roaring noise, got some play in this part - what is it?

[aaaaaa]

Also, if you go to www.rockauto.com they have the Raybestos Professional Grade bearings for 100 a piece. They are now a sponsor of TRS, and if you go to the sponsor page they've got a 5% discount code.

Stay way away from the Ebay units. You can buy two for under 100 dollars last time I searched, but you will be buying them again in a year. Remember China=Garbage.

What's with the cable or hose around this bearing/hub assembly? I haven't taken off a rotor on this truck yet.. my 2wd b3000 didn't have this that I remember anyway.

http://www.rockauto.com/info/Raybestos/715013-7.jpg

 

[adsm08]

That's the wiring for the wheel speed sensor.

 

[Insanejughead]

My thunderbird had been giving me problems with noise and rumbling just a few weeks ago. At first I thought it was coming from my front left, so I checked the bearings (physically took them out, cleaned them, repacked, reinserted them). They weren't bad.


I still had that rumbling and slight vibration.


A week later I took the rear axle apart. I found that the axle shafts were both pitted at the bearing surface. I have repair bearings in the car because the original bearings had worn a deep groove around the shafts. The repair bearings were fine; I spent five minutes going over each and every roller in them, each. Getting new axle half shafts for a thunderbird is not fun. Thankfully I found an '86 bird in the local yard that had an untouched 7.5" for me to pull them, and they were in perfect shape.


I pieced my axle and trac lok back together (which wasn't fun at all), and the car still gave me the rumbling/vibration.


So, I checked my front right wheel bearings. They were tight and spun plenty free, from what I could tell from turning the wheel while off the ground.

But, when I took the outer bearing off, I immediately found deep pits and chunks missing from HALF of the rollers in it!



I (nor my dad) had ever seen a bearing failure as bad.




So, check your front bearings. Clean the hell out of them, and then check again.

 

[aaaaaa]

On the way to work I got up to 25mph on an empty stretch of road. Steered to the left - no change in the noise. Steered to the right - noise goes away. Does this point to which one is bad or will I still need to get the stethoscope as previously described?

 

[aaaaaa]

Day later, maybe 30 miles of travel. Starting to hear some light cluncking coming from the front left area. I'm hesitant to order a part just yet, but without going through the procedure adsm08 wrote about it sure seems like he's spot on about a front wheel bearing.. and possible the front left one.

 

[Insanejughead]

Did you read my post at all?


My symptoms were the exact same as yours. You should really give the wheel bearings the attention they deserve. If it isn't them, then AT LEAST you have the satisfaction of KNOWING for certain that you've eliminated a possible culprit.

 

[aaaaaa]

Did you read my post at all?


My symptoms were the exact same as yours. You should really give the wheel bearings the attention they deserve. If it isn't them, then AT LEAST you have the satisfaction of KNOWING for certain that you've eliminated a possible culprit.

Yes, attentively -- thanks. The bearings are about 180 each, and due to the recent (2 weeks ago) failure and repair of my clutch, I'm pretty broke at the moment.

 

[Insanejughead]

$180!!??


Wait, I just did a search for them ($132-$215 price range).

DAMN!




I wonder how much money you'd save from just by having a 2wd ranger or Mazda...



Well, do you have any junkyards near you that you can think to go pull some hubs from?

 

[aaaaaa]

I tow a trailer & small mini-ex and have to have the 4wd. That's why I upgraded from my old 2wd B3000.

Damn is right!!!!

 

[Insanejughead]

How about junkyards?


Btw, where are you located?

 

[aaaaaa]

How about junkyards?


Btw, where are you located?

Kind of risky getting that from a salvage yard right? What if I spend $75 on a used part that goes bad after a few months?

I'm in Georgia.

 

[aaaaaa]

Just ordered the Rabestos bearing/hub - should be here Saturday. Will update after installation!

 

[aaaaaa]

Bearing assembly installed this morning, took for a test drive and the roaring noise is gone. Took me about an hour & half to install, though I took a break to play with the cat for a while.

Still have a light clunking noise coming from somewhere up front, so I guess I'll figure out what that's about when I take it in for an alignment and new tires. Probably something expensive!

 

[Insanejughead]

Is your radiator support tight to your frame? Those will rust out quick and cause an area to jiggle under bumps.



To help diagnose if it's that or not, do you feel the clunking through the steering wheel? If not, then it's probably the radiator support mount.

 

[aaaaaa]

Clunking can be heard when I spin the wheel - can't pinpoint an origin.