Can't find source of weird noise, driving me NUTS

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KLF

KLF

Frame waxer
SILVER Star
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Joined
Apr 5, 2003
Threads
250
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10,407
Location
Southern NH
For several weeks now I've been suffering with an annoying tick-tick-tick-tick sound as I go down the road. It sounds EXACTLY like stones stuck in the tread of the tires (BFG KO2's). This makes sense, as I have been driving on several gravel/dirt roads for about a year. The noise wasn't there when I had the winter tires on (Nokian R3s), or at least I don't remember it, but I could be that I wasn't driving with the windows down and didn't notice it. 2015 LC, ~93K miles. BP-51 suspension, ~2" of lift. Frequency of noise is tied to speed, happens on smooth pavement. Truck is otherwise very smooth.

Had the day free today so I decided it was time to find the source. Did the following:

* Put it up on the lift, carefully inspected all the tires with my best reading glasses and a bright light. Found a few very small stones (<2mm) in the tread, and one tiny nail that is not leaking. Pried everything out with a screwdriver.

* Spun all the wheels, nothing. Perhaps this is because they are not at ride height. Wheel bearings feel tight, no looseness at all.

* Carefully inspected the front CV axles. Nice and tight, none of the boots are torn or leaking, bone dry.

* Checked driveshafts, both feel very tight, and they get greased every oil change.

* Removed the rings from all the RW wheels. Not as hard to do as I expected, my Makita impact and a new Bosch T30 bit popped all the cap screws right out. Ordered an M8x1.00 tap and die to chase all the threads, will re-assemble later this week with fresh blue Loctite.

* Checked torque on all the lug nuts.

Just took the truck for a quick drive, the noise is still there. What's odd is that I can clearly hear it from both sides if there's a wall or building to "bounce" the noise off of, and I have the windows down. If I turn very slightly to the right, the noise goes away on the left side. Same if I veer to the left, noise disappears from the right.

My winter tires are a pain to get out, so I'd rather not resort to swapping them on.

Any ideas on diagnosis greatly appreciated.
 
i'll put in one vote for front wheel bearings. Could also be a CV I guess. Kinda torn, but going with my gut. Possibly a rock in the brake shield?
 
Cracked wheel?
Rotate in the Spare?

It the ticking frequency the same as the tire rotation or is it faster or slower?
 
Clicking while driving straight or turning? Or both?

My vote is wheel bearings as well. Could likely only click with weight of the truck on them.

Do you have access to chassis ears?
 
I am going to guess CV, but did you happen to check the rotor veins to make sure a little pebble or something isn't in there and just tapping the caliper when it comes around? Can you pin point it to the front or back?
 
Thanks for the thoughts.

I'm relatively sure the frequency is matched to wheel rotation, but not sure how to confirm. The clicking will change patterns after going around turns, ie: the wheels are in different positions relative to each other now.

I feel like the noise is coming from the front. What I might try is have the GF drive it slowly up the driveway while I walk next to it, see if I can focus on it.

I did new DBA rotors 2 years ago. How would I check the bearings? Haven't messed with these new cartridge style ones yet.
 
This can also be your lower ball joints are loose. If they are loose the diff will make a clicking sound.
 
Back on this, the noise is still there and I still can't find it. I've also removed all the center caps from the RW wheels but that didn't help.

Had to get an inspection sticker last week so I worked with the local indy guy I use to try to find it, even he's stumped. We put it up on the lift, ran the truck in gear, no noise. Best he can figure is there's something loose in the e-brake hat of the rear rotors, or it's front wheel bearings. He definitely heard it in his driveway moving slowly back and forth, but we can't tell if it's in the front or rear.

He checked the CVs, ball joints, driveshafts, everything we could think of. All is good.

So I'm tearing things apart, starting with the front wheel bearings. I have the big 39mm nut off the axle stub, but I can't get the stub to release from the hub. I have the ABS sensor removed, so I can look into the hole and see if it's moving. I have hit that thing until I am about to have a stroke, but it won't budge. It's heavily marinating in Kroil. Tried a big rubber dead blow mallet, a 3 lb sledge with a brass drift, and even an air hammer. Nothing.

PXL_20220713_204013421.webp


I have the 4 bolts out of the wheel hub, and I can tell it is ready to come off the knuckle. Any ideas?

Meanwhile I'm moving to the rear wheels.
 
radman said:
dang! that's a lot of work for not even knowing what corner it's coming from.
Click to expand...
Agreed, but I'm getting desperate.

Good news is I kept at it and got the hub off. Stub spines were really tight! The bearing is fine, no abnormal feel or noise. CV looks fine as well.

Got the other side off in about 20 minutes. Same thing, lots of beating and ample swear words. Both bearings are fine. The dust shields are just starting to get rusty, so I'll give them a healthy coat of Rustoleum Satin Black before putting it all back together tomorrow.

Argh.....
 
