Grinding noise at left wheel only when turning right

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L

learning

10 Year 15 Year
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Jan 22, 2010
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My son's FJ62 makes a grinding noise only when turning right. If you turn right when traveling very slowly it does not grind. When the problem first started, it would not grind unless you turned right while traveling faster than jogging speed. Now, traveling at anything faster than walking speed when turning right makes it grind. So, it has been getting worse. It feels/sounds like it is coming from the left front wheel.

My first thought was bad wheel bearings on that wheel. Any other ideas? Again, no grind whatsoever when turning left.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
checked the lug bolts?

I had a spacer failure that sounded similar. Check the torque on the wheel nuts, and check for a broken stud - not a likely problem, I agree with possible bearings.

Glenn in Tucson
 
Mine does this and puzzled the heck out of me. It turned out to be the inside stick-on wheel weights rubbing on the caliper. Elusive little problem, that was...

I hope you find your issue.
 
Tucson_sailers and OyajiJon -- thanks for your replies. You are probably onto something. As I think about it, the problem started right after we put on new tires. We will check this out tonight! Thanks again.
 
Just after you changed tires...that was a valuable piece of information...LOL

If the wheel weights are on the inside, look at the caliper for a clean spot, and look at the wheel weight for a flat spot/groove. It actually won't be that easy to see since the contact patch won't be very big. Let us know what you find...
 
A wheel weight rubbing on the caliper would rub regardless of which direction the wheels are pointed...

Check the wheel bearings and if that isn't it you may need to look deeper. Birfields can fail from lack of lubrication.

A loose kingpin bearing on one side could be the cause, are the knuckle studs tight?

Just don't neglect this grinding, it could lead to bigger problems. If some of these things are beyond your knowledge to check, posting your location might help us point you to a person who can help, that knows Landcruisers.

Tony
 
Kynot62 said:
A wheel weight rubbing on the caliper would rub regardless of which direction the wheels are pointed...
Click to expand...

You can't say this with surety. While my rubbing was loud and constant in the beginning, it only occurs in turns now. I agree that he shouldn't ignore the grinding. This is why I recommended verifying that there was a rub before tearing into the axle ends and spending a bunch of money. What happened to checking the easiest most apparent thing first? He did say that it started when he got new tires...
 
Thanks to everyone for the continued discussion. All very helpful. My son had to do homework last night, so we did not get a chance to do any diagnostics. I hope we can make headway tonight. (And, not to worry, we are not driving it until we figure out the problem). Thanks again.
 
Check for wheel bearing play, it's easy.

Jack the left side tire off the ground and grab it at 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock and try to shake it in and out. AKA, when your 12 o'clock hand is pulling your six o'clock hand should be pushing.

Brian
 
It was not in the front axle

We finished completely redoing the front driver bearings (replaced the bearings just in case) and putting everything together. Took it for a test drive, and the grinding noise is still there. To try to further diagnose the problem, we drove it in circles with me walking/jogging besides the truck to really listen where the noise was coming from. Well, it sounds like it is coming from the back passenger wheel -- I could not have been further off on my first diagnosis (front driver wheel), could I! This time, I even rode laying down on the back seat with the door open and my head hanging out to listen for the noise, and it is definitely coming from the rear. So, now I think it is the rear passenger bearing (although I will start a separate post seeking ideas about what the grinding in the rear wheel could be since replacing the rear bearings sounds like no easy task). Well, one more thing to learn (replacing the rear bearings).

Important lesson learned: spend more time diagnosing the problem!

Thanks to everyone for their great help.
 
Problem solved!!!

So, we were getting ready to do the rear bearings (since we decided that since it was not the front bearings it must be the rear), and as we were looking around I noticed a spot on the mufler pipe running by the wheel well that was worn smooth. Hmmm .... so, we pulled the mufler pipe to the side (temporarily tied it with some bailing wire), test drove it and .... problem solved. I guess we will still do the rear bearings since after 170k miles it can't hurt (and it is a good thing for my son to learn to do now while he still not relying on it as a daily driver).

As you might recall, the problem started right after we put new (slightly larger) tires on the truck, so, naturally this makes a lot of sense ... we just could not find it before.

So, thanks to everyone for their help. Funny how simply things sometimes are ... and how easy it is to mis-diagnose something and spend many hours doing a bunch of other stuff.

Still ... a good learning experience.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=513283&stc=1&d=1303181990
 
Thanks for this post

Just wanted to say that I bought my first LC a few weeks ago. Had always wanted one since running around years in my buddy's. Picked up a 2 owner 86 FJ60 in great stock condition.


Bought sight unseen except for 50 or so pictures ( I know I know). Anyway all was as represented except for this rubbing noise while turning. After reading this post I crawled under her and low and behold. Rub marks on the inside of that brand new BFG AT on the drivers side rear tire and a rub mark on the exhaust pipe.


Now if I can just get some 3 pt hitches in the back seat I might be able to relax enough to drive my family in it.


This forum is the bomb dot com!!!
 
11 years later, still relevant
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