Is this a bad wheel bearing?

[A-dog]

My 2002 4wd sport is making a strange sound that seems to be coming from the passenger side. I believe it is the front, but its hard to tell. It's almost like a jingling sound. It also seems to be a metallic jingling sound. I really only hear it when I am driving in a parking garage, or next to parked cars or a wall. These allow the sound to reverberate back so I can hear it. It only happens when the car is moving, which leads me to believe it may be a wheel bearing. It is not a growling sound, which is what I thought a bad wheel bearing typically sounds like. Any thoughts?

 

[SilverRidgeRunner1]

My 2002 4wd sport is making a strange sound that seems to be coming from the passenger side. I believe it is the front, but its hard to tell. It's almost like a jingling sound. It also seems to be a metallic jingling sound. I really only hear it when I am driving in a parking garage, or next to parked cars or a wall. These allow the sound to reverberate back so I can hear it. It only happens when the car is moving, which leads me to believe it may be a wheel bearing. It is not a growling sound, which is what I thought a bad wheel bearing typically sounds like. Any thoughts?

HAVE any audio of the noise.... :couch2:

 

[JWaldz]

Yes, bearings tend to make a loud humming/growling sound when they start to go bad. However, after they're completely dead they'll make some awful noises and you will have bad vibrations.

The easiest and most simple, effective way to test a bad front wheel bearings is to jack the truck up until one tire is completely off the ground. Put your hands on the top and bottom of the tire and try to rock it towards you and away from you (back and forth). There should be absolutely no play at all. You will know immediately.

 

[A-dog]

I'll try to get some audio. It is not incredibly loud. It honestly sounds like a couple of those small christmas bells tied together and jingle. I know that is a pretty weird explanation, but it really is the only thing I can compare it to. I have never had any growling or humming sounds. Steering is fine. I just had both the upper and lower ball joints replaced with OEM. The sound was there before I had the work done.

 

[fourfive]

I noticed the exact same sound for a couple months along with a slight increase in body roll with city & highway driving. Mine also sounded like it was coming from somewhere up front. It was a real quiet jingling & didnt know how to describe it, which is why i never made a post about it, until you mentioned the christmas bells which was how mine sounded. It was REALLY faint and could only be heard at slow speeds. I looked over my suspension multiple times and everything looked fine. Last week I looked over my suspension again and noticed my driverside rear aftermarket swaybar end link had slightly come loose but was still connected. I tightened it down and retorqued it to factory specs and havent heard it since. Not sure if that was what was actually causing the sound but the slight body roll and jingling has been resolved since.

 

[A-dog]

Fourfive, I'm glad I am not going crazy! I thought it just may be my imagination or something. I have replaced all my sway bar bushings, all 4 end new links (from mstudt here on this forum), and have inspected everything. I am seriously at a loss. There is no affect to the handling at all. I have no problem ignoring it, but I just wanted to see if this was a common sound other people have heard.

 

[fourfive]

I have his sway bar end links too and it was the jam nuts that had come loose. It wasnt noticable at first glance but when i looked closer i noticed threads showing between the lower and upper jam nuts and when i grabbed the hextube i could spin it by hand. Dont get me wrong his end links are great and really improved handling & im pretty confident it was most likely an error on my part not tightening the jam nuts enough.

 

[Kanoe]

I had one of these jingle bells too. What a thing to find!! Only heard when cruising slow next to a wall, as in a drive through.

Well, mine ended up being the locking mechanism on the end of the front drivers side axle. Under the black cover (in the center of the wheel) where the 4wd knob would be if we didn't have ADD, there is an axle/hub nut that has a little metal piece over it that locks it. The one on my drivers side had a bit of jingle. Everything was tight so I just smeared a little blob of silicone to silence it.

To be honest it has been a couple of years since I did this and I can not really recall exactly how things looked in there but you get the idea.

Bang on the tire with a stick and this thing will jingle if it is the culprit. Good luck.