Bad Clamshell Bushing? Other bearing? Another Noise Thread.

[Devbot]

Has anyone here installed the clamshell bushing from ECGS and had it go bad? I've been trying to track down this crazy pulsing drone sound in my front end for a while now and I'm beginning to think it's related to the front diff, or maybe the CVs at the very least.

Right between 35-40 there's this very loud "wom-wom-wom-wom" sound that sounds like it's coming from right under my feet. Doesn't really happen outside those speeds and not affected by 4WD, throttle, in/out of gear or applying the brakes. When turning right and the weight shifts to the drivers side it becomes even louder and more apparent, and seems to be worse when taking a downhill turn instead of uphill.

I figured it was a bad wheel bearing even though it's only a year or so old, so I put chassis ears on both steering knuckles in several spots - wheel speed sensor bracket, UBJ, and LBJ - but they were pretty dang silent. Brake pads and rotors don't look damaged at all and certainly don't feel warped, and when turning the tire with the wheels off the ground everything turns totally smooth. I tried rotating my tires and I swore it was better for a few miles, but it certainly didn't last if so as it's back to how it was. I also checked my alignment using the string method in case my toe angle somehow changed but it's right where it should be.

Is there anything else I can check? The way I see it is if it's not the steering knuckle then it's gotta be either the diff or axles, since these are the only other components at play. But what doesn't make sense is its not affected by the diff being engaged, and my clamshell bushing is maybe 3 years old at best. Any thoughts are appreciated, I'm gonna be selling the car by the end of the year and having this sound would make it very hard to get a good offer

 

[2TH4IST]

Try putting the chassis ears on the diff. Maybe the brake caliper if you can. Is there any play in the cv bushing? Or any play in the wheel bearing? With the symptoms and sounds you described sure sounds like a wheel bearing, or maybe even a bad cv joint. Just for grins did you check if the sound was coming from the rear end? My rear wheel bearings went out shortly after I bought the car and it sounded similar to what you described.

 

[Devbot]

Try putting the chassis ears on the diff. Maybe the brake caliper if you can. Is there any play in the cv bushing? Or any play in the wheel bearing? With the symptoms and sounds you described sure sounds like a wheel bearing, or maybe even a bad cv joint. Just for grins did you check if the sound was coming from the rear end? My rear wheel bearings went out shortly after I bought the car and it sounded similar to what you described.

Sorry for the late response, been real busy lately. I'm thinking it was a false alarm and perhaps due to tire alignment. Just for giggles I set my toe as close to 0 degrees as I possibly could and the noise changed immediately. Still gonna take your advice and try hooking up the ears to the rear though - I never replaced the axle bearings after all so it's worth investigating anyways

Since posting I did try hooking them to the diff and it was just as quiet as the steering knuckle