I've owned my truck since new and have now driven it more than 302,000 miles in almost 13 years. I do all if my own maintenance and feel that I'm very in tune with the truck and thus notice when things seem off.

Over the last few weeks I've heard/felt what can best be described as a 'humming' sensation coming from the front. It becomes more noticeable as the speed increases, but does not really change when turning to either side.

At this point I'm inclined to believe that one of the front wheel bearings are finally on their way out (all bearings/u-joints/cv-joints are original). While it could also be a rear bearing, I feel the 'humming' through the steering wheel.

What is the best way to pinpoint which wheel is affected?



Andreas

 

Look at them? Inspect them. worse case scenario...you have repacked the bearings and know for sure.

 

The front wheel bearings are pressed-in sealed cartridge units - no re-packing.

If I can narrow the noise down to one of the front bearings, I will replace both.



Andreas

 

Sure your not getting noise from a tire any abnormal wear??

CV axle??

With the wheel jacked up if you spin the wheel if you indeed have a bearing going you should be able to feel it.

To get the best feel pull the caliper off so the pads don`t cause friction.

With these sealed bearings it seems lots more harder to detect then the open bearings .

This many miles the nickle and dimes are going to start.

 

The tires are 265/75/16 Nitto Terra Grapplers. I'm on my second set, am used to the 'noise' they make, and rotate every 5,000 miles or so.

I intend to get the truck on stands in the next few days to see if I can narrow it down.



Andreas

 

I noticed the same thing yesterday on my '97 seems to be coming from the front end....I'll be following your thread to see your results before I dive into mine BTW mine has 270,000kms

 

Have you don any of the basic bearing checks? ie: up on jackstands, take wheel by top and bottom and try and move to feel slop?

And its a good idea to replace both sides at once if you are doing wheel bearings.

Pretty basic stuff. Have you found the free toyota factory service manuals in pdf form all over the internet?

 

As I mentioned earlier, I intend to get it on stands in the next few days. If it turns out to be one of the front bearings, I fully intend to replace both.

I have the factory shop manual.



Andreas

 

I had a similar sense in a Mazda protege 5 and touched the wheel after a 40mile commute and nearly burt my finger on the passenger side wheel- driver side was hot but not burning. Got home, jacked it up, checked by the grab and shake test. Bad bearing at 140k miles. The local shop did both sides for ~$600.

 

I placed the truck on stands this morning. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary with the rear wheels, as well as the right front wheel. The left front wheel seemed to have a clicking noise, so I pulled the wheel, spread the brake pads apart, and reinstalled the wheel.

I took two quick videos. If you ignore what sounds like a brake pad lightly touching the disc, you should here the clicking noise. I believe the other noise is the hub nut retainer & cotter pin, amplified by the phone's microphone.






Andreas

 

After doing some searching on the Interwebz, I was able to locate all of the parts to do both sides for a total of $184.06, shipped. All Toyota parts.

90369-54002 Bearing x2
90521-99114 Retaining ring x2
90312-95001 Inner seal x2
90521-99114 Outer seal x2



Andreas

 

Any thoughts on the two video clips? I'm still waiting on the parts but wanted to see if others interpreted the rhythmic sound as a failing bearing or a front diff noise.



Andreas

 

Bump.



Andreas

 

When my right front wheel bearing bit the dust, I actually saw the grease leaking out. Needless to say, when it got cold (below 40), the whirring of the bearing was noticeable.

That said, I'd be more inclined to say it is a CV based upon the intermediate, not constant humming sound. If you have no looseness in the wheel when up in the air, then no, the bearing are probably OK.