Front End Growl

davet18 · July 28, 2008

I have a 2001 Yukon, 4wd, with 115,000 miles.

Recently there is a growling (best discreption that i can give) that seems to be coming from the front end. It seems to be slightly louder when going around a bend to the left. It sounds like the four wheel drive is engaged all the time. I jacked up the front end to see if there is any play in the wheel bearings but they are tight. The CV joints are also tight, no play.

The front differential seals were replaced recently due to leaking. The noise started prior to have the seals replaced but was intermitent and continued to be intermitent after the seals were done. Recently the noise has become constant. It sounds like a wheel bearing to me but becuase they are so tight, no play when grabbing the tire at 6 and 12 oclock.

I searched the forum and it seems when ever someone described a similar noise it was a wheel bearing but in most of those cases the bearings were sloppy.

Help is always appreciated.

Dave T (new to the forum, glad I found it, good information)

2000DV4.8 · July 28, 2008

Did you check both drivers and passenger side wheel bearings for play?

By the way, welcome to the site.

Draenor · July 28, 2008

Did you check both drivers and passenger side wheel bearings for play?

By the way, welcome to the site.

+1 Wheel bearings are bad.

minibike132 · July 28, 2008

Add me to the wheel bearing list, they don't need to be loose to make noise.

95Sierra2500 · July 28, 2008

I'd put a safe 10:1 bet on your wheel bearings. As said, they don't have to be loose yet to be bad. Most times, wheel bearings will actually start to make noise LONG before they ever get loose. For example, my wife's Jimmy kept getting louder and louder and I couldn't figure it out. Then the steering started getting loose, so I inspected all steering components. I DID find a lose idler arm, but the steering was still pretty lose. After a careful re-inspection and purely by chance, I bumped the wheel and noticed that it looked like the CV shaft end rocked, but everything around it stayed still. Rocking the wheel in any direction confirmed that the wheel bearing was indeed bad. Replaced it and the steering was rock-solid again and the noise was gone.

davet18 · July 28, 2008

I'd put a safe 10:1 bet on your wheel bearings. As said, they don't have to be loose yet to be bad. Most times, wheel bearings will actually start to make noise LONG before they ever get loose. For example, my wife's Jimmy kept getting louder and louder and I couldn't figure it out. Then the steering started getting loose, so I inspected all steering components. I DID find a lose idler arm, but the steering was still pretty lose. After a careful re-inspection and purely by chance, I bumped the wheel and noticed that it looked like the CV shaft end rocked, but everything around it stayed still. Rocking the wheel in any direction confirmed that the wheel bearing was indeed bad. Replaced it and the steering was rock-solid again and the noise was gone.

I'll probably drive it a little longer and when I have time pull the right wheel bearing assembly and replace it. I wish it were only a bearing ($25) and not whole assembly ($150-$200).

Thanks for the quick responses. I'm new to the forum. There is a lot of good information in the forum from all of you.

Dave T

davet18 · September 6, 2008

I changed the right bearing and it didn't fix it. Then I changed the left and all is quiet now. It just seemed strange that the left bearing was making the noise when I turned left. I would have thought that when turning left and the pressure is on the right bearing that it would have been the right bearing. Neither of the bearings had any play.Thanks for the input.