92'1stGen

I don't drive the truck regularly, but over the course of the last couple hundred miles I have felt this slight grinding in the front end when making slow turns, say in a parking lot, or making a turn at a stop light or stop sign. Going straight it feels fine, though there might be a slight whine while driving, but I can't tell 100% over the clatter of the engine. For the last about 1k miles I've also had this hint of controllable death wobble. What I mean by that is, if I'm going about 35 - 40 mph and go to make a slight adjustment to the right or left in the lane I'm driving in, I can feel a slight pulsation in the wheel, particularly when moving towards the left. When I feel this, if I just slow down, or speed up above 40, or drift kind of to the right, then it doesn't happen. If I keep the wheel turned so that I drift slightly to the left then it goes into death wobble, and the whole truck hops and shakes violently until I come to a much slower speed. Below 35 or above 40 it doesn't do it, and the truck is completely fine when taking deeper turns in the road at that speed, as opposed to just slight changes in how your running in the lane.

The steering shaft is worn and I know that needs to be replaced, but I don't think that's my problem at all since I can still control the truck fine at any other speed. The frame isn't cracked around the steering box, that all looks solid. I've checked the drag link and the tie rod ends, they all feel tight. The king pin bushings and bearings seem to be fine, as much as I can tell since I can't really duplicate the same kind of pressure that's exerted on them at 35 - 40 mph. I'm pretty their the original king pin bushings and bearings however, but I'm going to double check. The wheel bearings have about 23k miles on them since they were last repacked/replaced. The last time I checked them was about 500 miles ago and they felt tight, no up and down play, but I'm going to try to get the chance to recheck them today. Pretty sure it's not a front brake dragging or such as I just never-seized the caliper slides about 1,500k ago. Just had a front end alignment in the last 5k miles. I know some of this stuff has little to do with my issue, but I figured I'd cover my bases.

What's your opinion? My first thought is the wheel bearings need to be repacked/replaced, particularly because of the low speed grinding. but moneys tight at the moment and I don't want to spend the money and be wrong. But with 23k on them already, they could stand to be done I would assume.

Thanks

DaveCFF10

Might or might not help, but I just had a slow speed "grunching" noise. I tore the wheel bearings apart twice and never found anything. Then I took my 90 degree grinder and ground, very gently, the outer edge of the brake rotor where the pad doesn't hit regularly while turning the hub by hand. No more noise in parking lots.

The trick is be gentle and stay off the braking surface. Just take the rust off the very outside edge of the rotor.

dzl_damon

I'm gonna lean towards wheel bearings. Looks like for under $40 at Rockauto you can get all 4 front wheel bearings.

However, taking them out and repacking them is basically free. I only used $3 worth of grease every time I've repacked them. If you take them out and they are all black and burnt smelling, if the don't rotate smooth, or if the bearing is discolored, you should get new ones.

On a second thought, how are your front universals? Even if they are bad, there should be no issue if they are not locked in.

Jungle

Check the "U" joints in the axle. Sounds like one is froze up.
Jim

92'1stGen

Now that you guys mention u-joints, it reminds me that I'm pretty sure they do need to be replaced. Last year I was having this issue where when I would make a left turn the front wheels would catch and you'd have to force-ably turn it back to the right instead of the truck doing it on its own. As far as I know, the u-joints are the original ones as well. On a side note, I went on a about 20 mile round trip this morning and afterwards when I gripped the stub of the front wheel bearings they just felt like a normal warm, not any kind of alarming hot, so that's promising. I'll go ahead and deal with them at the same time.

GIT-R-DONE

What did you find out?

Onemoparnut

The low speed gringing could that maybe the limited slip clutches in the rear? That is if the truck has a ls.

92'1stGen

Haven't a had a chance to tear into it yet, sorry. Time and funds are short at the moment and I've got another truck to drive, so I'm just trying to keep the miles off it for the time being. Once I get some time, and money, then I'll tear into it. I really don't want to start taking stuff off while I'm not able to replace stuff and then have it sit for a month or two, or longer. I'll be sure to let you know when I do find out what it is though. I suspect it might be a combination of frozen u-joints, miscared for tie rods, wheel bearings that need a repacking, and maybe a kingpin bushing/bearing or two that needs replacing. We'll see.

I'll have to check on the LS clutches, (off hand though I'm not even sure if it has an LS diff or not), that was something I've started pondering about as well after reading up on what may be causing that common "clunk" sound I get when going into reverse. Either a u-joint or the diff it seems.