Find the whine (1 Viewer)

[Sntryplt]

I need some ideas. 2019 - LFD rack, 270* awning, and skid plates. Above 50 mph or so, I have a very soft and intermittent whine on the driver side. Sounds like a brake wear indicator squealing, but I have good pads all around. If the radio were on, I would not hear it. Gas mileage not affected- average about 19 mpg at interstate speeds. Here's the intermittent part. I can go weeks without hearing the squeal. Then it will occur (5-10 seconds at a time for a few days and the time between events is very variable) then stops again. Any change in loading, such as twitching the steering, light braking, etc causes the squeal to stop. No "pull" in the steering. I've "gunned" the rotors and hubs with an IR thermometer and the temps are typically within 25* of each other. So far, the hubs have no play in them, and no dirt, etc on the brake rotors or pads. My next thought is to disassemble and degrease the caliper pins and backing plates. Could this be an early indication of a bearing failure? Open to suggestions to figure this out that don't include turning up the radio . TIA.

 

[r2m]

Even though you have good pads, you may have a sticky caliper causing your brakes to just touch the rotor.
If you do a little jerk to the left and right with the steering wheel (at a slow speed), does it go away?

 

[Rednexus]

If it's high pitched, it's most likely your brake backing plate contacting the rotor (or, perhaps a rock stuck in the backing plate the occasionally touches the rotor). It's super easy to bend the front backing plates when the rig is getting worked on, after which they'll be warped forever and will be likely to hit the rotor any time they the backing plate is bumped (which is super easy to do even when performing simple work on the rig like rotating the tires).

You can pretty easily pull off the caliper and rotor to see if you have any signs of contact on the backing plate (usually it will be a shiny metal spot on the backing plate where it has been rubbing), then you can just push/hammer the backing plate away so it does not contact the rotor. Or, if a rock drops out, then you'll also know you found the culprit.

Bearing noise is more of a growl/grinding noise - not high pitched at all.

 

[Hiluxforever]

Could be wind related. Wind resistance doesn't really become a thing until over 50 mph then throw in temps affecting harmonics and wind speed and direction aligning just so.

With a rack and an awning. It could be that.