Slight Grinding/Binding Sound @ highwayspeeds

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CMD82

CMD82

Joined
Jul 19, 2004
Threads
67
Messages
587
Location
Richmond, VA
I have been trying to figure this one out for a while with no luck, hopefully you all can help.
At speeds around 55-62 mph i can hear a faint grinding/binding sound. If I go 50 is seems to go away, if I go 65 it seems to smooth out and go away. It seems as if its coming from the front of the truck, but I can't really tell. The sound comes and goes every 1 to 2 seconds, and is constant. If I stay at 55 mph then the sound comes and goes in a perfect rythm. Weird huh??
If I an traveling at speed, and push in the clutch then the sound immediatly goes away.
The hubs are not hot after driving at all. All fluid changes ~ 9K miles ago; front, rear diffs, tranny & transfer cases. Drivshafts greased ~ 6-7K miles ago. I am stumped.
I thought that it could be the front bearings or front end, but the sound disappears when the clutch is pressed in and the load is taken off the drive train.
Could it be the tranny? Drivesaft? I am not an expert at all, and really not a very good mechanic.
I just want to take the truck on a trip this Christmas, but am hestiant. I am afraid a wheel or something is going to fall off.
Sorry for the long post.

Thanks for the help, and Happy Holidays.
Chris
 
jack up the front end and start wiggling things..

Look at the driveshafts first. Inputs, pinions up and down movement is no good..

The hubs locked?
 
I would go with the u-joints... does the sound cycle ? like umn umn umn and goes away when the there is no load on the drive train? will it do it if you just let off the gas?... and when was the last time you changed the u-joints?hth.
 
Thanks for reply's

Bandy - The tires are pretty new ~ 10K miles and I just rotated them. The vibration was there before and after.

Mace - When I rotated the tires, I tired that. But maybe I need to be more thorough. I try again. I checked to see if maybe I had one hub locked or both, but both are unlocked. Thanks

Dave - The sound does cycle. I tried to listen when I let off the gas, but at those speeds I can't really hear much, except the engine dropping in rpms. As far as U-joints, I have never changed them. To be honest I am drawing a blank don't really know where they are, I will have to look in the FSM.

Thanks for the reply's. I will check the front end and look into the u-joints.
Are they hard to replace, expensive? Is there anyway to test for them?

Thanks for the help
Chris
 
CMD82 said:
Dave - The sound does cycle. I tried to listen when I let off the gas, but at those speeds I can't really hear much, except the engine dropping in rpms. As far as U-joints, I have never changed them. To be honest I am drawing a blank don't really know where they are, I will have to look in the FSM.

Chris
Click to expand...

the u-joints are the joints at each end of the drive shaft, front and back.

with the front hubs unlocked, the front will not rotate. So you can focus on the rear.

sometimes its hard to tell if you got a shot ujoint, especially if it just dry.

I recommend, getting an oil change and asking the shop to check the vehicle over including the ujoints, maybe mention you have a vibration.

second possibly get the wheels balanced.

should be easy to figure out. They can give you an estimate and you can try fixing it if you want.
 
Thanks for the reply. I do my own oil changes, so maybe I will investigate myself. Wheels and everything should be balanced correctly. I have free balance and rotation, so maybe I will get it done.

Do you all think there is any harm in driving it for extended periods of time on the highway? I would like to take it on a trip this holiday. Probably ~500 miles round trip.

Thanks
Chris
 
It will probably be just fine. But there is nothing wrong with getting under the thing and checking stuff out.

Or let someone else take a look and see..
 
I had similiar noise before and found it was caused by vibration of speedometer cable.
It was from inside of instrument panel but sounded like from under hood that I had difficulties to figure out.

Oh, Min Seok
 
Thanks for the replys guys, sorry for not replying as I was out of town for the holidays.
I will investigate the u-joint symptoms and the front end stuff. The speedometer cable is an interesting idea.
If it was the ujoint would the vibration be in line with the spinning of the drive shaft. ie. faster, slower with speed? The reason I ask is that I think the cycle of the vibration from the drive shaft is a lot slower than the speed the shaft is turning. ??? Just an observation. I can't remember if the sound showed up around the time I greased the drive shafts or not?
I believe that I can feel the vibration through my foot on the gas pedal.
I love driving this truck, but I just don't want to damage anything by continued driving.


Chris
 
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