I've been having a knocking noise coming from somewhere near the right front wheel. It kinda comes and goes and I can only really hear it when I'm going fairly slow. It's definitely vehicle speed related as the frequency of the knocking slows down as I'm coming to a stop.

So today I decided to poke around near the axle u-joints which is what I was suspecting would be the cause of the noise. On the passenger side, if I grab the large u-shaped thing that I assume is connected to the axle, I can move it back and forth about 1/16th of an inch. When you move it back and forth it seems to be making the noise I'm hearing when driving. The driver's side has no play in it.

So I guess my stupid question is this, is the wheel bearing located inside the axle tube supporting the axle or is there something else in there that's worn out?

Anybody else experience something similar? The truck now has about 172k on it, if that makes any difference.

 

It turns out it was the front axle u-joint that had play in it. Is Rock auto a good place to get a replacement?

 

as good a place as any - I've bought a bunch of stuff from them.

If you do some google searching you can pretty much always find a 5% coupon code.

 

It could very well be a loose caliper! I too have a clanking noise! I thought it was the shocks! but no! I grabbed the right front caliper and sure enough its loose and clanking up and down! Just a thought for you! Good luck!