What's next? I'm stumped. Bearing growl, please help!

Mountainman · **Posted:** Sun Jun 07, 2015 11:04 pm

Alright, so this beast growls pretty good at 50+mph, and it gets a lot louder when in a right hand turn.

From the drivers seat, it sounds like front right wheel bearing. Swapped that, no change.
-removed the front drive line, no change.
-put back in newer front drive line, no change.

I have even removed the front dif, and popped the cover thinking that it was coming from it. It looks great.

-The front right wheel bearing "feels" smooth...
the rear bearings feel ok when I put it on stands, but there's a lot of resistance trying to feel them as I'm also feeling the rear dif, and other rear wheel bearing.
-rear dif fluid looks clean

Front half shafts, or U joints? seems like it should be on the left since it growls much louder in a right turn :dizzy:

Thanks for reading :JEEPIN:

JeepMorrison · **Joined:** Thu Jul 16, 2009 11:34 am **Posts:** 1236

Are the U joints hot? Any play?

Did you check the pinion preload and specs on the ring?

Sounds like the rear end from what you have replaced/changed up

Mountainman · **Posted:** Mon Jun 08, 2015 12:19 am

I put a hand on everything today, but only ran it a few miles, so I'll have to try again when I get it warmer. The ujoints were cool, and they feel solid. I'll have to park the wife in the back seat with her much better hearing and see what she thinks.
I checked the front dif just by hand, as I've set-up a couple of these, and it felt like it should on the preload, and very smooth.

Can a carrier or pinion bearing make this much noise without making the oil silver? I figured with clean oil that the bearings on the difs were ok.

The rear bearing I had go out a few months back in another CRD obviously sounded like it was coming from the rear passenger side, and it sure was. hmm

I didn't examine the cv's much at all. Do these sound like a front bearing when they start to go? I don't feel any slack in them either.

Thanks for the comments 4x4kayak!

Hexus · **Posted:** Mon Jun 08, 2015 12:48 pm

It's most likely CV Joints.

Mountainman · **Posted:** Mon Jun 08, 2015 12:55 pm

Hexus wrote:

It's most likely CV Joints.

Thanks Hexus, I should have swapped that thing when I did the bearing yesterday as I have spares :banghead:

Oh well, at least I'll know which part is bad...

joelukex4 · **Joined:** Thu Sep 29, 2011 4:54 pm **Posts:** 386

Sounds like front left bearing if it gets louder when you turn right. Did you change it? Hard to tell from the discussion.

rankom · **Posted:** Mon Jun 08, 2015 7:23 pm

yes ,better check left side bearing.

Mountainman · **Posted:** Mon Jun 08, 2015 9:58 pm

I swapped the left bearing, so now I guess the left CV is next :juggle:

I'm going to try it in the morning and will report back soon. I've never dealt with a CV going slow, I've just had them explode, but I guess it makes sense that it would sound similar to a bearing, and I don't think I'm getting as much vibration as I got when a rear bearing went out. hmm, I really hate how we can't disconnect the front drive line. This stuff will probably eventually lead me to a SFA on my daily driver, but I only want 2.5" of lift. I think SFA on a CRD mandates more?

RJM · **Posted:** Tue Jun 09, 2015 9:22 am

Separated tire?? Try changing the around and see if the noise changes.

Mountainman · **Posted:** Wed Jun 10, 2015 8:14 pm

The saga continues. Swapped tires and front left CV, still there. I guess it has to be the front left bearing in the dif. It felt fine, but I guess it could be bad without causing silver debris in the oil?

Thanks for all of the advice. It's looking like I'll be dropping the front dif, and cracking the seal again :furious:

Mountainman · **Posted:** Fri Jun 12, 2015 1:31 am

earlier in this thread I said right, but meant left. So I haven't gotten back into the dif yet. But, I forgot to mention that it's a lot more noticeable on deceleration. I'm hoping that means something to one of you gear heads out there :ALONE:

mass-hole · **Posted:** Fri Jun 12, 2015 9:38 am

I am having a similar issue with mine and also pulled the front driveshaft with no effect. I get the most noise around 55mph, especially when coasting, but it goes away above that speed and is pretty quiet at 65mph+. I was thinking it may be my tires so I am waiting to swap on my new tires here in a few days before I start tearing into things. If its not the tires I hope its a wheel bearing.

flash7210 · **Posted:** Fri Jun 12, 2015 9:46 am

Mountainman wrote:

The saga continues. Swapped tires and front left CV, still there. I guess it has to be the front left bearing in the dif. It felt fine, but I guess it could be bad without causing silver debris in the oil?

Thanks for all of the advice. It's looking like I'll be dropping the front dif, and cracking the seal again :furious:

Try driving it in FullTime 4wd to see if that makes a difference in the sounds you are hearing.

