I have a 98 blazer lt, I started having a womp womp womp sound coming from the left front noticeably. I thought it was probably a belt in tire or tie rod end or wheel bearing at worst. But I just discovered what I think is a major problem, on both sides. Attached is a picture of what I'm talking about since I don't know the proper name for it. If anyone could advise me on what to do it would be greatly appreciated, thanks. Looks as if bushing is missing, not enough threads to make tight as is. Advice please and thank you

Reply
Reply
1/1

 

update, I know those are the sway bar links and probably not causing my problem. As stated has a womp womp womp sound and pulls slightly to the left. Not as hard as if the caliper were sticking, but still a possibility. Could it be ball joints, tie rod ends or wheel bearing? Any help is appreciated, thanks

 

check you wheel bearings. personally i like to first get the tire off the ground and try to wiggle it to see if there is any play. if there is no play, then i take the wheel, brake caliper, brake caliper bracket and rotor off. then try to wiggle and spin the hub to see how it feels. it should be nice and smooth, if it feel notchy or has any play in it then its bad.

My 2002 made the same kind of noise you are describing when my hub was headed south. it had zero play in it but when i spun the hub i could feel the bearing grinding.

 

thanks for the info, I'll check on the wheel bearing, I should be able to turn it by hand without the wheel, caliper, etc. Off or do I need something to turn it w
With?

 

I have a wheel bearing assembly in the trash can right now that felt slightly easier to turn than a new one, but it made a lot of noise. Since it's the drivers' side in question, listen to what the noise does while turning left. If the noise gets quieter, the hub assembly is the problem.

 

The sway bar bushings will also need corrected at some point; the bushings should be tight against the lower control arm, no gap as seen in the picture.
When you get to these have the tires on the ground, full weight and then tighten the bolts.

The upper ball joint looks like something is wrong there, but could just be the angle of the picture, so not sure.

 

To aid in diagnosis , does the sound appear at only certain speeds--such as 40 to 60 mph-- or at any speed? Is the sound related to speed, iow, does it speed up when the Blazer speeds up? As Rusty asked, does the sound vary when you turn left or right?
In regards to spinning the wheel by hand, I found that procedure not helpful because I couldn't spin it fast enough by hand to generate the noise when my Blazer had a bad hub. I would definitely try the spin test because your problem may react differently. A separated tire belt can in certain circumstances sound like a bad wheel hub.

 

I felt like both ball joints and inner/ outer tie rod ends on both sides looked like they needed replacing but I found very little movement out of any of them. A friend of mine had 4 tie rod ends laying around he wasn't going to use since his blazer was stolen, so he gave them to me free which was extremely helpful, and I put those on. I will definitely be replacing all ball joints especially since you said that, can they be ready to give and have no play? Looks to me like it's loose in this picture but it isn't and the other side looks the same, also with no play, but I agree something just isn't right.

 

After replacing the wheel bearing the humming went away but and thewomp womp womp sound is still present, it does increase/ decrease with speed and goes it at any speed. I noticed the tire on that seems to be low in the center, if a belt were blown it would be raised right, or is that not always the case? I moved the tire to the right front thinking if was the tire the sound would follow it, but noise remains in left front. I'm puzzled, and this shouldn't be kicking my *** like it's but then I remembered my purpose in life is to be aggravated, and whoever is in charge is acceling at their job. Just want to be done. Thanks for everyone's help.

 

Sounds incredibly frustrating. Hope you get it all sorted asap!