moaning when driving straight and making right turns

[kickass audio]

Okay so I need to see if I can get some help with this one. I have a 2004 GMC Envoy with 126k miles on it and I have a noise issue when I drive. What I notice is that when I go any faster than 20mph I have a moaning noise coming from the front that will get louder as I go faster. If I take left turns the noise goes away considerably but is still there but at a very low level. If I take right turns the noise gets even louder than it is when I drive straight. The problem seems to be coming from the front because I can feel it rattle in the floor when I take very sharp right turns with it and I can feel a slight shaking on the wheel but it isn't changing my direction I am turning or anything like that, it is just like holding your phone in your hand when it vibrates. Now I know that with wheel bearings when they go usually if you make a right turn and it gets louder that means your left bearing is bad since thats the side getting loaded down and vice versa.

I have replaced the left front wheel bearing 2 times already with the same noise. I tried using the moog bearing from carquest as well as the normal one from advance auto with no difference in the noise. I did NOT replace the bearing on the front passenger side bearing yet because I wanted to see if you guys think that could be my culprit. I checked all the cv boots and there are no tears or leaking grease from them and when I turn the wheels in the air they do not creak or anything and they have no wobble. I had recently had my outer tie-rod replaced on both sides because they were dried up really bad. I also have brand new wheels on the truck and new brakes so it is not the wheels, brakes or tie-rod.

Can someone help me in thinking and hoping that it is my right front bearing that is going bad? It sounds like it is coming from the front and the minor vibration feeling you get in the wheel helps confirm that. It sounds like the left side but I haven't sat in the passenger seat to listen to the passenger side floor area because nobody takes turns hard enough in my truck but me to be able to get the noise loud enough to pin point.

PLEASE HELP!

 

[Wooluf1952]

Okay so I need to see if I can get some help with this one. I have a 2004 GMC Envoy with 126k miles on it and I have a noise issue when I drive. What I notice is that when I go any faster than 20mph I have a moaning noise coming from the front that will get louder as I go faster. If I take left turns the noise goes away considerably but is still there but at a very low level. If I take right turns the noise gets even louder than it is when I drive straight. The problem seems to be coming from the front because I can feel it rattle in the floor when I take very sharp right turns with it and I can feel a slight shaking on the wheel but it isn't changing my direction I am turning or anything like that, it is just like holding your phone in your hand when it vibrates. Now I know that with wheel bearings when they go usually if you make a right turn and it gets louder that means your left bearing is bad since thats the side getting loaded down and vice versa.

I have replaced the left front wheel bearing 2 times already with the same noise. I tried using the moog bearing from carquest as well as the normal one from advance auto with no difference in the noise. I did NOT replace the bearing on the front passenger side bearing yet because I wanted to see if you guys think that could be my culprit. I checked all the cv boots and there are no tears or leaking grease from them and when I turn the wheels in the air they do not creak or anything and they have no wobble. I had recently had my outer tie-rod replaced on both sides because they were dried up really bad. I also have brand new wheels on the truck and new brakes so it is not the wheels, brakes or tie-rod.

Can someone help me in thinking and hoping that it is my right front bearing that is going bad? It sounds like it is coming from the front and the minor vibration feeling you get in the wheel helps confirm that. It sounds like the left side but I haven't sat in the passenger seat to listen to the passenger side floor area because nobody takes turns hard enough in my truck but me to be able to get the noise loud enough to pin point.

PLEASE HELP!

Welcome


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http://gmtnation.com/forums/topic/218-welcome-to-gmtnationcom-heres-the-story/


The highlighted part above is normally the case, BUT, not always. There has been more than one member on here and the old site that found it was actually the opposite was true. Turning right made the noise louder and it was the right (pass. side) bearing that was bad.
You say you changed the drivers side twice. Did you return it? Or do you still have it? The right and left bearings are the same, so if you still have it, IMHO, just replace the pass. side.
More will jump in soon.

