Noise diagnosis assistance

Prospect62 · **Posted:** Mon Feb 18, 2008 11:27 am

Hey guys...I think I got problems with the unit and I wanted to see if anyone here had any good suggestions. I posted this on KJ Country, too. Sorry for the repeat.

Yesterday I had a really loud grinding/abrasive noise develop out of nowhere and it has me concerned to the point where I've parked the Jeep until I can fix the problem. It's LOUD. Like, so loud you can't hear the radio over it (unless you crank it).

The noise appears almost as soon as you start moving, like around 10 mph. It's a loud grind that can be felt in the floorboards and in the wheel, and every once in a while, you can hear a metallic scrape and an occasional BANG or CLANK from outside the Jeep. When those BANGS and CLANKS are heard, the steering wheel twitches and 'grabs', like when you hit a dry spot in the pavement while driving in 4wd. My first thought was that the 4wd had not disengaged completely the last time I used it, but I don't know if that's really a possibility with a lever actuated t-case. The lever is back in 2wd and the light is off (and I can kick the rear end loose on slick surfaces). My second thought was a wheel bearing, but since the noise deveolped so suddenly, I'm not sure about that idea either. I've had my LBJ's done about 6 or 7 months ago. They look ok. UBJ's may be bad, have't checked them. My brakes are going south, was planning to do them soon - but they've been bad for awhile and this noise just appeared yesterday.

The noise stays the same regardless of throttle input. Seems to get louder in right turns and somewhat quieter in left turns. Noise stays the same moving in gear vs. coasting in neutral (5 speed). Noise stays the same when brakes applied or not applied.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Powdrdaze · **Posted:** Mon Feb 18, 2008 12:25 pm

Wheel bearing would be my guess. it would get louder if turning one direction more than the other seeing as that particular wheel is movin faster/slower depending on the direction of the turn.

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Mon Feb 18, 2008 1:21 pm

If the steering wheel is jerking then yea, I wouldnt drive it.

Checking the bearings would be my first step.

Check to make sure the pads are not worn all the way down and your running on the pads backing plate. That will also destroy your rotors.

Prospect62 · **Posted:** Mon Feb 18, 2008 1:57 pm

OK, will do. I'll get it up in the air and check the brakes and try to check the bearings first. The more I am reading around, the more it sounds like a bad CV joint or joints. Hope not. Thanks for the ideas so far guys, keep em coming.

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Mon Feb 18, 2008 2:02 pm

Usually a CV joint will crunch and click when turning if its bad. I guess if it gets bad enough it could make noises in a straight line since you have a lift.

Prospect62 · **Posted:** Tue Feb 19, 2008 12:47 pm

I didn't hear any crunching or clicking. I'm tearing into it tomorrow night. I'll let you guys know what happens.

Prospect62 · **Posted:** Thu Feb 21, 2008 12:07 am

OK, tore it apart. Brakes bad, but not the main cause of the noise. When I spin the driver side hub, the CV shaft seems to be making a clicking or a noise like theres a pebble in the boot closest to the wheel. I absolutley cannot tell if it's coming from that boot area or the wheel bearing though. I could not find any holes in ANY of the boots and there was no grease anywhere.

Also, I noticed that my outer tie rod ends are shot, theres water coming out of the boots. My upper and lower ball joints are toast as well. Passenger side wheel bearing appears to be shot because if I grab the tire at the 9 and 3 position, I can move it left to right pretty good. Driver side does not do this.

So...brakes, outer tie rod ends, UBJs, LBJs, wheel bearings and maybe CV shafts. Anyone want to come help?

PS - Does anyone think it could be my front differential gone bad??

Jeep Dawg · **Posted:** Thu Feb 21, 2008 3:58 pm

Hey man I had a problem something like you.
Mine started while I was wheeling. I busted my CV joint, front drivers drive shaft and hub assy along with the UBJ. and a few other smaller parts
I had it all replaced and the problem went bye bye and so did 800 beans.

Prospect62 · **Posted:** Thu Feb 21, 2008 4:25 pm

Yeah, I'm going to do CV shafts, wheel bearings and brakes on both sides and see where that gets me. I still need upper and lower BJ's, tie rod ends, struts and back brakes. Joyus.

Jeep Dawg · **Posted:** Thu Feb 21, 2008 11:34 pm

Man dude what did you do to your KJ?
anything like what I do to mine? Drive it hard

Prospect62 · **Posted:** Fri Feb 22, 2008 12:53 am

Not sure. It's got 92k. Lifted with 31's and steel wheels for about 7k of that. I am hard on it.

Jeep Dawg · **Posted:** Fri Feb 22, 2008 7:28 am

I have 115K on my kj and it is doing AWSOME. I had only that one problem and that was because my front wheel came off the ground while in 4wd and the kj was teedering on a rock when the free spinning wheel touched the ground.

Prospect62 · **Posted:** Fri Feb 22, 2008 11:51 am

I'm not sure what happened man...I'm hoping to get to 115k without incident too.

Does anybody else have an opinion as to what this is before I spend money on parts I don't need?

KJ04 · **Posted:** Fri Feb 22, 2008 3:21 pm

Prospect62 wrote:

I'm not sure what happened man...I'm hoping to get to 115k without incident too.

Does anybody else have an opinion as to what this is before I spend money on parts I don't need?

Parts don't last forever, especially when you wheel hard. Just replace what you have to untill it breaks down the next time, and then fix it again.
Yes, you have to pay to play, that's the way it works. :lol:

Jeep Dawg · **Posted:** Fri Feb 22, 2008 3:57 pm

Yea man PAY TO PLAY

it's almost like coing to atlantic city to the casino's :lol:

tommudd · **Posted:** Fri Feb 22, 2008 4:00 pm

or getting married ................................... :wink:

Prospect62 · **Posted:** Sat Feb 23, 2008 6:46 pm

Yeah, all part of the experience. I'm willing to accept that.

Prospect62 · **Posted:** Wed Feb 27, 2008 8:43 pm

It was the driver side wheel bearing/hub assembly. Shot. Not sloppy, but making all kinds of noise. It's back on the road now, but I still need UBJ's (Al's arms), outer tie rod ends and struts.

Noise diagnosis assistance

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