Stinger23

I had a horrible grinding noise coming from the passenger front when turning left and a popping when backing up while turning. Completely silent driving straight. Problem got worse and worse over 1000 miles or so. Confirmed it was the bearing (wiggled the tire) so I bought all the stuff to rebuild the whole front suspension since it had 180k miles on it (struts, springs, swaybar end links, bearings, camber adjusters, spindle nuts). Replaced all of this on both sides, had truck aligned, and noise was gone initially.

About 2 weeks later the noise returns on the same side as before. Went from quiet to as loud as the previous bearing in about 3 minutes or driving. Replaced the bearing a second time (and the "one use only" spindle nut). This time I only drove it 8 miles total before it started making noise (again, it was quiet initially). At this point I'm pissed as this is getting old.

Both times I bought quality Timken bearings. I froze the bearings so they dropped in very easily (no excessive side force to install them).

I've been searching all over this forum, other truck forums, etc. for the last couple hours and it seems this is a somewhat common problem, though most people with this issue get at least a few thousand miles out of each bearing, not less than 10 miles.

I've been torquing to 296 lb/ft each time, as instructed.

Original bearing I removed that had 180k miles on it had a lot of slop in it. Second bearing didn't seem to have slop but sounded just as bad.

Spindle surface looks brand new. No evidence of the bearing spinning in the rotor when removed. Leaking grease is the only real sign that the bearing is having issues.

Anybody have any clue what's going on?

Video of bearing noise:

redfishtd

I don't know if I can be of any help but some info better than none .
I kept getting burning smell from front brakes, I had rebuilt brakes previously . I tried everything, lubing channels on pads etc . Reduced powder pads etc .
Turns out the composite pistons absorb moisture and after a brake job they stick because you forced them back in .
I used rebuilt calipers and that fixed it .
The wheel was so hot you could cook on it and I noticed grease coming out of bearings . I know that was damaging the bearing . This happened more than a few times . Both sides of the truck several thousand miles in between . Intermittently.
I have since changed the front hubs to centrics so now I can use any 4 wheel drive rotor with out changing the throw away nut . Plus the bearing is away from the rotor .
I have changed a lot of front end stuff to moog as I go .
Are your rotors warped ? Do you torque your lug nuts on to prevent warping ?
Maybe heat is damaging yours ?
Good luck with it !

Stinger23

Thanks for the reply.

The rotors aren't warped (which is why I decided to replace bearings and not the whole assembly).

I do torque the lug nuts to prevent warping as that's a pet peeve of mine.

I am considering the Centrics but I have a hard time spending that much money without knowing what's causing the current problem (and therefore not knowing whether the Centrics will fix it either).

nickers1952

Listening to your video, it sounds as if there may be something rubbing the abs ring and hitting the "teeth" on the ring. If you are installing the proper bearing, and not having issues with the install, it is inconceivable for a bearing to go bad in 8 miles. If the wheel is jacked up and the load taken off the spindle, what does the bearing "feel" like when you spin the wheel? Is there lateral movement? Can you feel a "grind" when you spin it?

Stinger23

I actually checked that exact thing (abs ring clearance) along with clearance around the brake shield, inner fender liner, etc. while I had it apart the second time. There is no evidence of rubbing on the ABS ring or anywhere else.

I agree that it's inconceivable. I'd NEVER had a new sealed bearing fail in all of my years of wrenching on stuff and now I've had two fail in less than 50 miles. I've consulted with 4 different friends of mine who are mechanics (one of which was a dealer tech when these trucks were new) and all of them agree that it's essentially "impossible" yet here I am with the problem.

The original bearing felt perfectly fine when spinning the tire. Only evidence it was bad (besides the noise) was that you could wiggle the tire. When removed the bearing had a lot of play as well. Second bearing (that failed after a few weeks) was again fine when rolling but it was also much tighter than the first, no movement of the tire when wiggled. Only thing that looked wrong when that one was removed was that it was leaking grease.

I'm just getting ready to go out and jack up the truck and mess with this 3rd failed bearing (spin the tire, check for rubbing, etc.).

If I can't come up with anything else, I'm going to swap the sides the rotors are on temporarily just to verify that the sound moves to the other side (isolating the problem it to the bearing/rotor), and of course making sure the sound continues to happen (verifying it's not some weird installation anomaly that is temporarily "cured" by the removal/installation of the rotor).

nickers1952

If the only evidence of failure is leaking grease from a sealed bearing, and not "out of spec" movement, is it possible that the bearing is in a bind and having a heat failure causing the grease to fail? Does the wheel spin freely or is it in a bind? When you pull the rotor, make sure the inner spindle shoulder is free of any foreign material that might keep the bearing from seating squarely on it. If the bearing is not seated squarely and you apply the 280lbs of torque to the nut, the bearing will certainly be in a bind. You definitely have a strange issue my friend! It is not rocket science - there is something blatantly wrong that hasn't been discovered yet. Good luck...

Stinger23

The wheel spins freely with the "failed" bearing. I actually have to last "failed" bearing I pulled out (along with the good original from the driver's side) and they both spin freely in my hands (no side loading). Unfortunately I can't put enough side load on the tire to see how it feels while making noise (like when turning).

I checked the spindle shoulder after the last failed bearing while I was inspecting it for signs of the bearing spinning against the shoulder (a possible noise maker) but it was clean and there were no signs of spinning.

Thanks for the suggestions.

nickers1952

Any progress? I'd be interested in the fix!

gmb13

296 ft/lbs of torque sounds high to me. I think my tundra runs around 150. I would recheck the spec.

Stinger23

Not yet, I plan to work on it over the weekend. We'll see if that actually happens. I'm sort of burnt out on this particular project.

It's the right torque spec.