Whirring noise related to speed

[CJK440]

I have an 86k mile 2014 1500 5.7. A month ago I took it on a 600 mile road trip and noticed after the trip, when I drive it, there is a new whirring noise that is varies with speed. Doesn't matter under accel, coast, decel. It starts around 10mph, loudest around 35 and kinda quiets or is more likely drowned out over 45mph. I cannot tell where its coming from while driving.

I haven't started to diagnose yet but wanted to ask if these trucks were notorious for certain bearings failing so I can focus on that first. I tried searching, saw some stuff regarding pinion bearings on earlier gens, I hope its not that.

Tonight I'll get the rear up on stands and run it to isolate front vs rear.

 

[Jeepwalker]

Most likely it's one of the front wheel bearings. But it could be the center driveshaft bearing, u-joint, or rear u-joint. Or even front driveshaft.

The typical thing to do is like you're doing, put it up on jackstands. Put your hands at the 12.00 & 6.00 positions and rock the front wheels back/fourth by hand, with force. If you feel ANY movement at all, they're going bad, and you found the problem right there. Might as well repeat with your hands at the 9.00-3.00 positions to check the tie rods while you're at it.

The next thing some guys do is take a long wooden stick (broomhandle/dowel, etc) and put one end close to the bearing and the other end to their ear. As the wheel is rotating a guy can hear the bearings inside. And often can hear crunching and grinding if they're in a state of failure. Same for rear wheel bearings and pinion bearings. Push up/down on the front inner CV axles too for excessive movement....although that may not be the source of the sound..still good to check. Could be if they're real sloppy. Expect some play esp on the driver's side.

Get under and move up/down with your hands with force, the driveshaft u-joints and center d/s bearing if your tk has one. That's a common failure point. Look for traces of rust at the rubber/plastic u-joint seals. Same with the front driveshaft if it's 4x4. If you haven't discovered anything by now, you might as well disconnect the rear u-joint from the pinion yoke and 'feel' it by hand and/or remove the caps and see if the trunions are fluted..or dry. If they are then the joint has failed and it's a pretty good bet the center bearing/joints might be suspect. If you have your wheels off (even if you don't), rotate the pinion by hand feeling for smoothness(or roughness). Also run your hand over each tire feeling for unevenness like a broken chord or something. But start with the front wheel bearings.

Give those things a look-see and see what you come up with.

 

[jws123]

Check your tires to see if they are chopped/out of round on the inner and outer edges.

 

[Jeepwalker]

Something else I thought of:

There was a bulletin put out by Ram where a certain series of trucks would develop a noise which was due to a cracked rear diff carrier bearing (the race actually). That's not something most people are going to zero in on. But worth doing a google search and see what years were affected. Or call Chrysler. And/or put the wooden dowel on the sides near the carrier bearings (and to your ear)...and give a listen. Even if your truck had that, it might not be audible under a no-load situation.

There've been a couple Ram owners on this forum where the dealer has found this issue with their truck, replaced the bearing/s & resolved the noise issue. Don't jump to conclusions (inspect the other items I listed above first), but something to keep in the back of your mind if you positively cannot find other more common causes of said noise. The usual cause is a failing front wheel bearing ..which can, in some cases, be in a slow state of failure for months (sometimes), or the rear driveshaft center bearing. Best of luck!


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