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Pulled the rear rotors. All looks fine there. Rear bearings feel like there is a tiny bit of "clunkyness" to them (if you know what I mean), but I am pretty sure that is the spiders in the rear differential. I really don't want to pull the rear axles.
 
I can’t find the thread at the moment, but I recall someone having a single bad bearing that caused a weird clicking sound when loaded. I think there were even pics of it.
 
radman said:
Jackpot:
Post in thread 'New driveline noise after lift'
New driveline noise after lift - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/new-driveline-noise-after-lift.1228472/post-13721819
Click to expand...
Thanks. Read through most of that. I'm not quite ready to start throwing expensive wheel bearings at this yet. I've had bad wheel bearings in other vehicles and the telltale is a low frequency rumbling noise, as @bloc had. This noise is totally different, a sharp "tick-tick-tick...", unmuffled as if something is loose.

I don't have a way to swap the rear bearings, I got rid of my press years ago. I doubt the local dealer would let me just bring them the shafts.

Gonna do some painting today then put it back together. If the noise is still there, I'll swap the winter rims/tires on. If it's still there... maybe trade it for a Rivian.
 
@KLF, I have a set of chassis ears I'm happy to loan you for the cost of shipping back and forth. That said you might just spend the $90 to buy a set off Amazon (and return them when you're done if you don't want to keep them). I used them to track down a front wheel bearing noise, and also my mechanic and I found them helpful to locate some noise after doing a re-gear. Mine came with 6 mics, you just clip them to various parts of your vehicle and drive around with headphones on switching between them. They work best when you're comparing one side to another as most of us don't have enough of a trained ear to hear a true problem by itself but if you have a bad bearing that happens under load you'll definitely hear it when comparing to the good side.
 
KLF said:
Pulled the rear rotors. All looks fine there. Rear bearings feel like there is a tiny bit of "clunkyness" to them (if you know what I mean), but I am pretty sure that is the spiders in the rear differential. I really don't want to pull the rear axles.
Click to expand...
NH rust would change the equation but on a clean rig you can get the axles out in shockingly little time. I’m not exaggerating.. maybe 20-30 minutes per side.

And without chassis ears simply spinning the backing plate around the axle will cause some noise.

But I also agree a tick doesn’t sound like what I had going on. I wonder whether radman was thinking of the thread with the front bearing tick.. can’t remember whether it turned out to be cv or bearing.

Either way, chassis ears are the easy button here. I’d seriously consider getting or borrowing a set.
 
KLF said:
Thanks. Read through most of that. I'm not quite ready to start throwing expensive wheel bearings at this yet. I've had bad wheel bearings in other vehicles and the telltale is a low frequency rumbling noise, as @bloc had. This noise is totally different, a sharp "tick-tick-tick...", unmuffled as if something is loose.

I don't have a way to swap the rear bearings, I got rid of my press years ago. I doubt the local dealer would let me just bring them the shafts.

Gonna do some painting today then put it back together. If the noise is still there, I'll swap the winter rims/tires on. If it's still there... maybe trade it for a Rivian.
Click to expand...
A Rivian will give you a new set of current problems such as , air suspension constantly adjusting while at stop light/ sitting parked in garage, the small power hatch doors not working and the power cargo cover failing. These are the three big ones so far being reported by many new owners and no fix available for the time being. We passed a new green one(temp plate)coming back from Chattanooga yesterday and the front fender looked like it was low riding while the rear end looked less squatted. Maybe normal but it looked a bit odd. The Rivian still looks better then the Model X or Y. FYI- good luck towing with a Rivian if you’re going a distance of over 80mi.
 
linuxgod said:
@KLF, I have a set of chassis ears I'm happy to loan you for the cost of shipping back and forth. That said you might just spend the $90 to buy a set off Amazon (and return them when you're done if you don't want to keep them).
Click to expand...

Geoff (@linuxgod) : I greatly appreciate the offer. My plan now is to put everything back together, see if the noise is still there. If so, I'll swap the wheels. If that doesn't fix it, I'll cough up for the kit on Amazon.

@1Maverick I was only joking about the Rivian.

goldwater58 said:
Any chance you have a wheel weight on the inner part of the rim tapping/brushing the brake caliper?
Click to expand...

Funny you should mention that. When I pulled the RR tire, there was a couple of small stick-on weights sitting on top of the caliper. I slipped the wheel back on and they weren't hitting anything on the wheel. They are undamaged, show no signs of impact, and it appears the double-stick just let go.
 
So, good news, bad news.

The GOOD news is I have it all back together, took it for a ~5 mile loop, noise seems to be GONE. Tried hard and soft braking, hard acceleration, cornering, etc. No noise.

Bad news? I have no idea what was causing it, or how I fixed it. I hate that.

At least I know all the bearings are OK. I also took the opportunity to do some painting on the brake dust shields on all 4 corners.
 
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