 

[The_Roadie]

I misdiagnosed one of my bearing failures so it's not always easy to tell which side failed. I was so SURE!

 

[kickass audio]

Thank you for the welcome. I could swear I posted some things on here a long time ago but I guess not. Anyways yes I do have the first replacement bearing that I put on my truck still. I checked the bearing I first replaced it with and when I spin it by hand it does not grind or free spin. As soon as I let go of the bearing when I spin it by hand it will stop so to me that sounds like a good bearing right?

Also do you think if this corrects the problem that I should just leave that one on the passenger side or should I actually go out and buy a whole new bearing assembly for the passenger side?

 

[Wooluf1952]

If that gets rid of the noise, I'd leave it until more noise presents itself.

 

[CaptainXL]

when I spin it by hand it does not...free spin. As soon as I let go of the bearing when I spin it by hand it will stop so to me that sounds like a good bearing right?

This does not sound good. You should be able to spin the tire freely and it should go around a number of times. If it is hard to spin and stiff then the bearings are drying up IMHO. Someone else can chime in a and confirm this.

 

[blazinlow89]

Mine new did not free spin, they had a tiny bit of resistance. They would feel smooth when you spun them too. New bearings had the same feeling when I worked for my uncle.

I would assume free spin would mean they left something vital out, like grease.

 

[CaptainXL]

Mine new did not free spin, they had a tiny bit of resistance. They would feel smooth when you spun them too. New bearings had the same feeling when I worked for my uncle.

I would assume free spin would mean they left something vital out, like grease.

Tiny bit of resistance I believe. But when I jack my truck up and try to spin both front wheels I need to use both hands to get them spinning. And after a bit of a workout they only spin for a few turns. I have the original hubs on my truck so I take it that this means they are getting close to replacement.

 

[Wooluf1952]

I thought kickass audio was referring to just spinning the bearing without the tire. I may be wrong.

 

[blazinlow89]

I was also referring to spinning without a wheel or tire. Things tend to change when you add 60 lbs of wheel and tire, so yeah they should free spin with the wheels on.

 

[kickass audio]

I'm sorry for the confusion guys. Yeah it was when I spun it by hand with it off the truck just straight out of the box. It has no feeling of drag or scraping when I hold it in my hand. The only thing you can hear is where the old (first replacement) wheel bearing has some rust on it from being used for a year the back part where the seal is on the bearing there is a little bit of rust around the rubber o-ring and you can hear it rub on it but the seal is intact all the way and it is not cutting the seal so I am not worrying about it. Just to say before I took off the first replacement bearing I had the tire on and spun it and I had about 2 seconds of spin before it would stop. No wobble or anything with it when i grabbed the tire at any position and wiggled it. Same thing for the second replacement for the time it would spin with the tire on it and the wiggling.

Other than that little noise the bearing spins in my hand without any noises or clicks. When I spin it in my hand as soon as I let it go it is like milliseconds that last before the bearing stops spinning so its not like it stops as soon as I let go of it but its not very long before it does stop. I can hear the grease in it when I move it back and forth, you can hear that like squishy noise (idk what to call it when the grease gets moved around) so it has grease in the bearing races. I am hoping this weekend to get the bearing off and see what it does. I really hope it is the passenger side bearing that is bad because I have seen the work involved in taking off the cv shafts in the front and I really want to avoid that as much as possible.

edit: what i meant by the free spin is that it doesn't spin out of control. Like if I spun it by hand it does not keep spinning. That was what i was trying to describe by free spin.

 

[kickass audio]

Okay so I just got to replace the passenger wheel bearing on my truck today. That fixed the noise. Thank you everyone for your help with suggesting the passenger side could be bad too. The one that was on there must have been stock because it was rusted to all hell on the steering knuckle and so was the dust shield. I spun the old bearing in my hand and it was pretty dry sounding when it was spun, it would stop spinning as soon as I let go of it like the replacement bearing but you would hear like a scraping noise with it that sounded like the bearings had flaked off and were getting caught in the flakes.

Thanks again guys!