Ford 7.3L Power Stroke (1999-2003) :: Growl Noise In Front End Comes And Goes
Nov 28, 2016
Been trying to track down a noise in the front end. Got a growl and what sounds like a big cat scratching its nails on a metal plate. The metal sound comes and goes, but the growl is always present at one level or another. It sounded like it was coming from the driver's side. I jacked the truck and checked everything on that side and it seemed tight. It was all replaced about two years ago. I then started looking around and found the sway bar links were shot along with the bushings. I then jacked up the passenger's side and checked that.
Should have done this first as it was pulling to the right and not the left. The wheel was hard to rotate and stopped rotating as soon as I stopped forcing it. It was making a growling noise, but not nearly as loud as when the truck was rolling down the road. It also had a bit of play that I tracked down to the hub assembly. The ball joints and u-joints were tight with no play at all. The dust seal that should be on the axle was gone and the hub seal looked beat. Tie rod ends all seemed good. Ordering part now. My question is there anything else I should look at?
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Ok, so my '02 has dual alt from factory and lately I have noticed a "growl" only at idle. Upon further diagnosis it is coming from the belt. So I replaced the tensioner, upper idler, and belt seeing as how they didn't look in good shape. Still there. I noticed from looking under the truck where the belt comes off the crank to the lower idler there is a lot (2" or so) belt *flutter* (slap/slop) but as soon as you give it any fuel it smooths out and the noise goes away. Let it idle and the noise comes back with the belt slap/flutter. For those with dual alternators, look at your belt from under the truck and see if yours is smooth at idle. Now I do notice it doesn't make the noise for the first few minutes of running. Next I am going to try bypassing the lower alternator and lower idler to try and pinpoint the prob.
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2002 Screw 4X4 with 5.4 ... Truck has 180K miles.
Howl / Growl noise we think from the front. Both front wheel bearings have been changed without improvement. A rotational issue as it only does it when moving and still does it if you put it in neutral and let it coast.
2 WD or 4 WD does not seem to make much difference. Been checking and testing everything without success. Drive shafts and u-joints are tight etc.
How to test it? It was my truck and is my son's truck now. They have run it on a hoist and tried to determine where the sound comes from. Going to try that again but it might be different when the wheels are not on the ground and there is no weight on things.
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With the cold weather lately, I've noticed my truck has developed a new noise from the front axle. It only does it when the truck has sat for a few hours, is completely cold (below 30*), and the hubs are locked. It will only make the noise going forward. I've eliminated brakes and hub assembly as the source since the noise is only made when the hubs are locked, or when the shifter is in 4x4 with the hubs unlocked.
Its a squeak, squeak, squeak noise that seems to be with every revolution of the tire and it goes away after driving 50-100 feet. All the u-joints are tight and I can't make the noise spinning the front driveshaft by hand. The brakes have 9000 miles on them with hawk pads and powerstop cryo rotors. Neither hub assembly has play and all the ball joints are tight. I do leave the hubs locked almost year round, so there's probably a good 40k on them.
I was thinking of throwing some new u-joints on and seeing what happened, but I'm guessing the whole axle shaft has to get pulled to do the ones at the steering knuckles?
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I have this strange noise coming from the front end. It happens at the most random times. It is at the end of the video. It's kinda hard to hear over the engine noise.
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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 have seen a number of post about front end vibs associated with steering and braking. I have had a hard time finding these posts and decide to post my vib/noise accompanied when brake and steering applied.
I too have a vib/noise coming from the front at low speed braking and turning (mostly parking lots and such).
About 5-6 months ago (around 90k miles) I noticed a high squeal at high rpms. I thought it had something to do with the belt so one day while driving up the grapevine pass (I-5), under high rpm, I turned the AC on. The squeal went away, I turn the AC off the squeal came back, I was pretty sure it was the belt and hopefully not the AC compressor.
10k miles later, I finally got to changing the serp belt. After I changed the belt, I immediately heard a rough vibration noise when braking and then when PS is under strain. It seams like it comes and goes when it wanted to, but now its always under the low speed parking lot conditions. Sometimes the vibration can be felt in the floorboards.
I haven't gotten to fix'n it yet lol... as I don't know what the problem is. I'm finding it hard to believe that a serp belt could be the cause of vib/noise when braking/low speed turning. One thing for sure, the vib/noise instantly occurred when I changed the serpentine belt. What might be going on here?
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Recently I have a vibration that I can feel slightly through the steering wheel. If I'm driving down the highway doing 70mph + I have a noise coming from the front end. Also while driving let's say 40mph and below and I let off the pedal to slow down I can here a vibration in the front that kind of sounds like a small Jake break. And when going over anything bumpy I hear like a popping metal sound. This popping sound has been going on for a long time and still can't figure it out. I replaced all my shocks thinking my old set was bottoming out. Nope, still have the same problem.
I jacked up the front end yesterday and checked for movement top and bottom and side to side thinking maybe the wheel bearings or ball joints were going. Everything is solid. Spun the wheels and no noise, no grinding, nothing. I can't figure it out. I have not removed the wheels to check and see if a caliper is loose. I will be checking that next. I did notice while looking around that I can push up on my pitman arm on the steering box. It's not a huge amount of movement but I can still move it. I can also see teeth marks between the box and the arm, not sure if that is normal or not. When I do move it up and down it sounds a lot like that metal popping sound I have been hearing. So, I know this is a lot.
