SOLVED: Trying to diagnose a vibration/humming noise.

[Opeth]

Ok, recently after I changed my brakes and rotated my tires I've developed a small vibration in my truck which also has a resonating thumping/humming sound. It sounds like your driving on a flat spotted tire, and appears to be coming from the right front side. ( different pitch than normal with my mud tires)

Now my tires were fine and no balance issues prior to doing all this, no weights are missing. My new rotors look like they were balanced because one was notched in the vein area and doubt my rotors would be causing the issue. Both front wheel bearings were replaced in March with new delco's under warranty, however the right side did spew grease out of the rear of the hub seal not a whole lot but a good uniform ring. I brought it back and dealer said its normal, the factory over packs them. ( I thought it was BS, but they won't warranty it without bringing my truck in. Well, the wont anyways seeing the lift and hub adapters.) Despite that, neither of them have any play. So for now I ruled them out.

I looked at the disconnect, I had quite a but of play where the tripod connected into it and figured since mines never been touched I probably burned through a needle bearing. Well upon further investigation, only the outer seal were showing signs of wear...all internal bearings were good and lubed.





So I replaced the outer seal only and tossed in an AWD sleeve since I was in there and re packed with fresh grease.

Also inspected the CV shaft, the outer joint seemed to be really stiff and possibly under lubed so I replaced that with a new shaft as well since there is 90k on them.

Also my outer and inner tie rods on the right side had a small amount of play so I installed new ones as well and just had an alignment done.

Well the damn noise is still there along with the vibrations, only things left I can think of are... Upper and lower ball joints are still OE's, the upper was sorta loose bottom as well... But would these cause the humming noise or should I just bite the bullet and buy a timken?

Guess I'm just looking for opinions here, I'm headed to Maryland to work for the week so I won't be able to play till next weekend with it.

[ErikSS]

If it were me, I'd get my tires balanced. It rules out one of the more common problems with big tires. Not to mention, if it started when you rotated your tires it increases the probability. A rear tire out of balance is much less noticable than a front. If they charge much, try having just your right front balanced first!

[Moots1288]

Check your wheel hubs, you can Jack up the side that's humming and try to wiggle the wheel and see if it wobbles or you can get a stethoscope and spin the wheel and listen for grinding.

[Opeth]

Check your wheel hubs, you can Jack up the side that's humming and try to wiggle the wheel and see if it wobbles or you can get a stethoscope and spin the wheel and listen for grinding.

Already did check them, there is no play whatsoever.... Side to side/ up and down. It's a pain in the ass to get these wheels balanced too, I've thought about trying a package of those balance beads. To get them all balanced was $130 the first time... Guess I might have to try that and see what happens. But still doesn't account for the noise.

[Moots1288]

Check your wheel hubs, you can Jack up the side that's humming and try to wiggle the wheel and see if it wobbles or you can get a stethoscope and spin the wheel and listen for grinding.

Already did check them, there is no play whatsoever.... Side to side/ up and down. It's a pain in the ass to get these wheels balanced too, I've thought about trying a package of those balance beads. To get them all balanced was $130 the first time... Guess I might have to try that and see what happens. But still doesn't account for the noise.

Did you doin the wheel for any grinding noise, that is the wheel hub as well. My first set of hubs that went didn't have any party but I had a noise.

[Opeth]

I didn't take a stethoscope to it, but I did spin it and couldn't hear anything. I'm gonna drop my spare off the carrier and throw it on that side and see what happens. It was previously on the left front and didn't have any issues with it, that should rule out a balance issue or confirm one.

[DirtyBacon04]

The vibration is consitant with road speed, i'm guessing? If that's the case I'd say unless it's a combination of failing parts, it wouldn't be UBJ or LBJ. Is the vibrating felt in just your ass or is it in the steering wheel too? I'd be sure to check your u-joints, to be safe.

[mikekey]

Geez, I've had vibration in my steering wheel for awhile now... guess I need to fix something.

[navigator]

when my first set of wheel bearings (OEM) went bad, I couldn't tell anything at all with the bearing itself.
With my 2nd set(Chinese) I couldn't tell with the wheel on the truck but when I got the bearing off I could tell it was worn.
I guess what I am saying is I wouldn't rule out the wheel bearing just because you don't have any play.

