Anyone had a wheel bearing go bad in an '03?
It feels like a knobby tire on pavement when I drive in a straight line and it goes away when I am banked in a left turn. As soon as I come straight again, there's the noise. I did have the drivers side front bearing replaced under warranty at about 50,000 miles. truck has 96,000 on it now. should I replace both fronts at the same time?

 

It sounds more like tire noise, and is probably due to one or both front tires being worn unevenly across the tread. If you have mud tires, it may also be due to how the lugs at the edges of the tires contact the pavement when going straight versus when turning.

I had the driver side front bearing replaced on my '06 at about 60,000 miles. I didn't even know it was bad. I went in to Tire Kingdom to have the tire balance checked because I had vibration (which ended up being mostly eliminated when I greased the drive shafts), and they felt some roughness while rotating the wheel when it was on the rack.

There was no noise, and there was no play when trying to move the wheel from side to side.

I just took it to the dealer and had them replace it under warranty. I had to go to them for a check engine light anyway, so I had it all done in one visit.

Them replacing the bearing made no difference in noise or vibration.

A bad wheel bearing MIGHT change sound as the steering wheel is turned IF there is enough side to side play.

However, If there is looseness in a bad wheel bearing, the weight of the vehicle normally holds the bearing in one position (with the bottom of the tire slightly outward/top slightly inward), and that generally won't change as the vehicle is driven. So the sound usually won't change.

And you usually won't hear a bad bearing (especially on a truck with all terrain or mud tires) unless the bearing is REALLY bad.

To be safe, you should check it with the front wheels off the ground. Rotate the wheels, and with your hands on the tire while it is rotating, feel for roughness. Also grab the tire at the 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock positions. Try to wiggle the tire up and down (pulling with one hand while pushing with the other, back and forth). If there is no noise and no looseness, the bearing is fine.

If there IS looseness (and especially if there is no noise), make sure it isn't due to a bad ball joint. And make sure that any roughness when rotating the tire isn't due to something like brake pad contact with the rotor. You want to be sure to track down the exact source of the roughness and/or looseness.

I think you will find out that the noise is tire noise.

 

Well I'm not running an extreamly aggressive "of-road" tire,( Cooper ATR ), but will be next tire change. I was told that I have play in my UBJ because I tore the boots up installing a lift kit. I will be replacing soon with a Camburg UCA so that should take care of that problem. Thanks for the tips.