Hey guys, I haven't been around much in a while but still know this is the best place for advice. Here's the long version.

Yesterday leaving work I heard an odd noise very briefly from under the truck, low speed in parking lot and thought I might have run over something. It sounded like something dragging against the frame or undercarriage. I didn’t see anything behind me but didn’t think much of it. This morning I had the same thing happen leaving the house at 6:00 a.m. and thought I need to start paying more attention so I don’t keep hitting debris. Each time was less than 1/2 second. Before I got out of the neighborhood though, with me paying attention, it did it again but for about 1.5 seconds. It sounds like a rock being crushed or a high pressure hose being sprayed on the undercarriage or maybe a rake being dragged down the frame. It was the oddest thing and I don’t recall ever hearing it before or anyone ever describing it. I did search and for quite a while I used to read just about every post I could in this section, so I am stumped.

The truck is home and going to the dealership. I don’t trust them, I know I usually know more than they do and try to do all my own work, but I need the truck to pull the boat this weekend (I hope) and couldn’t take the day off from work to look at it the day before a long weekend… Plus it has to go in for a recall on the steering.

The truck is still stock, like my sig, with 130,000 miles. Still loving every minute of driving it.

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

Paul

[edit] Got a call. It's the front hubs. $1356 quoted. OUCH. Got to find a cheap route and I don't have the tools to do it myself. Time for the seach button to check out option.

 

Any suggestion on aftermarket parts? Quality and prices?

 

Both front hubs?? I can see one bad one but when they say both I think they may be bending you over.

 

Kind of like when you need new brake pads. They always say you need rotors too even though it's not the case. It IS possible that you need to replace both though after 130,000 miles....

 

You can buy the hub bearings for about $350 a piece. You would need 1-15/16" socket to get the axle nut off the other tools needed are common I think the hub assembly bolts are 19mm use the power steering method to press it out. probably only one is bad like others said

 

Would it be worth my time to do both at the same time? How do I determin which one is bad? I was kind of trusting the st(d)ealership to be honest .

 

The noise you describe seems odd for unit bearings, but maybe. Also, the front axle Ujoints will be bad by this time too. It sucks, but you might consider going to the Dynatrac setup and doing the Ujoints.

 

I guess what I really need is a shop in the area that I can trust. I don't have the time or money to be messing with this just now. Anybody got any suggestions for a shop in Northeast FL? something near Jacksonville or Daytona?

 

It is not hard to diagnose yourself. Crank the wheel to one side, jack up one side, take a long metal bar and place it on the knuckle and place your ear to it. Have someone spin the wheel if you hear any growling or grinding noise you know it is the bearing. You can also pry the wheel up and down and move it back and forth while paying close attention to the hub. Usually, (not always) if a bearing is making a constant audible noise there will be play in it.

 

For that price and IF it is both hubs, consider a hub mod.

 

Thanks, I have been hearing a rumble / growl a bit lately and noticed it getting worse too. I thought it was just the new tires I put on wearing poorly.. maybe not I guess. And I just don't have the time for this just now. This was supposed to be my fun weekend (no shops open anyway), next weekend is BoyScout leadership training and the next two after that I will be travelling to Phoenix AZ on business!

Gotta find a shop I can trust.

Thanks guys.