Hexus · **Posted:** Fri Jun 12, 2015 12:23 pm

The front axle has 2 CV joints. Not U-Joints. Inspect the boots around both (The Rear IIRC, is Integrated). If they have a hole in either, or there's obvious weepage around them without a hole, then you have found your problem. I had nary an issue out of mine until around 168k when the boot around the rear CV joint tore and all the grease came out, it didn't take long after that for it to start "GROWLING" and even though the bearing was dry, the noises were intermittent.

It's an easy fix, the CV joints run about $160 for both, and you can do the repair in your driveway in about 2 hours. I put mine up on RAMPS, but if you have a lift (I thought you mentioned one) you wouldn't even need those.

Have fun repacking!!

**EDIT** On a side note, with the rear front axle CV joint bad (mouthful there), mine made no different noises in 4wd than it did in 2wd, I tried that as well. It did not make the noises any more pronounced one versus the other.

Mountainman · **Posted:** Fri Jun 12, 2015 1:02 pm

Hexus wrote:

The front axle has 2 CV joints. Not U-Joints. Inspect the boots around both (The Rear IIRC, is Integrated). If they have a hole in either, or there's obvious weepage around them without a hole, then you have found your problem. I had nary an issue out of mine until around 168k when the boot around the rear CV joint tore and all the grease came out, it didn't take long after that for it to start "GROWLING" and even though the bearing was dry, the noises were intermittent.

It's an easy fix, the CV joints run about $160 for both, and you can do the repair in your driveway in about 2 hours. I put mine up on RAMPS, but if you have a lift (I thought you mentioned one) you wouldn't even need those.

Have fun repacking!!

**EDIT** On a side note, with the rear front axle CV joint bad (mouthful there), mine made no different noises in 4wd than it did in 2wd, I tried that as well. It did not make the noises any more pronounced one versus the other.

Thanks for all of the comments. I guess I can try the front right CV, but the sound is distinctly coming from the front left, and I already swapped that one, as well as the wheel bearing :dizzy:

I will try the 4wd thing to put some more load on the front left dif bearing before I swap anything else.
Swapped so far: front drive line, front left CV and wheel bearing,
-front drive line removed, tires and wheels completely changed out (unrelated to this repair)
-front dif dropped and inspected, the clearances were good, no silver in the clean oil, and it felt just like the other low mile good one I have sitting on the shop floor, but maybe the left carrier bearing is bad?

Mountainman · **Posted:** Fri Jun 12, 2015 1:06 pm

mass-hole wrote:

I am having a similar issue with mine and also pulled the front driveshaft with no effect. I get the most noise around 55mph, especially when coasting, but it goes away above that speed and is pretty quiet at 65mph+. I was thinking it may be my tires so I am waiting to swap on my new tires here in a few days before I start tearing into things. If its not the tires I hope its a wheel bearing.

It won't be a bearing if it's speed specific. Usually it's that you just threw a tire weight (especially if you have been offroading seriously) if it came on all of the sudden, but it could be a u joint as well.

tomasnc · **Posted:** Fri Jun 12, 2015 10:22 pm

Excellent post Mountainman.

My '05 with 147K is having a similar problem. Trying to locate the location is a chore.
Just have my front lower ball joint separate while pulling into my shop. Talk about luck

Mountainman · **Posted:** Sat Jun 13, 2015 2:06 am

tomasnc wrote:

Excellent post Mountainman.

My '05 with 147K is having a similar problem. Trying to locate the location is a chore.
Just have my front lower ball joint separate while pulling into my shop. Talk about luck

Thanks Tom,
My next plan is to put it up on stands and put it into drive, and see if I can hear the exact location. I really don't like lying under a running rig in gear, but I'll get it all level and use both of my floor jacks for extra insurance. :5SHOTS:

So you think the ball joint was the only problem you had?

Almost tempted to start a thread on front dif temp (I'll have to dig for an old one). I don't have any good way to measure the temp, but I know my daily driver in normally hot enough to burn my hand, but maybe this one is a lot hotter, which might point to the carrier bearing I'm suspecting.

tomasnc · **Posted:** Sat Jun 13, 2015 5:38 am

No the ball joint was just another problem that popped up

. The growl on mine has yet to be located. My car sat for 15 months and the growl is more pronounced since I've got her running again.

The CV joints we're discussing are only in the front end of the car?

Flash mentioned driving the car in full time 4WD. I had to engage mine last week and while driving out of a field I did notice a clicking sound. It was very noticeable. Upon returning to 2WD the clicking was over.
I hear the growl while under load, in a coast the noise isn't as load. This makes me think I have rear axle issues.
The adventure continues!

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JHolm · **Joined:** Mon Nov 10, 2014 11:05 am **Posts:** 45

I'm dealing with a similar problem. I actually changed my carrier bearings this week. Everything else "felt" fine I thought what else is there. I also tried it with out the front drive shaft, in and out of 4wd ect. no change! Not sure what to do next, I'd prefer not to just change things till I find it.

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What's next? I'm stumped. Bearing growl, please help!

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