I have a grinding noise in the front end that comes and goes. It seems completely random. Sometimes on the highway sometimes braking, sometime turning. The only time It seems predictable is if I am going over speed bumps almost at the same time as a bad strut would rattle.
The sound is almost like the noise ABS makes. or like a tire rubbing on something. But I do not have ABS and there is nothing touching the tire. I am positive it is driver side front. Any ideas?

 

Sounds like a problem i had a few months ago aftera hard front tire hit. Never figured it out though, the truck say for awhile during an engine swap and hasnt done it since.

Good louck to ya though

 

could be bad wheel bearings,bad shock mounts,bad tie rod ends, bad ball joints

 

I did have a hard front tire hit a few months back, that was when these isues all started. As soon a I fix one another pops up. In this order Rotors cracked > calipers seized > idler arm busted > afm shot > exhaust broke > Grinding from somewhere > now ujoints need to be done.

Do you think a bad ujoint could make the sound because Im getting that heavy vibration and Im pretty sure they need to be done. I checked the wheel for play because I figured it was the bearings, but there was none. I will get out the pry bar and try to diagnose. Also My front wheels when jacked up will only spin around once freely no matter how hard I spin them is this normal?

 

I took a video, you might want to turn your speakers down first.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9N3w1-M_P0

 

Sounds like your on the "Rumble Strip". Just kidding I have no idea what that could be.

 

That's the same noise mine made. and yea it really does sound and feel like you're on a rumble strip. I changed out just about everything you have. Hopefully you actually get yours figured out eh?

 

Hmmmmmm, weeeelll. First, what vehicle? lol.

Sounds like wheel bearings to me, IMO. Now when you "spin" the front wheels the hubs are unlocked right? Or are you dragging the axleshafts/diff/driveshaft too?

 

Oh yeah 92 4runner 22re, 5spd, 4wd. when I spin the wheels it is in Neutral, and in 2h.
A pretty poular guy on Youtube sent me this:
"not a bearing. sounds like the 4wd locking mechanism is trying to engage" But it does it in 4wd and 2wd and im sure my 4wd works fine.

 

hey my truck is doing that also, and i believe it is the brass bushings inside the wheel spindle. It only does it on 4x4 or it the front wheels are locked
??
when they come loose, the cv axle makes them (bushings) spin. making a grinding noise.

 

look at your cv joints up front into ur dif. if the cover on them is ripped then u hyper extended one or both. this causes that grind noise as well. i jumped my truck and it still has bad cv joints. i get over the noise. it could also be within ur hubs. not bearings. possibly bushings. bad u joints squeeke and chirp. both of my drive shaft u joints went about a year ago and they only chirped and no grinding. they were almost disintegrated so its def not ur u joints.

im positive its ur cv joints or within ur hubs.

 

AHHHHH i know that sound its the sound of the the hub that the cv joint goes into on the spindle. you have to take off the hub if you have ADD system and you will see it the wheel has to come off to get to it. mine made the same noise before the lift and when i was taking things apart i found that the cv would spin freely and it made that same sound when driving its called a flange i picked one up from my local scrap yard. mine was striped smooth

 

Awesome thanks again everyone ill pull the hub off this weekend, and post what I see.

 

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Your spindle may need to be lubed, there are threads on here about how to make a luber for cheap. I used a new spindle nut and a abs plastic sewar cap. This tool will help you lube the axle inside the spindle without dissassembly.

I had a similar noise with the hubs turned in but not in 4wd, I did the spindle lube and then had the u-joints on my front axle replaced. Turns out there is some kind of centering bearing in the double u-joint that was completely disintegrated.

After lubing and replacement of the u-joints and bearing in the double joint, noise has never come back, grand total of about $130. I pulled the shaft and had a shop do the u-joint and bearing replacements. I made the luber and lubed both axels myself for about $10.

Hope this helps...

 

It is hard to tell from the pic but the edges by the tooth are worn down as well as the tooth itself is broken. The abs luber tool sounds like a cool idea. Sorry about the pic being so large I have not figured out how to make it smaller yet

 

i have that exact same sound and it drives me ˟˟˟˟˟ing nuts!...everytime it happens i have to hit a bump to make it go away...my stereo isnt loud enought to drownd it out

 

hey there jimmy, i had the exact same symptoms as you did! not to long ago, a had the cv boot blow on me leaving grease everywhere..... anyways once i pulled the cv axle out for a reboot, i noticed the brass bushing being quite worn out...it looked dry. So i lubed the whole thing with bearing lithium grease and voila! noise gone... i repaced the bushing on the other side, and it started to make that sound later on, so i just took off the wheel locker, then the snap ring washer, which gets u enough play to grease u the axle in the rear part of the spindle. give it a shot, it worked for me.

 

the brass bushing i refer to, is on the inside of the spindle, there is one on the outside as well/

 

That washer fixed my problem for a couple days then it returned. Turned out to be the inner wheel spindle bearing. Good write up here:
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f128...4runner-76360/ The part was like $40 from toyota. I used a socket and an extension instead of a slide hammer as well.