I am new on here but have been lurking for some time. I did a search on this and read up a lot of the threads. I am just wondering what that sound is like for a front hub going bad and how do I determine which hub ($140 a pop I would like just to replace the correct one). About 2 weeks ago I started noticing a pulsing grinding noise and can feel that grinding like a pulse in my stearing wheel and a little on the floorboard when you are aware of it.

Sometimes it does not happen right away when cold but after about a minute you can hear it. It sounds like it hits a certain point of the circumfrence of something and it grates stone, almost like a borken brake pad would sound. We are dealing with a 99 Bravada I got used, so far this year I had the Transmission rebuilt, I also noticed loose stearing and had all of that worked on (new stearing boz, idler and pitman and a complete inspection ) all within the last 6 months. This noise sort of sounds like it is coming from the right but sometimes I can't tell if it really is the right front or just center front (diff). If I turn left it goes away , center you can feel it a littler turn right you can really feel it. If I put it in neurtal while driving the noise does not change. I lifted it and can not feel any play in either wheel and the brakes look great. When I turn the wheel like this I hear no grinding difference and I don't hear that noise at all. I swapped tires in the front to see if that changes the side and it all remained the same (even kept the same lug nuts with the tire).

After reading the other threads I am going to try and get this to a place for a free front end inspection, problem is it is the weekend and there are not too many open right now. I am suppose to head somewhere this weekend and was a little worried about this vehicle now if it is a bearing going out. How much of a risk do I face for the tire just falling off? Does this even sound like bearing or more like a Diff or maybe it is something else. I tried to look around the suspension parts down there and they all look good but would rather have someone looking to make a buck look at it to give me an idea. The $140 for the hub is steep right now after Xmas, if I really need to I will get it and put it on but I want to make sure. I was hoping one tire would give me a definate yeah I am the problem but so far I am not seeing it, just feeling and hearing it.

 

It sounds like you have the same problem as me. Do you have four wheel drive?

 

This definitely shoulds like a wheel bearing starting to go... You have checked pretty much everything else that I would recommend. If you have the tools, you could pull off the bearing/hub on the driver's side and feel for grittyness (yeah that's a technical term) in the bearing, but that isn't the easiest thing to do. Not really difficult, just not really easy either.

 

I have the same problem, but with mine.... it goes away when I turn right.

I jacked the front end up the other day and had a little bit of movement in my passenger side tire.

I went and bought a pass. side hub/bearing assy and installed it .....the slop is gone but the problem is still there.

I have been thinking about replacing the drivers side now ....but I do not want to waste the money if that is not the problem.

my truck has new brakes, ball joints, idler arm, tie-rod ends, and shocks within the last 500 miles.

 

Make sure your brake caliper is working.
I just went through something very similar on my truck. All said and done I replaced the right side hub assemble, right side cv shaft,right side caliper, and 2 new tires.I had a variety of problems that needed fixing. Wobble in the hub assemble was causeing uneven tire wear, popping cv shaft, caliper was hung up, and I broke a belt in my tire.

 

Well it started to get worst last night with a much more pronounced vibration that I could really feel through the floorboards. Felt really strong in right turns and was starting to have some vibrations on the left turn. Found a local shop that was open today and had them look at it, definately the bearings, as they put it the driver side assembly (right turns) was almost completly gone and the passenger side (left turns) was starting to go. It was strange there was no play in the wheel but they put one of those stephescopes up to the Passenger side one to let me hear. Yup that was the sound I was hearing when driving and you could tell the exact spot it was binding.

I was planning on doing this repair myself but with the holidays decided to let them do it. Napa was closed for thier $250 assembly and for autozone and advanced (140-160) there are some parts (like a new engine) I just will not buy from them and this is one. This place was really not that much more then buying the part from Napa so I let them replace both. So for about $300 a piece with labor I got them swapped with 6 months same as cash, not a bad deal. All is well with the Bravada again, oh and to the KnowNothing, this is an AWD so I gues that is sort of like a 4WD as far as suspension parts go.

Mellon, if you are felling the vibration on right turns then the problem hub assembly if that is the problem would be the Driver side not the passenger side. Maybe you replaced the wrong one, don't know if you can move the new one to the other side and put the one you pulled back in if that would help??? The wheel on the outside of the turn is taking all the force, I know it sounds backwards but that is how it works.

 

I think my symptoms might be a little different.

If I am going more than 25mph, and turn my wheel even slightly to the left ....I get the vibration. I feel it in my feet and it feels like it is on the drivers side.
I can be driving down a perfectly straight highway and just BARELY move my steering wheel and make it happen. Just the normal movement back and forth of my steering wheel when driving straight makes it come and go away. It does not get any worse when I am making a hard turn. It is either there or it is not.

The reason I changed the passenger side assy was because there was some slop in the wheel. Even if it was not causing my symptoms....it was bad.
I picked up another one and plan to change the drivers side tomorrow.

The only way I can explain it is .....while the most force is on the outside wheel while turning, the inside wheel has a force that is pulling it outward. I am hoping that outward pull on the wheel is making the bearing noise.

If it is not the bearing...then I am not sure what it could be. I guess maybe the CV axle.

 

Miso, it sounds like that will fix my problem as well...
Does anyone know if this is something that can go for a while without fixing? It doesnt seem to be getting much worse. I don't exactly have a lot of money at the moment (im a poor teen).

 

You really don't want to let a wheel bearing slide if its going out. Had a buddy of mine lose his wheel at 65mph, it was not pretty to tow them out of someones back yard (they were on the freeway). Cost them more to fix the front end over replacing it with a temp from a bone yard or new from a parts store. They are still checking with GM to find out why the air bag did not deploy, they never had the air-bag light on so it should had worked.
Now how they kept it from flipping, GOD ONLY KNOWS THAT ONE. But we all were very happy that they walked away from that one.

 

I changed my driver's side bearing this morning ....and it fixed my vibration problem.

I guess there are exceptions to the rules ...my vibration was when I was turning left.