Hi, new to this forum. To be honest I like this one since the other one wasn't that good. All the stuff I've fixed and how to fix it came from this forum and for that I say Thanks! So, anyways recently I've been getting a noise from the rear of my 08, and to be honest, it sounds like I have a lifted truck with terrain tires cruising down the highway. The sound will happen only on decel, when applying brakes gets louder and when swerving to the right it seems to disappear. Tried digging up some info but have drawn blanks. I lifted the car and found out that the axle nuts were a bit loose (fixed the axle clicking problem a while back and im sure I torqued them) and giving play to the hub/disc assembly. Those got tightened, but the problem still persist. The shields behind the brake discs aren't the culprints, changed diff fluid and the car has been recently aligned. Nothing else back there gives play and is torqued down. Any other ideas or questions are welcome.. Thanks.

 

Bearings? Possibly worn prematurely from loose axle nuts.

 

Joey these are the symptoms of a rear hub bearing that has split apart a bit. This is a two piece bearing and when the axle was last tapped out of the hub (to lube and fix the rear axle clicking problem) it caused the two bearing races to separate a bit. When the 32mm axle nut is reinstalled and tightened, it draws the bearing back together. However, in your case the inner race was binding in the hub and even the recommended 177 ft lb of torque did not pull it all the way home. When driving the car the race may have wiggled around a bit causing the axle nut to come loose and the bearing to separate enough to make the noise you described.

Your re-torquing the nut has still not seated the bearing race; hence the wheel still wiggles around.

This happened to my car after an axle click was repaired under warranty. My guy (not the dealer, I had enough of them) torqued the nut and then drove around the block hitting a few big bumps. This was enough to fully seat the bearing and he found he could get a few more turns on the nut re-torquing it back to speck. I never had any more trouble with it.

My first instinct was to replace the bearing, but he said that since no water or dirt got into the bearing he felt it would be ok. Maybe the same procedure will work for you, if not you will have to replace the bearing.

 

I jacked the car and checked the bearings they seemed fine...At first I thought the bearing would squeal during load and off, but the more I researched it it's a possibility that it is the stupid bearing and not the shafts like I was leaning towards.. Now I'm getting a clunk when accelerating from a stop plus the jacked up bearing..Thing drives me insane haha. Oh well I'll try to sit the bearing properly like you said, see if that'll do the job. Thanks.

 

Welcome and congratz Joey! Prop for a nice 1st post as well, gl with the car.

 

I also would think the wheel bearing. Another possibility, although unlikely, could be your tires. Once my KDWs hit a certain amount of miles they made a loud hum on deceleration. But to me it does seem like a wheel bearing, especially with your axle problems.

 

Thanks!

Lifted it up again once I came back from driving it around. From the get go the wheel and hub assembly had too much play. Dropped it off at the shop to get the bearings done, hopefully that'll end it.

Thanks for the help