Drove for a few hours last night but the radio was on and the little lady was lit so wasn’t really paying that much attention to the trucks noises so it may have happened last night but don’t know for sure. I noticed it on the way home from work today. When I turn a slight left I hear/feel a rubbing noise coming from the front right side of the truck. And when I say slight, I do mean slight. As in the slight you do to keep the truck centered when the road is tilted for rain run-off. When I turn to pull onto another road/driveway it feels like I have a flat spot on my tires along with an even louder rubbing noise. I don’t hear/feel anything when turning right. All tires are aired up and none are loose.

 

It has turned from a rubbing sound that only happened when I turned left to a rubbing/grinding sound all the time. I can feel it in the floorboards. It will occasionally stop for a few seconds and start right back up again. I don't feel it when I am slowed down (say less than 5mph) but it I can still hear it with the windows down and pulling alongside another vehicle.

 

Well my first thought is a bad wheel bearing. If you can jack it up somewhere safely, get the front wheel off of the ground and then grab it at 9 and 3 and see if it has play.

Its a good time to take a look at everything - tie rods, ball joints, radius arm bushings, axle pivot bushings, sway bar links and bushings. Everything should be tight.

 

 

Ok, Ford said they will have to replace my auto locking hubs with manual locking hubs because "no one makes them anymore"... I do not want to go with a manual locking hub, I want to have the auto locking hubs that our trucks came with. The Ford Parts site still doesnt want to list our trucks and I suck at navigating the rockauto site. What are my options at this point? They said they would install the auto locking hubs if I can find them and bring them in. But where can I find them?

 

You are only going to find them on ebay and craigslist, or maybe a junkyard. Ford had two completely different styles of auto locking hubs - one will have a 5 screw cap, the other a 3 screw cap. They started using the 3 screw style in 94 - my guess is yours will have the 5 screw style.

I highly recommend switching over to the manual hubs. A good set of warns, or even the cheaper mile-marker variety, will be much more reliable than the auto locking hubs ford used. Less convenient for sure. But you will never have to worry if your hubs are actually engaging or not.

Did something get damaged in the hub? Why are they saying they need to replace them?

 

There are some parts places on the internet that mainly deal in obsolete parts. If you can get the part numbers of what you need from the Ford garage you are dealing with, some checking can be done.

 

I don't want to go on a rant here but you asked...

As I said in the original post, they started making a strange rubbing sound that quickly turned into a grinding sound. I took it to a local shop that I had used previously (new to this town and my old shop is 30min away). I didn't notice that this shop had been bought by Firestone until they already had my key and was putting the tag on. My first thought was to get my key back and tell them to delete my account they just created. But I was in a rush to get to work so I said screw it. BIG MISTAKE! They called me that afternoon and gave me a price of $2246 (front bearings, front rotors, front brakes, outer tierod, rear axle seals and alighnment) without replacing the spindle or hub because they didn't know yet if they were bad. I took this as my oppurtunity to do what I should have done when I dropped it off and told them where to stick it. I get a call less than an hour later that my truck was ready for me to pick up. That night I go get my truck to take it to Ford. I roll out of the parking lot without stopping because I CANT STOP. I think, well they didn't properly bleed my brakes. I get on the main road and decide to pull over and look. No brake pads! They forgot to put my brake pads back on! I consider calling a tow truck but since Ford is just a few miles down the road I figure I'll just drive slow, it was late at night so traffic was almost non-existent. The little lady said that my wheel was shaking real bad. I figured since they forgot to put my brakes back on, they probably forgot to tighten the lug nuts as well. I check them, they seem to be tight so back down the road we go but now I am off the side of the road with my 4 ways on. The side of the road got to the point where it was a bit steep so I decided to get back on the road for a 100yrds or so till it leveled back out. Once my passenger side tire tried to make it back up the 3" tall pavement, my tire pulled straight off the spindle! So I did what I should have done at Firestone and called a tow truck to come get it and take it to Ford.

Edit:
Ford gave me a price of $2591 for all that plus calipers, hoses, spindle, hub and manual conversion...

 

WOW.

Local shop better be issuing a refund immediately. That is criminal gross negligence.

And Jesus, for that price I am thinking it is time to start learning how to do stuff to your own truck. What a ripoff. I could buy a whole truck for that.

 

I sold my 2400sqft house with attached 2 car garage for a 1100sqft apartment and a detached 1 car garage that I'm not allowed to do vehicle maintenance in. This is just a temporary thing until I find the land I want in which case I will have a multi-car garage with a pit in one of the bays.

I use to do all my own maintenance and between forums, google and a haynes manual I was able to get most everything done without going to a shop for anything other than to stuff I didnt have time to do or didnt have the tools to do. But right now, I have no choice but to use shops.