Ford 7.3L Power Stroke (1999-2003) :: Grinding And Metal Chewing Sound Coming From Front Axle Or Close The Wheel Hubs
Dec 22, 2016
I have 1999 F350 7.3 Crew Cab 4WD. I took it on a 4 hours trip towing a trailer to haul a small tractor on it. after 3 hours of driving, I started hearing grinding and metal chewing sound coming from the front axle or close the wheel hubs. It was awful, terrible, ... you name it!!! I had to continue or I will lose the tractor I paid for already. The sound was coming for 1-2 seconds each 500 feet or so. It never stopped or changed. I pulled over to see what's going on and found the following:
1. Left shock is leaking badly
2. Right locking hub is gone (not sure if the truck had one before). I bought this truck last year, but I never had to use 4x4 and I know the 4x4 motor by the transfer case is missing and the nipple on the transfer case is set to the 2wd position so the front drive-shaft does not turn.
I took the front shock off and continued to drive without it, the noise did not go away.
I pulled over again and this time I noticed that the dust cover on each end of the front axle is missing too. I have never worked on these axles before, but I jacked one side, and sure enough, gear oil was leaking from the other side. I took the plug off the front differential and stuck my finger in it. I felt a creamy brown-greenish stuff in the differential. The consistency is like mayonnaise or thin peanut butter. I put the plug back on and went to pick up the tractor because I did not want to miss it fooling around with the truck on the highway.
The truck made it there and back (almost 5 hours total after the break down). The sound never stopped every 500 to 1000 ft.
After getting home safely, I took the other locking hub off, and took it for a test drive. I did not hear the noise, but now my right brakes are locking.
I took of the wheels and saw that the retaining snap ring (C clip) for the front axle on the right side came off by hand. I took the washers behind it off. Took the calipers and brackets off. I have never done front axle rebuild. I am not sure what has been damaged and what's still good.
Right of the bat, I know, at least, I need 2 shocks, one brake caliper and pads.
My questions are:
1. Is it possible to take the front axles off on both sides and make it 2wd for now until I have the money to rebuild the axle?
2. Could I use the same hubs? or they are most likely damaged and how to tell?
3. How to tell if the differential is damaged/needs rebuilding?
4. How to tell if the axles/spindles are damaged?
5. Is there a step by step tutorial to rebuild the axle with all seals, bearings, ...etc? How hard is the job for a hobbyist? I do most of my repairs myself, and I was lucky at 36 years old, I never had to rebuild a differential.
6. What else I might have damaged in the process of driving it that long with the noise? How do I tell if I did?
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I have developed a sounds that sounds like metal on metal. Not a grinding but more of a "swish swish swish" light metal rubbing when the truck has been running a mile or two. I can barely hear it over the radio but its very noticeable when the window is down. It is not affected by the pressing the brakes and it gets louder and faster in direct portion to speed. It will occasionally leave and start right back up. I touched the front rim around the hub and it was hotter than I wanted to hold onto. It didn't burn but it was hot. It was 105 degrees that day. Here is what I have done.
I replaced that front hub in 2010 and probably have 50K miles on it. I did the 3-9 test and there was no noticeable play. I spun the hub and while it seems to spin ok it does seem a little dry.... I will pull it tomorrow and see what it looks like.
I pulled the calipers off and the brakes pads are at half way and there is no burnt smell. I spun the rotor and it seemed flat and straight. I do have a small tiny lip all the way around them on both sides but I figured that's normal with 265K. I pulled the pins and they were dry but they didn't seem to be sticking. I cleaned them up with the boots and am going to replace them when I get some brake grease tomorrow. I have not looked real hard at the caliper but I plan on pressing that with a C-Clamp tomorrow to check it. Since the rotors and pads looked OK, I assumed there was not a stuck caliper although haven't ruled it out. The axle behind the hub seem to spin freely before I removed all this stuff and the hubs are not locked.
I think I covered it all .. I also thought it could be a rock or stick but nothing came out of my caliper or rotor when I took them off ..
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I was getting a growl/grinding noise from my front hubs (driver's side I think) when I do a slight right turn like going around a curve, not turning around a corner. Just started happening the last week after returning from a 4th of July roadtrip. First thought was wheel bearings going out and started reading up on the forum here to see what was needed. Last night, I started getting a continuous growl when I was 5 miles from the house so just pulled up and parked it. I'm assuming (without pulling anything apart), it's the bearing assembly and I can get the Timken version at Autozone locally.
The problem is I generally do my heavy maintenance at our family shop in San Antonio but I live in Austin so will need to do this in my driveway. I have all the basic tools, just need to know how involved it is to do in a driveway instead of a shop. Thoughts?
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Warn Premiums, installed them and now the 4x4 is engaging, but still have a grinding issue. When the hubs are locked and the switch is in 2 wheel drive, the frond end is grinding, if I switch it to 4 hi, the grinding goes away.
