Help Troubleshooting Front End with Video

Dwburroug · Feb 16, 2015

http://youtu.be/RGk0xZ422to

Just got truck a few weeks ago. 2012 cc sb with 110,000 miles on it. Trying to diagnose front end noise. Mainly when I am turning slightly left I get a very audible fast clunking/rumble. My initial thought was it was beginning stages of death wobble. The noise definately is coming from front passenger corner so tonight I jacked up that corner and started investigating.

I have zero play in the wheel when grabbing at 12 and 6 and push, pulling and twisting as hard as I can. Grabbing at 3 and 6 yielded essentially no movement as well. There was a slight click that sounded like it was up at the box. Definately not enough to induce death wobble I don't think.

So next I went to check u joint play and to my suprise the U joints seem very solid but there seems to be a lot of play out at the hub/bearing area. I posted video below where you can clearly see what I believe is the inner race wobbling all around. Would you guys say I'm in need of new hub/bearing assembly? Pretty sure this play is allowing u joint to flop all around at certain speeds and steering angles causing my noise. Thoughts? Recommendations? Best place to buy parts?

Thanks in advance guys.

Platinum250Scorpion · Feb 20, 2015

If you don't have play in your wheel assembly when pushing & pulling at 12 & 6 on the tire, I think your wheel hub & ball joints should be good. From what I saw in the video & what I've replaced in the past on my 7.3, I think you need a main axle shaft seal (bout $70 for my 7.3) & maybe an outer axle shaft seal (bout $30...) to keep your axle shaft from freely moving/flopping around within your axle & wheel hub assembly.

You should be able to do it yourself, if you do plenty of your own work. But, getting the new axle shaft seal installed without damaging it can be a little tricky. You wanna use some grease for the mating surface in between the inside of the seal and the outside of the axle shaft. And, you'll need either a proper bearing installer or something like what I've shown. You can use a hammer on the capped end with the other end seated on the largest surface of the metal part of the seal & the axle shaft extending into the pipe. I had to trim my base to make it not touch the metal lip of the seal and only make even contact on the large/main portion of the metal part of the seal. But, with that home made tool, making sure the seal gets started seating evenly, & taking time to carefully & evenly walk it onto the axle shaft saved a good amount of money by doing it myself.

If you're gonna take it on yourself and don't know about alldatadiy.com, you might wanna get a subscription for your truck. The website has anything you need to know to work on your truck & is very cost effective.

- A vet' that's gone from a 7.3 to a 6.7, tryin to gather info & help out when I can. New to the 6.7 & PSA. Please excuse my potential FNG ways.