Hello yall, I'm new here.
I got my first car about a week ago. Its a 1999 blazer LS 4x4 w/ 70,000 miles. It's running great and shifts great. Everything about this car I love.
A couple of days ago I noticed some vibration under my driver side floor (in the front). It also makes a humming noise that is fairly faint and I can only hear that without the radio on. I noticed that it stops vibrating while I go around a left corner. Any help or suggestions to figure out what it is would be appreciated. If there is a quick and easy fix that would be great.
Thanks for any help.

 

Your Front wheel hub Bearing needs to be replaced...

 

How much will this cost? Is it something I can do myself? I don't know much about working with cars.

 

Well, lets see... I don't think you can all out say that it is a front wheel hub. Being a 4x4, it could be your front drive shaft, your right front CV shaft or the bearing/hub.

But seeing as how it does go away when you make a right turn, it mostlikely is your driver's side hub/bearing.

To check, jack up your driver's front wheel and grab it at 12 & 6. Alternating pulling/pushing on the top/bottom and feel for play. If you feel any, then your hub/bearing is bad.

The bearing is usually around $150 for parts and labor is probably 2-3 hours book rate (without looking either of them up)...

 

Okay, I jacked up the car and did as you recommended. The wheel has a little give in it horizontally (9&3) but not virtically (6&12) . I don't know if there is a difference but thought I'd say so just in case. I was also wondering if this is something that needs to be fixed right away or if it can wait a while (I don't exactly have any spare cash.

 

Well, it could just mean that the seals have gone bad and the bearing has a short time before it too goes bad. The only way I know of to check this is to remove the wheel and bearing and feel the bearing as you turn it. My thoughts are though, if it's already off, I'm replacing it whether it's good or bad.

The little bit of slop at 9&3 is probably just the buildup of slop in the front steering. If your wheels aren't showing signs of uneven tread wear, then it probably isn't anything to worry about.

 

I'm having a very similar problem. 95 4WD, 4door. Anyway, it sounds like I've got big truck tires on it, driving down the road. Upon turning right, the noise disappears(it does not disappear when turning left). We lifted the front end, and didn't feel any play in the front end. So, we thought it must be a rear wheel bearing. Well, we can't "safely" pull the axle out to replace it, because there's -what my cousin(who's doing the work) calls a "gov-lock", and he's unsure about how to get it apart(actually afraid he won't be able to get it back together correctly).
Anyway, do you think my problem IS a rear wheel bearing, or a front wheel bearing, or a ball joint?(we do think the front right ball joint needs replaced) I just hate to replace a front bearing (at $120 for the bearing), only to find out that that's not the problem.
Secondly, if it is a rear bearing, should I not let him mess with this "gov-lock" thing? Is it easy to screw it up?
THANKS!
David

 

David,
Please create a new thread on your problem and maybe put a link to this thread for comparison. I will answer your questions in your new thread as to not draw this thread off topic if the conditions don't end up resulting from the same problem.

Thanks,

 

He said the sound goes away when he turns left... So he should be checking the passenger side, shouldn't he?

I know when the wheel bearing went in my old Z34, it would go away if I turned far enough in either direction, but a slight turn to the left, made the noise go away completely, almost instantly, when I turned right, the wheel had to be turned a lot sharper for the noise to leave... I don't reccomend turning that sharp in a moving SUV...

Knownothing, did you check both front wheels, or just the one?

 

Sorry, I wrote *right*, meant *left*, but I identified the correct wheel. From my experience, it should go away when the weight transfers off of that wheel. So if on a left turn the noise stops or goes away, you should be checking the driver's side wheel. I think I just typed the wrong direction. If it is the driver's side wheel bearing, that same noise should get worse if you turn right as there is more load on the driver's side wheel. This is all depending on the speed of the turn, etc. Slower turns may not produce any change in the noise due to having less weight transfer.

I get so dyslexic like that. Sometimes I type the exact opposite of what I really want and sometimes I'll just type the entire word backwards without missing a beat.