Noise After Wheel Bearing Replacement

[Devbot]

So I'm having this noise that's not only been driving me nuts but starting to concern me a little bit. Between 35-45mph (most noticeable at 40mph, kinda fades out by 50mph) I get this very deep, bass-like drone/hum/whirring in the front end that becomes very pronounced when taking corners, and occasionally sounding like it's oscillating ("womwomwom"); all of which are very reminiscent of a bad wheel bearing but the only issue is I just replaced mine with brand new OEM units only a couple months ago... and what concerns me is right after replacing them my ride was very quiet, but this soon developed again afterwards, and I can swear it's starting to get a bit louder... Has this happened to anyone else?

At first I assumed it to be tire roar due to underinflation or road noise being transmitted through my poly bushings and uniballs, but one day my windows were down and I noticed the sound was just as audible from outside the vehicle as inside - even with the tires inflated back up.

I just had my rear axles out this weekend and gave the bearings a check in case they were the source, but they were rolling smooth as glass and gave no indication they were bad. I'm pretty confident it's coming from the front end, it seems to react to the front wheels working over the road - coming from both sides pretty evenly, but perhaps the passenger side a little more strongly.

Is there anything else you guys can think of checking, perhaps in the diff or something I'm overlooking? I'm extremely hesitant to believe I got two bad bearings from the dealer (they were ordered from McGeorge), and I didn't run into anything funny or unplanned for when installing them. For what it's worth I do have an ECGS bushing and also replaced my CVs around the same time as my wheel bearings. I've greased up my bushings and ball joints, checked my wheels for play, all the basics to no avail. My last and only suspicion would be worn out UBJs which I was debating replacing at this point just to rule them out.

I've been trying to get the sound on video but it's pretty difficult to pick it up over traffic, if I manage to I'll edit the post and put it here.

 

[JZiggy]

Did you do the press work on the bearings yourself? Do you know that you did it correctly?

The odds of a bad bearing new is very very low. The odds of two at the same time even lower. The odds of damaging two bearings in the same way during install is quite high.

 

[brillo_76]

Did you do the press work on the bearings yourself? Do you know that you did it correctly?



The odds of a bad bearing new is very very low. The odds of two at the same time even lower. The odds of damaging two bearings in the same way during install is quite high.

I was kinda thinking the same thing as Jziggy. It's possible the press work was wrong as a thought.

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[JoeT4R]

I definitely agree with the above. Potential damage could always be a thing, not to discredit your mechanical ability. I couldn't possibly imagine a bad upper ball joint would make such a "womwomwom" sound under stress but I could be wrong also.

Do you have a GoPro by chance? I'm wondering if you could stick it under the truck and take it for a spin to see if maybe you can get a better idea of where this sound is coming from.

My next guess would be something with the cv axles. But I'd be very interested in hearing an audio clip of this sound it's making. I have an idea in my head but would want to confirm.

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[mtbtim]

Yep, I have the same question as [MENTION=148218]JZiggy[/MENTION]. Who did the press work? A common screw-up is not properly supporting the bearing inner race when pressing in the hub. The side load on the bearing when it's not properly supported can ruin it.

Another thing is properly torquing the CV axle nut. Torquing the nut to the factory service manual spec properly preloads the bearing. If the bearing isn't properly preloaded, it can prematurely fail.

This video I made shows how to properly do a wheel bearing replacement.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Dj-2IzO9RFk" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Devbot]

Thanks for the replies. I did the press work. Followed the above video to the letter, even went out of my way to plasma cut steel plates into a custom jig for supporting the knuckle better and snagged some DOM tubing to support the inner race. Process went super smooth and end product was identical to what came off my vehicle (I bought a second-hand pair of knuckles to work on so I was able to compare OEM vs rebuilt). I do a ton of far more complex press work/bearing installs at work so I'm not exactly a stranger to it; it'd be pretty weird to mess up such a relatively simple job twice, though I suppose it'd be more likely than two bad parts. If need be I guess I could compare the distance between my wheel hub and steering knuckle to someone else's as well, just for confirmation.
Checking the axle nut wouldn't be a bad idea, I'll give it a whirl tomorrow with a brand new torque wrench at my shop. Mine is pretty old and tired.

 

[brillo_76]

Hmm.. this is very interesting. Not bad press work then. I am curious what this turns out to be. Keep us posted.