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I have a 2004 F150, 5.4L V8. A few years back I was in an accident when someone slammed into the front of my truck. The right front wheel & tire took the brunt of the accident. I thought the repair shop had everything back to normal until recently I occasionally have a grinding sound coming from the right front side, seems to be related to the axle. It doesn't do it all the time just at random while I'm driving. The only solution I can find is to pull over or slow my speed to a crawl. Once I slow down enough or turn my wheel one way or the other its like something SLAMS back into place. I had it looked at by a local mechanic and they couldn't find anything wrong. Could it be something in my right front axle?
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I have some whine coming from my front wheel bearings so I'm going to replace them both. I'm not sure if this had been done on my truck before, but I'm thinking so since I have Moog greaseable ball joints.
Truck has 250k miles on it. I'm going to check the pads, rotors and slide pins. Anything else that might need work? I'm sure the half shaft could use a once over, but I don't keep my hubs locked so they don't turn much in regular driving.
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I've had a rattling/clunking sound from my front left wheel recently so I jacked up that corner. As soon as the tire elevated off the ground the bottom fell inward. I could easily push the top of the tire inward and pull the bottom of the tire outward. Does this lead to a bad hub or bad ball joint(s)?
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Tonight on my way home I noticed a slight creaking sound, coming from front driver side, opening the window it was more noticeable. So when I got home I have tried to locate the source, it is the same with or without the engine running & you can hear it by rocking the steering just a little left to right. It sounds like a dry bush, I had my good lady rocking the wheel while I climbed underneath but couldn't pinpoint it, so I climbed up on the fender with my weight on the radiator support & the battery cover, when she turned the wheel the sound was almost gone but as soon as I jumped off it was back! I then tried rocking the truck from the driver side fender & the sound is there but not quite so pronounced, Any other way before I spray everything with WD40 (don't know if you have that over there but it usually quietens things like this!) There is no play on anything anywhere & the truck has only around 32k miles.
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Car : 03 Buick Regal
Recent Repairs : Installed new brakes, rotors, and bearings a month ago
Problems/Symptoms:
1. When going forward grinding noise ONLY when turning wheel to the right, becomes a tad louder when applying brake.
2. When going reverse cannot turn at all without hearing an AWFUL grinding noise and the tire seizing up.
3. Front left rotor (where noise is coming from) is beginning to wear heavily on the upper-outside portion in a 2" band.
Possible Solution that I thought of:The metal brake pad clip is somehow bent/not installed right so it is grinding on the rotor.
Why Can't I Check Right Now : Do not have hydraulic jack currently to get my car up. Waiting until Friday.
Today, I took the car to the shop today and they actually found that my sway bar needs to be replaced, but unfortunately they did not open up the brakes to check out the grinding noise. So when I left, I got to thinking about the brake pad clip.
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So my '01 E350 has been fine but tonight when I went to start it I didn't get a WTS light and the SES light was on and there was a weird number on my PHP Hydra that looked like r5 ? This happened a few times back to back so I tried starting it and it just cranked and cranked. Wtf? So I started pushing the button on the chip and all of the sudden I got the WTS light and the hydra flashed, now the chip was on tune 10 instead of 5 where it was when I parked it. I should also note that during these episodes there was a fairly loud clicking/clunking sound coming from the drivers front under the hood when I toggle the key on.. Sounds like maybe a relay? Louder than I recall ever hearing.
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So after a hot drive yesterday we thought to do some googling about our clutch cycling on and off so fast. Yep, the airgap was out of spec. Fixed that.
Then we added some refrigerant to the truck. The truck is "new to us" and this is our first summer with it so not sure what might've gone on previously with the AC. Didn't take long to find a rather sizable leak. :P
See that metal tube going into the "spongy" area? Yeah, that's where it seems to be coming out. That tube is the only one that's cold, the rest are ambient temp. We fix a lot on our jeeps, but the AC system is naturally a bit out of our wheel house since it's not something you normally tangle with. Is this an easy fix? Or do we need to take it in to get serviced?
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I am on the fence with getting rid of my 7.3. Here's why. Whenever I crawl underneath the truck or look under the hood I see all these different oil/fluid leaks. She has less than 200k miles and I use her to tow my boat to go fishing.
Right now I am trying to weigh if the truck is worth keeping or selling and then getting a new/newer truck.
Here are some leaks. One is obviously oil and coming from what I guess is the front main seal. I really don't know. The other leaks going onto the U-joint look like oil leaking down the axle from the front differential.
I'm growing a business and not sure if I have time to play mechanic. However, everyone I talk to always exclaims, "You got a 7.3?! You luck SOB!" and I am kinda getting the feeling letting her go would be a mistake. FWIW, she is paid off.
