Changed the drivers side this morning. All hums and vibration gone! Thank you for all the advice.

 

Phew!

Glad to hear everything's running better.

 

haha yeah... and I'm glad I listened to you because I would of been doing two times the work had I not. The truck runs so much smoother now we almost forgot what it felt like before the hub went bad.

 

I realize this is an older post, but I'm having the exact same issue in my 2001 Blazer, too. Driver's side. I also did the "touch test" to confirm...the wheel on the driver's side is noticeably hotter than the passenger-side wheel. The physics behind the symptom make sense. If making a right drift or turn shifts the weight to the right...the load is lightened on the left bearing. Typically you have the noise because you have extreme pressure on the pitted bearings...and the popped metal contributes to that. It's like any grinding action...take a piece of sandpaper around a woodblock and sand with a lot of pressure...lighten up that pressure and the associated noise lessens considerably.

Thanks for taking the time to document those symptoms here, folks!!! It confirmed what I've now suspected and so I'm, gulp, off to pay the man for a part! :O

 

I am currently in the same boat. I had the exact same syptoms which led me to believe I had a bad passenger wheel bearing. I replaced it, but the condition was still present. I am now rather than pull off the new one to try it on the drivers side, I am going to take the old passengers side one, and install it on the drivers side to see if the noise and hum go away. If it does, I will replace that one with a new one when I can afford to do so.
Here is my writeup looking for answers on the ZR2 forum.

"So over the past few weeks my blazer has had a low deep hum and light vibration that goes with it. It is getting worse. I had my truck in for a pre inspection around the time it started. It was the opinion of the tech at that time that it was tire noise. But again it is getting worse. It is a steady issue that goes along with vehicle speed. Usually 5mph to 50mph. After 50mph it seems to go way. If I take a left it stays, but if I turn right it goes away. This made me think it had to be a bad right front hub assembly, as when taking a right, it takes some weight off the passenger side bearing. So I replaced it with a new one. Road tested it, and the problem remains. Current condition of the frontend is as follows: Both original front bearings seemed fine and solid with wheels off ground, diff is leaking slightly at both axle seals, but fluid level and fluid condition is fine. During pre inspection, the tech only put a less than a 1/8 cup of fluid in the front differential. All four c/v boots are intact and in good shape. So I am not sure what I am chassing at this point. Two tech and myself have not found anything wrong at this point to cause this. And the two techs that looked at it are 20+ years in the automotive buisness. One is the shop forman, and both are master techs.

Any thoughts? U-joint?


Thank you
Bill"

 

So today I replaced the drivers side hub assembly with the one I took off the passenger side yesterday. Problem solved. The drivers side was infact the problem. Both seemed fine off the ground.

 

(I know this thread is old, but I also know I used the search function )

Anyways, I've had a loud humming/vibration in the '00 for a few months now..At first I thought it was my 31's...changed to winter tires, still present...I did a winter brake inspection at school and noticed my driverside caliper had a busted slider. Ok, it must be the caliper hitting something, making the noise. I replaced that caliper (and rear pass today). Perfect, can't wait to have no sounds! Nahhh, sound is still there, and present when I turn left, I turn right, she's gone. Going to order Driverside Wheel Bearing.

Thanks for the thread guys!

-OSS

 

Hey guys, good thread going here. After reading i'm positive i'm having the same hub problem. I don't know much about the whole assembly/hub deal, so are there any pictures/diagrams I can check out before I start tearing away? I'd like to know what I'm looking at/for when I start working on it

 

 

With alot of detail dont think I have this problem on my jimmy yet but when and if I do eventualy I`ll know what to start on and where to look at.