Wheel hubs gone bad?

[TimV]

My Ranger just started making some weird noises from the front end in the last few days. Almost like a light metal on metal sound. Not a grinding sound however. It gets worse going around corners. Almost like the brake pad is dragging on the rotor. However, I experience no pull, and I just put new pads and rotors on the front end less than 5k miles ago. Everything was sliding and in good condition when I did them. I am thinking it may be time for new wheel hubs. I bought the truck about 40k miles ago, and have had it offroad in mud and water. I am not sure if the hubs are original or not.

Should I go ahead and replace them anyways? I can get new replacement hub for about $90 each through my work.

 

[adsm08]

Check your bearings. Not a bad idea to just check them. Jack the front end up, grab the wheel, at 6 and 12, and rock it up and down. If it moves, get the bearings. If it doesn't, they are probably good.

You description of the noise, and the fact that you just did breaks is telling me to look at the brakes first. Check 2 things. First make sure that all your slide clips (the ones that the pads sit in) are in place and not rubbing the rotor. Then make sure that your dust shields didn't get tweaked and aren't rubbing the rotor.

Bearings that are failing will either have play, or make a very distinctive growling noise around 35 MPH.

 

[TimV]

Bearings that are failing will either have play, or make a very distinctive growling noise around 35 MPH.

There is definatly a bit of a growling noise around 35 mph. Easy for me to notice because thats the speed limit on the road I take to work. I'll get it jacked up and take a look at things tommorow night.

 

[adsm08]

Then yeah, check your bearings and get the bad one(s) replaced. See what that does with your other noise then. A light metal on metal sound by itself is rarely a sign of a failing bearing. Combined with the growling it MIGHT be related to the bearings going bad.

I'd still check your dust shields while you are in there.

 

[bobbywalter]

when you have freaky shit going on with the axles....

stop, jack and gawk.

 

[adsm08]

when you have freaky shit going on with the axles....

stop, jack and gawk.

Don't forget "sig".

 

[TimV]

After taking a bit of time to "stop, jack, and gawk" it appears I may have located the problem. The wheel bearings seemed to be in great shape. No play when trying to move them around. Took the caliper and rotor off and turned them, and heard no noise. Looked inside the caliper bracket, and there was a bunch of mud covering the trailing edge of the one pad. It was also covering the bracket right there as well. The mud had signs of being rubbed on the rotor. Cleaned it all off, and put it back together. Nothing else seemed out of the ordinary. Will find out tommorow if thats what it was.