HELP!!!! I had a rotational noise on the front of my 99 4x4 7.3 superduty. another thread led me to believe the hub was the problem. I pulled the hub off(following a WIKI) tonight. No visible damage to the hub. Cant feel any play between parts with hub in my hand. The spline that the hub slides onto shows play in the spindle. there are rubber rings floating(seal flanges?) between the ujoint and the spindle and also between the u-joint and the axle housing. I believe the u-joints i speak of may actually be called yokes? There is significant play where the shaft goes into the axle housing. does installation firm up these parts or do i have more problems on my hands??????? Thanks, Matt
help.....front end
- Thread starter bigo
- Start date
DaveBen
SDD Senior Member
Your axle shaft sounds normal. The weight of the truck is carried by the hubs and not the axle shaft, so a little play is not a bad thing. The hub installation should take up the slop in the shaft. It is called a floating axle because the axle floats in the housing. Sorry, but I don't have an answer for your noise.
There is a bearing carrier that carries the weight of the truck and they may be your noise. You can not replace the bearings indivivdually, but you can change out the bearing and carrier as an assembly.
Dave
There is a bearing carrier that carries the weight of the truck and they may be your noise. You can not replace the bearings indivivdually, but you can change out the bearing and carrier as an assembly.
Dave
dzl_x_4x4
Dzl_X_4x4
It sounds like wheel bearings. I had the same problem, replaced the wheel bearing and no more noises. FWIW my bearing went bad in a matter of days, real bad. I would park it if you determine its the bearings to avoid any colateral damage until you can replace them.
I replaced the hub assembly. Noise is gone. In the process i noticed the slide pins for the brake caliper were frozen up. I heated them up with a torch(stuck REAL BAD) and beat them out, wire wheeled and greased them. No more pulling to one side during braking 
. I do need to replace the seals on either side of the 4wd yokes though. They are definitely shot. thanks, Matt
. I do need to replace the seals on either side of the 4wd yokes though. They are definitely shot. thanks, Matt
Are you talking about the seals that go on the very end of the axle housing where the shaft goes through? If so mine were bad too and I showed the owners of a local 4X4 shop and they said no big deal, not worth replacing... thats when I had the hub already off. So I left it alone, I think there is another seal just outside of the pumpkin.