Help diagnosing vibration, wheel bearings or CV's ?

[GordDavey]

Hi all, I've got a vibration I can feel in my steering wheel that is steadily getting worse (and becoming audible), and I'm wondering a) what you folks with experience think it could be, and b) how to test and figure out what it could be. My thought's is it is either wheel bearings or CV joints. I can feel the problem at low speeds but it really is pronounced at highway speeds.

What I feel... a low pulsing vibration, as if driving over the dashed painted lines on the highway, if the dashes were longer and spaced farther apart. When the truck is in the right lane (right side of the road crown) you feel the pulsing vibration and it is not too bad. When in the left lane, with the truck leaning to the left and giving it a bit of right hand steering, then the vibration becomes loud enough to hear it and a lot stronger in the steering wheel. It is also really pronounced when changing lanes. It's not the tires, I just switched the tires a few weeks ago, and the issue has not changed. Once on a long steep downhill stretch I passed 3 transports, kicked down the gas, and hit 100mph in a second or two, and felt a major up and down bouncing in the front right, so I'm thinking right side ;-) But I know the tires were never rated for those kinds of speeds, so could be a red herring.

So, I'm wondering how I can test the possible components to see what is starting to fail. She's a 2015 1500 5.7l CC 6'4", no lift and no level on stock 17's, with 45K miles on her. Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[kurek]

Have you checked that your tires are in fact balanced? Rotate the fronts to the back and see if anything changes? Verify that the front axle disconnect is working correctly?

 

[GordDavey]

Yes the tires are balanced. I replaced all 4 tires a few weeks ago as the old ones were down to the wear bars and I thought maybe a belt had shifted. New tires and the vibration which was there before the new tires is still there.

 

[Dodge 1500 4X4]

Did you put it on jack stands with no weight on the wheels and grab the wheel see if you have play going side to side, and the ball joints, going in and out with the wheel.

If you cant find it, I would use Chassis Ears the sensors have magnets on them so you can mount them where you want, also compare left to the right like you said the right side is noisier.

 

[Jeff-M-B]

I have a similar problem and in fact, my 2016 Ram Sport is at the dealer getting confirmation for what I suspect, front wheel bearing. I noticed for the last week that during speeds over 30 and up to 70 that there was almost like metallic humming noise. When the wheel was straight, no noise. Slight turn of the wheel, noise started happening. I drove up in the mountains and around curves, left and right, the noise was louder. The higher the speed, the louder it became. Last weekend I jacked the front end up. Did the tire shake and spin on both sides. Driver side didn't shake but had slight metallic sound, passenger side shook slightly but no sound. I'm leaving up to the mechanic now to determine which one is the culprit. It could be both, which would suck since the dealer only has one bearing in stock and will take a couple days to get another one in. So I'm hoping it is just the one that is the problem. I saw several Youtube videos to replace the bearing and it doesn't look too challenging... maybe I should have done the work myself.

 

[GordDavey]

I have a similar problem and in fact, my 2016 Ram Sport is at the dealer getting confirmation for what I suspect, front wheel bearing. I noticed for the last week that during speeds over 30 and up to 70 that there was almost like metallic humming noise. When the wheel was straight, no noise. Slight turn of the wheel, noise started happening. I drove up in the mountains and around curves, left and right, the noise was louder. The higher the speed, the louder it became. Last weekend I jacked the front end up. Did the tire shake and spin on both sides. Driver side didn't shake but had slight metallic sound, passenger side shook slightly but no sound. I'm leaving up to the mechanic now to determine which one is the culprit. It could be both, which would suck since the dealer only has one bearing in stock and will take a couple days to get another one in. So I'm hoping it is just the one that is the problem. I saw several Youtube videos to replace the bearing and it doesn't look too challenging... maybe I should have done the work myself.

Jeff-M-B, sounds just like my problem. So please let me know what yours turns out to be. I've ordered both front hubs from Rock Auto and I'll be installing them myself sometime this week, and hopefully it takes care of my problem. At least I can check the CV's easier when the front hubs are off.

 

[GordDavey]

Well, I replaced my wheel bearings (front hubs) and the problem is now gone, I did both bearings, but the bulk of the problem for me turned out to be the driver side. Picked up the Timken ones from RockAuto, and some large impact sockets and replaced them. Feels much better on the highway now. I wish the parts were plated, the effort to get them off with all the rust that was on them is ridiculous.

 

[Jeff-M-B]

So I the dealer told me the passenger side front, the wheel that had the slight shake, driver side was fine. Yeah, it is nice and quiet now, smooth and no noise. Fortunately I bought the truck from the dealer and it was still under warranty, so I saved it wasn't too bad an experience. Of course the dealer tried to up-sale me on brake cylinder flush, all three differential flush anad injector cleaning... wanted to charge 1k for that... no thanks... all that is easy to do....