Obdluv

I'm looking for help with my 1995 f150 xlt 5.0 v8 with 245k on the clock. Over the past week I have had a front end roar that has been bothering the hell out of me as I can not seem to figure out the issue. It sounds like maybe either bad tire tread or bad bearings but I have not only switched tires from one of my other trucks that are less than 6 months old to rule out a tire issue, but also replaced the bearings on both sides two days ago with no change. The bearings did not seem bad as I had done them about a year ago. There was no damage on the spindles. All joints are properly greased, ball joints were done within 6 months, had an alignment 4 months ago with no signs of uneven wear on my tires. I keep up with tire pressure diligently. Tie rods are good with absolutely no play in the wheels, serpentine belt is 4 months old and looks perfect, pulleys check good with good rotation, no wobbles and no squeaks or noises. I tried the garden hose trick to rule out my alternator and various other serpentine attached components like air pump and power steering. u joints are less than 6 months old, properly greased, and I lubed my slip yolks also. There is zero wobble in my driveshaft so I feel like my carrier bearing is not part of the issue.

Also, I do not believe it is drivetrain related as the sound directly correlates to speed with no change with throttling, turning, or breaking. I made sure when I lifted the back end of the truck on jack stands and ran it with no sound present.

I'm completely stumped and looking for other ideas here. It sounds like it is coming from the driver side front tire area and I have a mild vibration at low speeds like it's a tire issue. When I did the bearings, I inspected the brake pads and rotors and they look good with no unusual wear. I also did the obvious and made sure that nothing was caught up under the truck and rubbing on moving parts. I will be checking vacuum lines today although I really do not suspect involvement there, just out of other ideas.

I do have a slight rear main seal leak that I havent had time to get to yet and recently having issues with my oil pressure dummy gauge flickering rapidly though oil pressure actual is good enough. I believe the oil pressure issue is a bad transistor in my cluster rather than a sending unit issue. If you heard the sound, You'd swear I had either a bad tire or bad bearings.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated. These trucks are fairly easy to work on and I'm pretty intimately familiar with all three but this issue has me stuck.

raski

Do you have 4X4 or 4X2??? It matters. With the information you provided, all the parts you replaced, I would check the fan clutch, motor mounts, brakes and make sure the noise and vibration is not originating from anything being driven by the belt.Make sure the issue is not originating from the rear.

Obdluv

[QUOTE=raski;6813708]Do you have 4X4 or 4X2??? It matters.
I raised the rear on jack stands and had my wife throttle the truck, no sound present. the truck is a 4x2 automatic trans.

I havent been throwing parts at the issue except for the bearings. I got this truck 18 months ago and have been slowly working on it. I will check the fan clutch for sure. I replaced the water pump and clutch assembly when I first got the truck.. i actually did the entire coolant system- hoses, radiator, even the heater core as the previous owner was using tap water and there was a lot of rust in the system. I did check breaks, by appearances, they seem to be fine with no uneven wear, and are not making any noises.

motor mounts is a good idea to check but wouldn't the mounts make noise correlating with engine performance rather than speed alone? also, wouldn't i hear the noise if it were mounts with the back end jacked up?

Thank you for replying.

raski

If the mounts are sagging, you begin to stress the driveline and change their operating angles. You then can get a vibration/noise resonating from the driveline. Just a possibility.

Obdluv

Great tip here. This makes sense as a real possibility in my situation. Any tips on how to check mounts on these trucks? On my wife's old car, I had a buddy put the car in drive and throttle it while holding the breaks to view engine movement. Would you recommend the same?

David Young

I don't know how close the muffler is to the frame on the 302 but, on my 300 6 cylinder it is very close. Maybe you have an exhaust part hitting on the frame somewhere? But then again a broken motor mount could cause the exhaust to move and hit the frame. Just giving you something else to check out

raski

That test is good for a broken mount. You will have to visually examine the mounts to see if they are compressed.

Obdluv

I figured out the issue and wanted to report back in case anyone else has this issue.

Some of the bolts on my twin I beams had come slightly loose causing a vibration that produced a bearing like sound. I replaced the bolts and the issue resolved.

raski

Nice fix. How about some pictures?