Other than a slight wobble in the steering wheel at speed, she runs like a hoss.
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I have encountered a strange noise from my car. The sound is similar to a metal rotating sound. It may be coming from the front right wheel.
I cannot hear it on the freeway. I would say that I can hear it quite frequently at slower speeds. Sometimes It would go away momentarily.
I tried turning the wheel left to right to see if that had an effect at slower/higher speeds, doesn't seem related, could be wrong. Currently I am thinking it could be my wheel bearing...
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Can I re-use this shaft or is that ring around it no good. The ring is around where the bearing sits. It is a circumferential hump all the way around.
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Well, get the engine running sound, then the drivetrain takes a crap on me. . . On my way home, about 60mph. Hear a noise from front drivers side. Gets to the point where I think I am losing a tire. Got out and checked the lugs, all clear. Got back in and the truck wouldn't move. Shifted thru all the gears, nothing.
Revved up to 1500rpm and it just sits there and shakes, like it wants to go but can't. No grinding or anything. Got a tow truck and as we were loading it, noticed that the front axle was rolling fine, but the rear was dragging. Tried it in N and D and it still wasn't rolling. Also observed drips on the flatbed and the drain plug on the transfer case was wet.
Praying that it is transmission, cuz I can just have them come get it and have it repaired under warranty. Heck its only got about 3500 miles on it. If its the hat to check? Ill be spending the rest of my evening on YT/Google. . . (Figured this was the right area to post this, cuz its a 99 7.3, I didn't see a dedicated drivetrain area so. . . )
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I am in the process of replacing my water pump. After I removed the pump, I found quite a bit of metal-on-metal wear between the impeller and the water pump housing. Is this common?
I've been running a coolant filter on my system for years now, so hopefully its been effective at collecting some of the metal that has clearly been worn away. Either that, or this is a sign that the filter isn't working at all!
I'm a little worried that the new pump will scrape the scars left from the old pump.
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A little less than a month ago my wife's old 1999 Mustang had the tires replaced. Since that time there she has noticed two new sounds:The first is whirling/grinding sound coming from the front right wheel that comes and goes. The second is a low, loud groan that seems to come from the front of the vehicle when the brakes are applied. The groan varies in intensity but seems to always be present when the brakes are applied. The groan is not unfamiliar to anyone that's driven an older car, but it is much louder than I have ever seen on any other car (on the other hand I usually drive a Corolla so it may be normal on a V6 Mustang ).
The first sound seems to have been reduced but not eliminated since I followed the advice in this video below and pushed the plate behind the wheel back a bit with a screwdriver. Now it is only audible when the engine is off and the wheel is spun (in other words, when it is sitting on a jack and the wheel is spun by hand), but it is still there.
I took it into the shop where the tires were purchased and mounted. The good people at the shop did rotate and balance them, but both noises remain.
I looked at the calipers and discs and everything seems in order except (possibly) two things. The discs have rust around the edges not unlike the ones in this photo below and I have no clue if that is normal or a problem. The rust is present on all wheels and only the one makes that noise, so I think that may not be the source of the sound,. On the calipers some substance (paint?) is peeling off, but otherwise they look fine and again the same is true on all the wheels so it seems that is unrelated to the noise. I have not been able to get a look at the pad, so I don't know what condition they are in.
Other information: The serpentine belt was replaced a few days after the new tires were installed. The radiator was flushed at the same as the belt was changed. They also threw in an oil change and all the fluids checked at the same time. The tires are new Michelin Defender size 205 /65 R15 and all 4 tires are new. The engine is a V6 and the transmission is automatic.
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4000 miles on my CW Golf R - zero problems until this morning. WILD, Loud sqealing, screeching metal on metal or maybe stone on metal sound coming from front passenger wheel. at first i was positive it was a pebble caught b/t the inside rotor and heat shield - i took the tire off and nothing there.. Also only really does it when I turn RIGHT.
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What would be causing this clicking sound coming from my front passenger wheel? Wheel bearing? It ONLY clicks when turning left.
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My truck has been doing great over here in Germany, and I want it to stay that way lol. I know the snow is fast approaching here and figured I should test my 4x4(I usually do monthly anyway). After switching to 4-high and making the first turn in the open parking lot, I heard a lot of popping and grinding from the front end. I straightened the wheel and out and the grinding /popping continued.
I stopped, got out of the truck to try and lock the hubs to see if that would fix the issue. turns out the passenger side hub is locked up tight. I couldnt move it by hand and wasnt about to attempt to move it with added leverage.
What this could be? maybe a collapsed vacuum hose? but then I should still be able to manually turn my I hubs I would think.
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I'm having a squeak/rattle type sound coming from my front drivers side wheel (more rattle). It only happens when I go over a quick bump and happens going straight and while turning. 2012 f250. 87k miles. 4x4. I have a two inch block level (southern truck) up front..
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