Bad Front Bearing?

[smcdonaldaz]

My daughter tells me she "did a 'curb check' and not there's a funny sound coming from the front when I turn right." WHen I get back to town I test drive it and in right turns, the sharper the louder, there is a sound coming from the right front axle that sounds like knobby tires rubbing on the fender but there is no contact. Would that be the wheel bearing? I can't seem to isolate it.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[smcdonaldaz]

Oh, it's a 96 with a D35...

 

[a1racer]

Use a jack and lift the front try moving the wheel left to right and up n down by hand. If there is any play it could be a bad ball joint or unit bearing. Also take a look around inner fender and look for any obvious rubbing which could mean a bent drag link causing the steering to be off enough to allow tire to fender contact.

If none of that helps I'm sure someone else will chime in to help.

 

[smcdonaldaz]

I put the whole thing on jack stands, threw it in 4wd and let the wheels spin while i turned the steering wheel. no sounds at all with the wheels stopped. Rubbing sound only occurred in the right turn with the wheels turning. I did spin the wheel by hand and yanked on it and didn't feel anything loose.

 

[md21722]

How about the u-joint? Any play in it?

Occasionally a bearing goes bad but passes all the regular tests like pulling and pushing at 12 and 6 o'clock, or grinding noises, or roughness was spinning the wheel. It may be easier to feel bearing roughness if you remove the pads.

Ball joints are also suspect.

Also pull and push the tire at 3 and 9 for steering slop.

If she whacked a curb, something in the linkage could be bent and rubbing at a certain point in the turn causing rubbing, etc.

 

[sidriptide]

it really sounds like a tire is rubbing somewhere... just grasping at straws here, but if she whacked it good and bent the steering linkage a little, it could have "toed in" the steering so maybe the leading edge of the drivers side tire is rubbing somewhere?
if you are positive it isnt a tire rubbing, try putting it on stands again and take the tire off and bolt the rotor back in place...
the only other thing that comes to mind would be a bad CV joint in the front axle.... any chance you have CVs in the front rather than the standard u-joint axles?

 

[smcdonaldaz]

I'll have to try putting it back on stands and pulling the front tires. I had it on stands at one point and while the wheels turned and it was making the noise i got out and looked around. Perhaps I missed something.

She has u-joints up front. maybe one of those?

 

[Matthew Currie]

U-joints are a good suspect. You can reach in to wiggle them. There should be no play at all. If you jack up a wheel and turn all the way to one side, there should be little or no change in resistance as you spin the wheel. If it binds, the joint is bad even if it has not worn loose yet.



The wheel bearings are also a suspect here. As mentioned above, they do not always fail the obvious tests. But usually, if the bearing is tight but the race is spalled or pitted, the noise will occur straight on as well as when turning. However, "tight" is relative, and it does not take much play to cause a problem. Worth a second look.