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Humming noise...wheel bearing?

I don't know what Ford Explorers have to do with this disussion, but it's true of any sound that travels through the chassis - it's hard to "hear" the direction. It seems like you could roll down the window and put your head out to listen to the DS bearing. I don't know if it would howl without weight on it, but it's pretty easy to put the front on jackstands and drop it in gear (although you have to take a lot of care setting something like this up).

I know an easy way to listen for the noise. All you need is a chassis dyno....
 
check ALL wheel bearings. I had one go bad on the old 2wd Burb I had last year, I could have swore it was a pinion bearing or a u-joint. Once I jacked up the rear of the truck is when I noticed the excess up/down movement of the tire.
 
Blue85 said:
I don't know what Ford Explorers have to do with this disussion, but it's true of any sound that travels through the chassis - it's hard to "hear" the direction. It seems like you could roll down the window and put your head out to listen to the DS bearing. I don't know if it would howl without weight on it, but it's pretty easy to put the front on jackstands and drop it in gear (although you have to take a lot of care setting something like this up).

I know an easy way to listen for the noise. All you need is a chassis dyno....
Click to expand...

I just did a google search for how to tell which bearing is bad and that was the post I found. I just drove it back to my house from my buddy's house up the street and stuck my head out the window. Sounds like it was coming from there, but tough to say. It definitely feels like it's coming from the front, the howling and thumping and vibration.

I replaced the rears a few years back, I can always jack it up and check but I wouldn't think they'd be gone already.
 
How Long has that rear tire And rim been bad. That could cause weird things too. It's so Hard to Diagnose from the computer. Lol. May have caused that rear bearing On that side To Wear funny with it being wobbly.
 
Not exactly sure how long. Long enough to wear down the tire pretty good on the inside edge. Could it be the wheel and tire making all that noise? Maybe next step is swap the rear tires? I jacked the rear up today at work. Both sides felt and sounded fine. I'm 90% sure it's coming from the front :crazy:
 
NEK5 said:
the howling and thumping and vibration.
Click to expand...
I didn't know anything was thumping. Even to cause a vibration a wheel bearing needs to be pretty bad. I would think C/V, but since you have a known bad wheel and don't report any clicking in the corners I think we can keep pursuing the other wheel bearing. Why not swap on the spare tire and take a drive?
 
Blue85 said:
I didn't know anything was thumping. Even to cause a vibration a wheel bearing needs to be pretty bad. I would think C/V, but since you have a known bad wheel and don't report any clicking in the corners I think we can keep pursuing the other wheel bearing. Why not swap on the spare tire and take a drive?
Click to expand...

This morning we very carefully set up two jacks and jacked it up and put it in drive. The drivers side front is definitely making some noise though its really close to the trans so tough to say. I took it for a ride and threw it in neutral and it still did it so hopefully that rules out the trans.

The thump is similar to how a bad joint would feel but the cv shafts felt and looked fine. I can try swapping the rear tires see if it switches sides maybe.

I've been scouring junk yards looking for a new spare, still no luck :doh:
 
Some FWD cars also have a carrier bearing on one of the driveshafts that can go bad and sound the same as a bad wheel bearing too...my Ford has one...
 
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