Brand New Wheel hubs bad?

[Cthunndr]

Greetings. I have a 2007 EL 4wd. I recently had the left front wheel bearing go bad. I went to autozone and bought a new one. I installed it and after taking it for a spin the noise occurred with the new hub. I took the new hub off and went back to autozone at which point they exchanged it for another one. I put the second new one in and it was quiet for about 10 min and then the noise again. I kept it for while because I didn’t have time to swap it out. When I did have time, I went to NAPA and got a third one and installed it and had the same issue. I am at loss as to why I have 3 hubs that were bad from the start. Is that even possible?

Each hub had the up/down play once the noise started. There was no movement from left to right. Btw, I checked the play by having the wheel off the ground. The only other thing to mention is that during the first install I snapped the stud on the axle when putting everything back together and had to go to autozone to get a new axle during that time. The shaft appeared to be a perfect fit...the only difference is that the stud on the end of it was slightly smaller than the oem one

 

[mnachreiner86]

I’m having a little bit of hard time picturing this. You mean snapped the end of the half shaft off? 4x4? If you took all of that apart you took the IWE out to get the cv shaft out. Did you hook your vacuum lines back up? Everything is tight? What was the original noise that caused you to replace the hub and bearing?


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[Cthunndr]

The original hub bearing went bad. I replaced it with a new hub assembly. When putting the nut back on the half shaft, I over torqued it causing the stud to snap off the end which is why I bought a new half shaft. The first replacement hub it was bad right off the start. I then Took it back to the auto store and they replaced it. The second one that I got was also bad after I installed it and started driving. I went to Napa auto and bought another half assembly, and that was the same issue once I started driving the wheel hub would go bad meaning if I raise the wheel off the ground and moved it Forward and backwards at the 12 and 6 o’clock position the wheel would move indicating nothing was tight. Everything else -iwe, vacuum lines are fine. Iwe engages fine

 

[mnachreiner86]

How do you know the original was bad? Did it make noise, or move like the other three new ones? I’m saying if that movement was always there it may not be the wheel bearing/hub but a tie rod. What’s that tire look like? The probability of all three being bad is nil.


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[Cthunndr]

Wasn’t tie rod. There was no movement when shaking the wheel left to right. It only moved when I shook it up and down. When driving I get hear the noise a bad bearing would make along with vibration in the steering wheel

 

[Cthunndr]

Update - I noticed my upper and lower ball joints were bad so I replaced them and still have the vibration. I even went as far as swapping the left side cv joint and wheel hub from another ex and still have the same noise/vibration. Starting out at slow speeds it’s a hum that gradually turns into a hum and vibration as I reach and maintain highway speeds. it sounds like a locomotive. I took a quick video to record the noise. Expedition Front end noise

 

[WEDGE]

Bearings in the front diff perhaps?

 

[Cthunndr]

Has anyone have them
Go bad like that?

 

[ManUpOrShutUp]

As above, I think the odds that all 3 were bad out of the box is essentially zero.

 

[Cthunndr]

Any idea where to look next? Even if it isn’t the bearing per se, it sounds and feels like a bad bearing issue.

 

[Trainmaster]

Look at the other side, then the rears. Hard to tell sometimes. Very hard. Bet it's the other side or a U Joint or something like that.

While I'm no longer permitted to criticize our Far East trade partners on this site, I always question the quality of cheap import parts. Three bad ones in a row? Doubtful but definitely possible.

 

[Cthunndr]

I hear ya in regards to “F. E. T. P’s” lol. The first replacement was a duralast hub, the second was from Napa...forgot the brand, and the third I took a chance on from a junked donor truck. Since I have the extra hub I could always throw that on the right and see if there’s a difference. I will say that when driving straight or slightly moving the wheel to the left the noise is consistent and when I slightly move the steering wheel to the right, the sound/vibration is slightly less pronounced.

 

[07navi]

You need to find it before throwing more parts at it. Those ball joints you replaced had nothing to to with it (I know they were bad though.)

 

[Trainmaster]

I've been through this several times. It's very hard to determine what side's making the noise unless it does it when you spin it by hand. Probably the other side. Take a good look at that.

 

[Cthunndr]

I've been through this several times. It's very hard to determine what side's making the noise unless it does it when you spin it by hand. Probably the other side. Take a good look at that.

I guess that will be the next step.

 

[Cthunndr]

To those who commented today, Were you guys able to look at the video and hear the noise?

 

[ManUpOrShutUp]

To those who commented today, Were you guys able to look at the video and hear the noise?

Sound is a bit muffled in the video, but doesn't sound like a wheel bearing to me.

 

[07navi]

To those who commented today, Were you guys able to look at the video and hear the noise?

I heard the video but it's hard to diagnose a problem without being there. Try mounting a sound recorder in different areas that you suspect or have a pro look at it but don't just keep throwing parts at it.

 

[booksix]

Did you ever find the problem? I'm having the same issue in my 07 EB EL. I replaced the bearing that got louder when turning to put more weight on it and still had the issue. I thought I bought a bad bearing, too, so I flip-flopped sides to test but the noise remained on the same side. Rotated tires (fronts went to the back) and the sound didn't move. Tested every single part of the IWE system and that's working so its not likely front cvs/ujoints/diff. Sound continues even when trans is in N so it's not that. Sound doesn't change when accelerating or letting off so I'm thinking it's not rear diff (plus a diff issue likely wouldn't change sounds when steering?). I'm kinda at a loss. Maybe I'm just being deceived and it's a rear bearing... is there a good way to tell bad front from rear bearing (rotate and wiggle test gave me nothing)?