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Now down to the question in hand. I have a 2001 f350 4x4 with7.3 diesel...I have recently noticed a low grind like noise coming from the right front. I have troubled shot the issue and I am 100% sure it is the wheel hub assembly. Did I mention I am running 37x13.50 tires..and now it is the hubs...and they are the original hubs.. My question is every thing I look for shows ABS is on my truck... I look at the hub and don't see it.. so with the Dana 60 front does it have ABS or not? Also, should I go motorcraft, Timken or moog wheel hubs?
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I've got a loud, intermittent, swooshing, vibrating noise from the front left wheel area at highway speeds. I put a camera down there and saw that when there was noise, the front driveshaft and front left halfshaft were spinning. When they stopped spinning on their own, the noise stopped. Hubs are Warn Premium (gold) and unlocked. Unit bearing already replaced. What could it be?
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when i accelerate or let off the peddle I hear and aloud thug or dull bang. I've checked and greased all the u joints. Disconnected the carrier bearing and separated the drive shaft and greased it up. Still get the noise I have very little play in the carrier bearing but I don't think that's the problem. It sounds to me like might be at the transmission. What do y'all think it is?
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Thats the sound coming from I think the front left area and the rate is proportional to speed. It only occurs at slow speed from about 5 to 15 mph and it seems to only occur for about 30% of each rotation. I plan to jack it up and check tire wobble or if the sound occurs during free spin. Any other things to check?
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Ok, so I leave the fire station this morning headed home and my steering felt weird. About 1/2 mile from home I hit a bump and my drivers side front wheel started making a screeching noise. I stopped and looked out the window and it appeared fine. I limped home and as I pull in the driveway, I lost all my steering. I look under the truck and this is what I found.
Not sure what to do. This is my daily driver and neither of my 2 mechanic friends will answer their phones.
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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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Doing some suspension work this weekend. Wondering where the best place for jacking up my truck (99 f250 SD 4wd). I need to take the U bolts off so I can't put the jack there. I've got a 2 ton, 3 ton, and 25 ton jack. Only one stand. I need the whole rear end jacked up at the same time. Same for the front. I've heard your not supposed to place the jack on the pumpkin. Is it OK to just jack it up by the axle and put the stand as close to the outside as possible?
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I have an new to me 1999 4x4 F350 that I was giving a good once over today on the front end since it wanders a little bit. but anyways I didnt see a abs sensor wire on the front. the plugs are there behind the inner fender well and it looks like there is a plug when the sensor should go in the wheel bearing. was 2 wheel abs an option on these trucks? is there anything else this changes front end wise?
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I noticed a clunk a while ago but could never pin point it and today its the worse it has ever been. I did some research on this and everyone is pointing towards sway bar bushings. now if that is the case why wouldn't they just replace the sway bar link? I see some do poly bushings and others regular rubber. What is the best way to go about this? and I also see you need a shop press so I'm lucky I have one.
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After some diag I got the A/C to blow out the front vents. There are million threads on this issue half of them are never figured out. This is the second time I have come across this problem so will make this really informative for those who have this problem. If you A/C blows to defrost, yes most of the time its going to be a vacuum leak issue.
Step 1) turnkey on engine off, stand by passenger fender and listen.. can you hear the pump running? If it is your pump isn’t dead.
Step 2) does the pump run for 30 seconds then shut off? You may not have a vacuum leak. If keep’s running for ever you have a leak. Inspect all lines, especially those going down to the hubs for cracks. Also inspect vacuum lines under passenger glovebox.
Step 3) can’t find a leak? Disconnect the line going to the ESOF solenoid and plug it, if you pump stops running then your ESOF solenoid has an internal leak. That was my problem 6 months ago, replaced ESOF, A/C blows normally.
Try This Second! So my AC isn't blowing through my front vents again.... (more diag)
AC not blowing through vents and can’t find a vacuum leak? Take off glove box door, turn AC control switch to floor/defrost/front vents, watch the metal arm connected to the side of the big black box move up and down into various positions. I noticed on mine the arm will go down in positions (floor or defrost) But it will not move up! Which needs to happen to switch to front vents. If I push the rod up by hand manually, the ac will blow through front vents, and stay blowing through front vents even after I let go. PIC of metal arm thing connected to diaphragm, which changes air flow by moving flap inside the big black box
I am guessing the Diaphragm is the issue? The truck will continue to blow from the front vents even when the truck is shut off and restarted, it will stop when I switch the ac to a different position, it will not return back to front vents.
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I've put 6k on the truck since the dealership replaced the front rotors and pads but they started to warp a few hundred miles ago. I do have a lift and new 37" tires so I was wondering what rotor / pad combo works best for larger tires and towing. I was looking at EBC kits but I'm sure there are better and cheaper options...
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All vacuum lines are good, pump works, Canister isn't leaking, 4x4 activates and I can feel it, so Can't be vacuum leak. Replaced esof solenoid 6 months ago last time this happened, but this issue seems to be different. Watch this vid I made showing the issue.. after viewing video, do yall' agree I isolated the issue? If that one tug makes the air go through the front vents, that means everything else in the A/C mode selection works..
YouTube.....
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Any reason why I couldn't use my Curt front mount receiver hitch to lift the front wheels off the ground? It is bolted to the front spring hangers.
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