I'm officially out of ideas on these front end noises...
 

Well, I have been dealing with worsening front end noises on my driver side for going on 6 month's now. To sum it up really quick, wheel bearing went bad. Replaced it, went bad again within 4 weeks. Went to the junkyard and got a whole other spindle. Was decent for maybe a month and 1/2, then that started to make different noises and when jacked up the front wheel had place.

Now, the car has this strange, constant almost rubber scrunge-ish noise (if that makes sense). This problem is constant, and does not get louder or quieter going over bumps or turning. I'm sure the wheel bearing is bad, but for some reason the wheel has movement every which way. I know for a fact my tie-rod ends are good, and I am almost positive my inner tie rods are good to, but I can shake the wheel in that direction. On top of all this movement, my axle nut KEEPS coming loose. Checked it recently, and it came loose again, that was with medium strength locktite, the castle nut over the axle nut and the cotter pin through the castle nut. This doesnt make sense at all. I've checked all through the .org, and even on other car sites/forums and can't seem to find anybody who has had similar problems.

did you check your ball joints? They would cause play in the wheel as well if they are shot

yea i think you have the same problem i got going right now

The bearings are toast. Stop using junk yard parts, there in the junk yard for a reason.
Get a new hub and bearing and be done with it. You can probably find aftermarket parts fairly cheap. Check your local auto parts store.

Locktite on the axle/hub nut is unnecessary; it just requires a significant amount of torque. And the castle lock and cotter pin are there to keep it from coming loose completely, not to keep it tight. Are you sure you're torquing it to spec? Undertorquing WILL kill a wheel bearing in short order.

174-231 ft-lb

Yeah, I definitely am. I busted out the torque wrench the first few times and have done it so much I really don't need one now. I know under torquing will kill a wheel bearing quick, it's probably what happened to my first one. But that was a lesson learned.

But as far as junkyard wheel bearings go, they aren't neccesarily bad. I mean my '95 has like 130k and honestly if I would have torqued the axle nut on that hub I would still be on my first bearing. Not to mention, I do plan on getting a whole new hub and wheel bearing eventually, but at $170ish and $60 respectively, for a quick fix and to get a whole new spindle, $40 is hard to beat.

Anyway, I tightened everything back up and the noise went away. Drove a few miles and by the time I got back home, started to make the noise again just like it did before. Starts off kind of quite and works up to loud. Anyway, I'm going to take everything back off and see whats up.

yea ended up having to replce my wheel bearing. Just gonna do, ball joints, and tie rods a well.. Since im down there

To loosen and tighten the axle nut I use a two foot breaker bar on a 36mm axle nut socket. With that much leverage, 200 lb/ft is easy, at least on my car.

I did put that same combination on someone else's axle nut once and neither of us could loosen it, even with one of us stabilizing the breaker bar and the other hopping on the end of it. So, it's always possible that someone else tightened it enough to make the steel cry. :laugh:

Are you sure the noise is from wheel bearing not the suspension? I had very annoying rubber noise, it turned out be the bearing cup on top of the struts. Replaced all the struts (and the caps too) and fixed the problem.

check ur sway bar bushings too

+1 to the noise from sway bar bushings or the strut top. Try lubing sway bar first.

Let a mechanic help you man

hey i had that same rubber noise it was my upper strut mount so if i were u i would deff check that.

sounds like bearings....

and like njmaxs said.... its called a junk yard for a reason.

DOT

I had the same type noise. I would only hear the noise when accelerating, not turning. Sometimes I would coast at a low speed and hear it, but it would not make the sound going in reverse. The noise was hard to distinguished, it sounded more like rubber squeaking but not metal screeching, turned out to be the wheel bearing. I got the seals from the dealer and the bearing itself off ebay. Got it replaced and everything seems good so far(been 1 week), only time will tell.

The junkyard is where wrecked cars go, doenst mean everything on the car is wrecked or bad. I've used many junkyard parts with no problems, and they are still working fine.