Trying to find a front end howl

[Toivo]

My 03 TB has had a howl in the front end that is there when you turn right and goes away when you turn left. i have changed the drivers side wheel bearing twice so that isn't the problem. Today I changed a leaky drivers side differential seal and the bearing behind the adjuster since I had it apart. There is less noise, but it still has a howl when I turn right. I plan on changing the passenger side seal and outer bearing when I get a chance to see if that helps.
When changing the seal on the drivers side I disconnected the upper ball joint and left the hub bearing and brake and rotor alone. I hung the steering knuckle up with wire and then turned the steering wheel to the right and the shaft had clearance to come out of the differential. This saved a whole bunch of time for this project and maybe it will help others as they do this job.

 

[Sparky]

Could be the passenger side hub bearing since you already replaced the driver side one. Your turn test pointed to the driver side but it isn't always the case. Sometimes it'll fool ya.

 

[The_Roadie]

I've been fooled before, and kicked myself afterward.

 

[navigator]

I think if it goes away when he turns left that indicates the passenger side wheel bearing.
If you just changed it 2X, maybe you still have a spare you can swap in.
Mine made the noise all the time except when I bumped the steering wheel to the right. I changed both my bearings at the same time.
Mine sounded a lot like mud tires but the bearing itself felt fine and there was no play in it like I had seen in jeeps before.

 

[ghenny440]

I was fooled with my mother in laws voy, she ended up haveing me.get both of them, & at 59$ a piece at world auto parts she knew one of mine was goin bad so she paid me for doing hers by paying for BOTH of mine to.

 

[bore_pig]

The turn test is not foolproof. I would look to the passenger side bearing since the driver's side has been done.

I was fooled with my mother in laws voy, she ended up haveing me.get both of them, & at 59$ a piece at world auto parts she knew one of mine was goin bad so she paid me for doing hers by paying for BOTH of mine to.

Hopefully you have better luck with cheap bearings than I did. First one failed at 10K, second at 23K. Lifetime warranted SKF for me only from here on out!

 

[ghenny440]

Dont matter to me i only drive 4 miles aday to work, and it took me less than an hour and a half to do both with hand tools, and 59$ per side, w/1 year warranty is 1/3rd the cost at the zone, oreily's and advanced, i replaced the drivers side in 08 with the cheap one and havent had any probs, figured as long as im doin one i might as well do both especially when the parts werent on my tab, most peoples die from simple over tightening of the shaft nut which over torques the bearing, not sayin that was your case but the average joe isnt gonna torque it properly with a torque wrench

 

[navigator]

I got mine for $76 per PAIR on ebay. I've had them a few months and no concerns yet.

 

[bore_pig]

Dont matter to me i only drive 4 miles aday to work, and it took me less than an hour and a half to do both with hand tools, and 59$ per side, w/1 year warranty is 1/3rd the cost at the zone, oreily's and advanced, i replaced the drivers side in 08 with the cheap one and havent had any probs, figured as long as im doin one i might as well do both especially when the parts werent on my tab, most peoples die from simple over tightening of the shaft nut which over torques the bearing, not sayin that was your case but the average joe isnt gonna torque it properly with a torque wrench

102 ft/lb if I remember correctly. That wasn't the problem, the seals were. As far as I can tell, the seals were going bad prematurely so water could get in. Both bearing failures happened soon after I drove down the highway for long enough to get everything hot, then went through ice cold water up to the door bottoms. The sudden temp change was trashing the bearings.

 

[ghenny440]

Damn, and you are correct 102-107 ft lbs, yeah if the seals go its downhill fom there, and i deff hear alot of folks having probs with the cheaper ones, luckily im not one

 

[Fire06]

Yes I would try the other bearing also, so that they were both done.

 

[Toivo]

OK, you guys have me convinced to change the passenger side wheel bearing. Plan to order one and change it when it comes in. I will keep you posted if it cures the noise.
thanks for all the help.

 

[bore_pig]

If the problem isn't solved with a new bearing, at least you'll have a good spare!

 

[400Magnum]

I just took the Voy in for new tires and they're telling me that my front hub bearing is going bad and will need replaced soon. I have heard this low growl for a little while now, mostly when turning to the right, I was just hoping it was brake pads grabbing a little and was ignoring it until I had some free time. However, apparently that's not the case.

So my question is, when you guys are saying you replaced the bearing, do you mean just the bearing or the whole bearing hub assembly? I was under the impression that the hub bearing assembly was not serviceable and you had to replace it all. But if I can just replace the bearing and not the whole thing, hey, it's a lot cheaper and I need to do whatever I can to save a few bucks.

 

[Sparky]

It's sloppy reference on our part You're right, the hub assembly is sealed and you can't replace just the bearings inside.

 

[400Magnum]

Not a problem, I just wanted to be sure I wasn't missing something because I looked on a few sites and they actually show that individual bearings are available, and for the prices some people are saying they got their parts, it's about as cheap as what the single bearings are listed at. It just made me wonder if there was an inside trick to replacing only the bearing, which would be so nice.

Guess I'll start shopping for hub bearing units. Thanks for the clarification!!

 

[Toivo]

You can find them from $50.00 up to $250. It depends what you want to spend. I actually ordered one from AMparts for $42 and change with free shipping. I am going to change my passenger side one to see if it clears up my howl. I also plan on looking at the disconnect while I have it apart. I also saw Amazon had one for less than $50.00 with free shipping. AMparts had mine at my house in 3 days after I ordered it. My driverside replacement was bought at Advance Auto for about $90.00. Happy hunting for a new bearing.

 

[fadyasha]

I'd check the passenger bearing like the guys said, also if you changed there was a leak in the seal how bad was it? I remember at a point I had a leak in the CV joint and alot of grease was splattered around. It was making a woosh sound (can't pin point the exact expression) anyways I cleaned it up, put in some grease and put her back together and sound gone.

I'd bet my bucks on a bearing though, and YES they do fool ya!

 

[400Magnum]

Lifetime warranted SKF for me only from here on out!

Where can a person get these SKF bearing units? I just ordered some cheapo replacements because I'm strapped for cash at the moment. But in the future, if and when these fail (and I'm sure they will) I'd like to get good ones.

 

[JerryIrons]

I bought my SKF bearings at NAPA, that was over a year ago, probably close to 2 years.

 

[400Magnum]

I bought my SKF bearings at NAPA, that was over a year ago, probably close to 2 years.

Cool. Thanks for the info!

 

[400Magnum]

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I'm doing the hub bearing replacement and I just want to verify that the torque spec for the three bolts that go into the hub bearing thru the steering knuckle are 77 ft-lbs. Is that correct? I've been misinformed by my Haynes manual before, and I just don't trust it on critical things like this.

 

[JerryIrons]

I've got the 06 extended 4 wheel drive, and the factory service manual for it says wheel hub and bearing mounting bolts are 77 ft lbs. Your lucky day the manual was sitting right next to me at the computer.

You are correct!

 

[400Magnum]

Great!! Thanks!!

 

[Toivo]

Well today I finally got around to changing the passenger side wheel bearing and it cured my front end noise. It sure is nce to drive and not have a howl anymore. I wanted to pull the disconnect and grease it, but my brother wasn't feeling good and I was using his tools and garage so i din't get to it. That will be a project for the next few months. 160,000 miles and it rides great now.
Thanks for all the help from the members of this forum.