Hello, I have a '97 Olds Bravada with 168k that is making those crazy noises at any speed over 10 mph. It's probably been happening for a while, but because it's my daughter's I don't drive it too often. Anyhoo, I've been searching and reading many posts here and I'm trying to track this down. So far while driving I've swerved and found no real noticeable difference in sound; I put the car on jacks (all 4 wheels are off the ground) and checked the bearings for play and found none; then I put the car in gear and had my wife accelerate to about 25mph and the sound began. It also had a detectable vibration; however, I can't seem to pin down the source. I did notice at this point that the ABS light came on and the driver side front wheel was barely spinning, while the other three were. I'm stumped. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Peter S
ETA: I remember that an ABS warning light indicates that possibly a bearing has failed and destroyed the speed sensor, so how do you determine which sensor has failed?

 

The ABS light was probably caused by the front wheel barely spinning, which is normal with an open differential. The symptoms you describe DO sound like a possible wheel bearing, though. I would try holding the spinning front wheel still to let the other one spin and see if the sound goes away (be careful doing this, obviously). I would also try to listen to the rear wheel bearings, since they commonly wear out and make noise.

 

Thanks Tom. That makes total sense, I'll try this tomorrow.

 

No problem. Let us know how it goes.

 

OK, so I ran it up again and held back on each front wheel and though I did not get above 18-20 mph, the noise remained. That led me to pull both front tires in hopes of zeroing in on the bearings, but removing the tires revealed that the inner CV boots were throwing grease. The right side more so than the left.
As there was no movement at 12 and 6 o’clock positions on any of the four wheels, I’m pretty confident that is the problem. I’ve got two Cardone axles arriving Tuesday/Wednesday, meanwhile I’ll be replacing the rear pads that I found worn this AM.
Thanks for your help.
Peter S

 

This project has grown, it’s the definition of ‘mission creep.’ After removing the knuckles I discovered that both of the hub bearing assemblies were shot. The upper ball joints were original (riveted in), one lower b.j. had a torn boot and all of them felt “grindy.”
Some thoughts on the process:
- I don’t see how it’s possible to determine if the bearing are bad without removing the axle. They gave no evidence of play or noise until the axle was removed.
- The axles came out with a few taps from a lump hammer on a piece of 2x2. Don’t see this happening with the knuckle still in place, there is not a lot of room, especially with the angle on the CV joints. I can’t imagine trying to tap the axle into the diff with those angles.
- The axles did not feel as if they were binding or loose, but the loss of lube worried me.
- I also replaced the entire left tie rod due to broken boots on the tie rod ends. I removed the rod and tried to get the exact length to match the original, but I was off a bit because it pulled to the right and required an alignment.
So the ball joints, hubs, axles, tie rod ends, rear pads and calipers and alignment (parts only) cost me $901.98.
Hopefully this will be helpful to future readers.
Peter S