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[Devbot]

Not bad press work then.

Well don't get ahead of yourself now :lol: Wouldn't be the first time I'd have to do the same thing twice before my car was happy with it. I seem to have great luck with that :caked:

 

[brillo_76]

Unfortunately, it happens it's all part of the experience. Sorta like the rear axle seals and that passenger side 5mm below the surface seals.

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[weekendclimber]

I assume you did a front-end alignment?

 

[Devbot]

Update: pretty sure it's my rear axle bearings... recently the noise has began evolving into a much louder howl at times, and I think I can hear it coming louder from the rear
Which would make sense as I've yet to replace them, and I just had a leaking seal but I tried to be slick and skip replacing the bearings

I definitely agree with the above. Potential damage could always be a thing, not to discredit your mechanical ability. I couldn't possibly imagine a bad upper ball joint would make such a "womwomwom" sound under stress but I could be wrong also.

Do you have a GoPro by chance? I'm wondering if you could stick it under the truck and take it for a spin to see if maybe you can get a better idea of where this sound is coming from.

My next guess would be something with the cv axles. But I'd be very interested in hearing an audio clip of this sound it's making. I have an idea in my head but would want to confirm.

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Gonna have to go the GoPro route, should have a couple vids this weekend. I've recorded 3 or 4 videos where I personally could hear it clear as day (could even hear it over the radio once) but when I upload them to youtube and play it back all you can hear is road and wind noise, so my phone isn't picking it up well enough. Now that it's progressed into a howl it shouldn't be too hard to pick up, especially from outside the vehicle - and I found a good roundabout earlier today that is able to replicate the noise for me every time

I assume you did a front-end alignment?

Nope, but I am overdo or probably rolling up on it at the very least - I got one mid last year but went on a couple harsh wheeling trips since then (didn't get bad enough I had to do a parking lot alignment, but definitely has changed slightly). But I'm also probably gonna wait to snag some SPC arms before my next alignment since finding a decent tech is a complete gamble as is, it's either they have no problem getting it in spec or swear up and down it's impossible for because of X, Y and Z :ranger:

 

[brillo_76]

Ah. Thanks for the update. At least your doing all you can to narrow it down first.. Before throwing parts at it. Very wise..

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[Rushthezeppelin]

Ah. Thanks for the update. At least your doing all you can to narrow it down first.. Before throwing parts at it. Very wise..

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Finally, don't know why I couldn't get a usable image link for that on my phone ><

 

[Devbot]

Finally found my GoPro. Took two videos, once with the camera in front and once with the camera in the rear... Did a worse job than my phone :frusty: Rear shot was nothing but wind noise, front had less interference but you couldn't make it out whatsoever; sounds completely normal
Guess it's time to start throwing parts at it :ranger:

 

[brillo_76]

That Can get expensive...:/

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[Devbot]

Believe I found it!
For whatever reason the outer most "dust shields" of my CV axles are now barely kissing either my new spindles and/or uniball dust caps (which were installed with the wheel bearings/spindles) - and only on one side each, which is probably why I'm hearing it wub-wub-wub in the corners. I went to rotate my tires today and didn't notice until after I already put everything together and put my jacks away, so I'll give it another whirl tomorrow. The way I see it these aren't totally necessary on our vehicle as they're not really blocking anything on the hub side (which is fully sealed anyways) nor sealing the axle at all, and they can be easily popped off with a hammer. But right now it's 84* and 50% humidity right now so that's enough for today :drama:

 

[brillo_76]

Aftermarket cv Axles don't have those dust shields. If they are too rusty or hitting things. Might have to knock them out. :]

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[Devbot]

Aftermarket cv Axles don't have those dust shields. If they are too rusty or hitting things. Might have to knock them out. :]

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Good to know! I was gonna remove them but I saw there was a rubber seal on the inside, and even though it just looks like a secondary seal for the wheel hub (or at most, helping keep the axle snout dry), I decided to leave it in and try to hammer them down a little bit with a brass punch. The noise definitely changed but isn't gone completely so maybe removing them altogether is the way to go
Edit: on further investigation supposedly they' pretty pertinent to keeping water out of the bearing? Or at least according to Taco World? That seems weird to me if OEM axles are the only ones with them...