the funny thing about wheel bearings and ball joints is that it is always the side that you think is not making noise........... jack it up and spin the wheel fast (have someone spin it for you) and feel around by the knuckle.... you should feel a grinding if a wheel bearing is bad

 

we did jack up both sides to compare didnt feel the knuckle to feel grinding though. i did replace the passenger side last year. the side i replaced was making a loud grinding noise so it probably needed to be replaced. so within a year and a half both front bearings have been replaced.

 

If u spin it fast enough, you can just hear it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjatzRje ... ata_player

 

So what about the front diff? U checked it out?

 

i am unsure of how to check the front differential. but that has crossed my mind. i should also add the truck pulls to the left (could be unrelated not sure has done it for almost a year now even after multiple alignments from multiple shops)

 

What about moving the tires to the rear and see if the noise follows, just to eliminate them...

 

you can get bad wheel bearings when my wife had her grand am i changed 3 wheel bearings in 9 months lol they were good brand not cheap ones!

 

My truck made a noise like that above 35. The factory tires were wearing funny, and causing a noise. Replaced all tires and have put 50 thousand on them an the noise has not returned

 

Try rotating the rear tires to the front. I have head noise like you describe along with the pulling to one side and it was a bad tire.

 

What about moving the tires to the rear and see if the noise follows, just to eliminate them...

Then...

Try rotating the rear tires to the front. I have head noise like you describe along with the pulling to one side and it was a bad tire.

Aste25 is old skool, he prefers rear to fronts, i prefer front to rears... Dont confuse the two!

 

My 03 did this, the cv axel seized on the outer and it was horrendous sounding with vibration, it's a more overlooked and common problem than most would think, and no cranking the wheel and listening for the clicking won't diagnose it always

 

I had a rotational noise comming from the front. Turns out it was the carrier bearing. I ended up swapping the rear for a salvaged one with half the mileage. It had a grinding noise like a warped rotor.

 

thanks for the advise. i talked to a mechanic and he said from what im describing its bad u joints. not sure where so i left it there over night so he can look at it tomorrow. which is a bummer to me because i like to do the work myself but the truck bested me this time. i only have a short period to get it fixed so i figured a mechanic would get it corrected faster then i could. the cv joints on the front axles where one possibility people where giving me so hopefully i find out soon what the problem is.

 

What about moving the tires to the rear and see if the noise follows, just to eliminate them...

Then...

Try rotating the rear tires to the front. I have head noise like you describe along with the pulling to one side and it was a bad tire.

Aste25 is old skool, he prefers rear to fronts, i prefer front to rears... Dont confuse the two!

Sorry Machster, I didn't read your post good. I just skimmed over it I guess.

 

Actually i was flattered

 

talked to the mechanic, he cant figure out whats wrong, he said none of the u-joints or cv joints seem bad. his advise to me was to keep driving it until it gets really bad then bring it back, and that does not seem safe to me at all, something is already bad don't want to make it worse and possibly damage anything else. im thinking it might be a bad cv joint in one of the front axles coming off the differential to the hubs. my guess would be the front driver side mostly because the truck pulls to the left and i know the alignment is good (just got it done with the printout).

 

take both cv's out and drive with it see if noise went away?

 

dont those help keep the hubs in place? i know there are three bolts holding the hub to the steering knuckle, but they dont seem big enough to take all the force applied to them.
So i just got off the phone with the mechanic, and my front differential fluid is grey with metal particles on the magnet inside. i believe that was the first time its been changed in its life but ive only had it for two years. but i cant afford the grand price tag to replace it so ill check the fluid again in a couple months to see how it looks.

 

the 3 bolts hold the wheel bearing to the knuckle and the axle nut holds the axle from sliding in and out!

 

on my way home, i put it in 4 wheel drive and it pulled hard right, took it out and it pulled hard left (stopped to put in and out of 4 wheel drive, drove on straight road no turns.) so im thinking its the differential unfortunately.

 

So my front differential is bad and needs to be replaced soon as im taking it on a 7 hour trip in 2 weeks. I am not sure what code is my front differential, or do i know what gearing my truck has. So if someone can help that would be great. Also is this a job i can do myself or should i have a mechanic shop do it?

 

Depending on what needs to be done, it may be a job for a shop to tackle. Check the "G" codes on yout glove box door. When you find those, look for the thread here that has all the GM RPO codes and it will tell you which gear your truck has by the code that is in the glove box.

 

ok i looked in the glove box i have GT4, and i looked on the thread and it says i have 3.73 gear ratio. My plan is to get a used differential and swap them out. the mechanic i talked with said it would be cheaper then rebuilding mine.

 

I agree with him. Like I said, make sure you get one with the same gear ratio in it.

 

i found one at a used auto parts salvage yard for $225 plus core charge. so cheapest one ive found, and only one i've found local.lol its has 135,000 on it, so about 15,000 more then my truck has not really concerned as long as it works.lol now just a matter of getting them swapped out.