Loud squealing coming from drivers side axle (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Sep 3, 2019
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Location
Abbotsford BC
Hey Mud. Recently been hearing this loud squealing/metal on metal noise coming from my drivers side front axle. It vibrates the entire vehicle to the point I think something's about to break. (Rhd 91 surf). I recall kinda hearing it a couple months back, but it recently has been getting terrible enough that I am unable to drive it. I'll upload a video and try to explain what I've been doing.


Noticed it after a trail run. If I drove over 50km/hr it came in immediately, and if I drove any slower I could get a couple hundred feet before it started. The only way I got the noise to stop is if I slowed down to either a complete stop or around 5kmh. Once I got to the nearest gas station it almost stopped completely and and able to drive home around 70kmhr. The noise came in a couple times for a few seconds but otherwise it was fine. Drove it again a couple days later and it was intermittent.

The CV axles and wheel bearings are a few months old. I do not feel any play in the bearings at all. The brake shield is not making contact with the rotor or any other moving parts. Since the diff is offset to that side I first thought it was the diff, however the noise is further out than that. For the sake of it I drained some fluid out of the diff and I didnt see any metal shavings inside of it. I dont really know how to inspect CV axles but nothing feels wacky to me.

One thing I noticed is that the Pittman arm seems a bit low on the box, and that it might of been scraping something, but it isnt. I have tried to recreate the noise but it seems almost entirely random. I think it comes in a but more at the bottom or top of a hill when the vehicle starts leveling out but that might just be in my head. I recently got a fresh allignment as well and the vehicle is noticeable pulling to the right.

Anyone have ideas?
 
Did a bit of research and it seems like it might be as easy as taking the bearings out, repacking them with grease (If they didn't physically break) and give them a another shot. Any tips? Heard something about preloading, but ill do more research before i start pulling it out.
 
Any wheel bearing that was so loud is unlikely to be rehabbed by a simple repacking. I would tear down the axle and look for really shiny parts that formerly weren't so shiny. Odd that it is intermittent.
 
I tore down the axle and it looks fine to me, however I dont really know what I'm looking at here as it's my first time delving this deep into the front. I got the outer bearing out and It looks good to me, the shaft that looks good and there arent any indents or grooves, I havent touched the inner bearing yet as i dont want to mess with that seal unless I have too but it looks ok to me.

However, when turning the CV axle, the shaft that extruding out the side is making some metal on metal noises. Since the hub isnt on, I am thinking it just isnt centered so it's making contact with the sides, but I may be wrong.

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Opened it up a bit more. The shaft of the CV axle doesnt have any grease on it (it looks like there is a bit of water in there too). And there are some weird coppery looking flecks on one of the sections, and there is a copper plate with weird looking grooves. It almost feels like dirt is inside the shaft as well.Is this normal?

EDIT: At the same time i noticed my lower balljoint (Brand new) Sounds like metal on metal and is not as smooth as it should be.

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Mine generally don't look like that when I disassemble them. Were the boots on correctly? Last three shots look problematic to me, especially the out of round grooves in the last shot. Been at least a year since I pulled mine, so going on memory. Was reassembly done in the right order, with the lock washer tab bent down? There is a pretty good diagram of that in the FSM, IIRC. Nice impact wrench, by the way.
 
A very good shop locally installed them a while back (EBI, i see you are from van as well). So i am assuming that they were installed correctly. Those grooves look machined though. the ones on the outside of that copper part, and on the inside of it. Too perfect to be a rock or something scraping it.

And the impact is my brothers. Having family involved with car shenanigans is nice because you only half to buy half the tools.
 
Yes, I have been to EBI. They post ads for parts pretty often. All three of the last pix are from the sideshaft? Mine are usually filthy, but not dry looking like that. I tend to get grease everywhere on everything when I pull the shafts. True, it doesn't look like a rock got in there.
 
Unsure on the correct terminology, but on my last post with pictures, the first 2 of the shaft is the CV axle, and the 3rd shot is looking at the chunk of metal that the axle slides into (The piece that the balljoints connect to)
 
Because there no fûcking lube on it and its eating itself. The grooves in that bushing are for grease, not dirt and water. The spindle bushing was causing the noise. I recommend replacement of that one and inspect the other side before it repeats.
 
Thanks for the help gnob. I'll get a new bushing installed and report back if that fixes the problem or not.

Also i agree with the locking hubs. This repair really showed me how much better locking hubs would be.

EDIT: Here are pictures of the inner spindle bushing, it looks pretty chewed up. Im assuming rocks or other debris got in here and caused it to do this.

EDIT#2: Just realized that those deeper grooves were probably caused with my hammer and screwdriver knocking it out. But there are a ton of small grooves inside so i am gonna replace it regardless.

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Thanks for the help gnob. I'll get a new bushing installed and report back if that fixes the problem or not.

Also i agree with the locking hubs. This repair really showed me how much better locking hubs would be.

EDIT: Here are pictures of the inner spindle bushing, it looks pretty chewed up. Im assuming rocks or other debris got in here and caused it to do this.

EDIT#2: Just realized that those deeper grooves were probably caused with my hammer and screwdriver knocking it out. But there are a ton of small grooves inside so i am gonna replace it regardless.

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Let us know how the fix worked out. I had the same issue as you on my LC, loud scary intermittent noise when driving, would go away when slowing down or stopped. I took everything part, and everything inside the knuckle looked like yours: muddy and damaged. Replaced the spindle and put new bearings in, etc. Everything is working great so far.
 
Let us know how the fix worked out. I had the same issue as you on my LC, loud scary intermittent noise when driving, would go away when slowing down or stopped. I took everything part, and everything inside the knuckle looked like yours: muddy and damaged. Replaced the spindle and put new bearings in, etc. Everything is working great so far.

I replaced the spindle, however i get some intermittent (but very light) metal on metal noises, however the major problem was fixed. I just put regular old grease on it as that is all i had on hand, so im hoping that isn't the problem. I do plan on getting manual hubs sometime soon though so that would fix a couple things.
 

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