[The Roadie]

When you put the wheel in the air to spin it, the weight is hanging down on the vehicle side bearing race. It'sd upper part could be undamaged, and the bearings and rotating race could be fine. When the weight of the vehicle is on it, the LOWER bearing race takes the stress, and this could be what's going bad first. Only advanced stages of decay will show right away with a spin test.

[Opeth]

I swapped in another wheel bearing, the old one did have a spot where a gritty feeling could be detected but none the less the grinding/ pulsations/ rubbing feelings are still there. I can feel them in my seat, through the floor boards, and also in the steering wheel. I'm not getting a death shake in the steering wheel, and the amount of shake is very minor. I'm more worried about the grinding/ rubbing noise than the steering wheel shake. I'm also not sure now where the sounds/ noises are coming from, turning either direction produces the same sounds with my mud tires.

Even at highway speeds there really isn't a shake in the wheel, its more of a clicking sensation being felt. Almost as if there is a flat spot somewhere and when it's hit, this is when I get the vibration. I can't really notice anything driving around town, its when I hit highway speeds I really notice the issue.

We got a significant amount of snow fall last night, so I put it in 4hi to drive around. This seemed to hush the issue but I also have a serious side to side shimmy when accelerating up to 30-35mph. ( I've always had this post lift, think its due to the high angle of the cv shafts)

I'm stumped, but I just cannot find play anywhere with anything. I inspected the front tires, no anomalies were found and the wheel weights were still place.

[ErikSS]

Did get your tires balanced? Mine has started simular syptoms so this thread has my interest. haha Mine didn't start until the Badlands trip where I put it through the paces AND had gravel in all of my front beads. Inner and outer on both tires. I suspect (hope) my tire turned on the wheel, and or knocked off some weights. My front end has been constantly changing heights affecting my alignment as well. Have you used a tape measure to check the "toe" part of your front tires? Mine was BAD. It drives much better with just a tape measure alignment.

[Opeth]

I rotated in a known good balanced tire which had previously came off the left front side, well the vibrations are gone from the steering wheel but I still have the feeling through the floor boards of something grinding. The tire I removed definitely needs to be re balanced so I found that out. I did have the truck aligned a week ago after installing he new tie rods and cv shafts,the toe is good on both sides. Only thing out of whack is caster, but nothing I can do about that with flipped UCA'S

However It has also seemed to have switched sides, and now the grinding sensation feels like its coming from under my side of the truck, the wheel bearing on this side is a cheap eBay one which I replaced in there about a year ago. Wouldn't surprise me if it was shot, and the wheel vibs may have been throwing off which side I thought it was coming from.

Next step is I am going to toss the wheel bearing in that I removed from the right side and see what that does, then rotate another wheel around to the left front. I guess trying to eliminate variables is the best way to go for now instead of throwing $$ at parts which might not solve the problem.

[v7guy]

Cody, you did take that tied up hooker in the back out didn't you?

[ErikSS]

My bad. That was my job.

[Opeth]

Jason, I'll be sure to drop her off to you Thursday when I am down your way.

[v7guy]

Thanks man, just make sure you take her dentures out this time!

[Opeth]

Anyways, I'm still racking my brain trying to figure out what I should investigate next.

I looked at the front drive shaft tonight trying to inspect the u joint, I couldn't really see any signs of failure however the shaft rotates quite a bit more than the rear drive shaft. I think I'm getting like 1/4-1/2" of rotational movement out of the front and 1/8-1/4" out of the rear shaft. Is this normal?

Does anyone in winter fight with flat spots on their mud tires? My truck sits 1-2 days at a time and then i only drive 7 miles one way home/work..I have practically no vibrations in the steering wheel itself at any speeds, but get the vibrations through the floor boards under my feet and through the gas pedal and hear the same noise a flat spotted tire makes. The noise could just be the harmonic resonance between the tires and the road and can deal with that, it's just the odd vibrations through the floorboards I can't pin point which have me worried. At highway speeds I'm 85-90% sure it's coming from the drivers front.

Frustrating this is becoming.....

[Opeth]

Anyone know best attack to remove the front driveshaft in order to replace that single u joint?

Found this article and seems to be identical to my issue....

http://www.fullsizechevy.com/forum/gene ... peeds.html

[Diacom]

Remove the U-joint straps at the front diff, push t'words the T-case to remove that end, then pull away from the T'case to remove T'case end. May need a little leverage at both ends. The T'case end is attached to a splined shaft coming out of the case.