Here's the info: 2006 Dodge Ram Sport 4x4 - Humming when going down the road, vibration in pedals. Humming and vibration goes away when I slightly turn the wheel. - Clunking and groaning when going over bumps or dips. - Had the truck lifted up today and there is significant side to side play/wobble, but no up and down play. Any thoughts? Guys here at work are split about 50/50...
You should be able to take a long pry bar and brace it on something in the undercarriage and pry on tie rod end to check for slop. I changed a Hub bearing assembly on a 2003 Silverado 4x4 the other day for someone. It was doing the same thing you describe!
Some of my coworkers are saying that the side to side wobble when wiggling the tire while it is lifted indicates the tie rods... The hub bearing assembly guys say that the play doesn't convince them that it's not the hub bearing. I guess there's always the scenario that it's both...
Side to side play should indicate steering (tie rod most likely). Up and down play all has to do with the wheel bearings and ball joints.
Schultzy is right side to side....usually means tie rod and up and down is bearing.....the humming noise sounds like a bearing....hub bearings do not clunk though when going over bumps....(if it did you would not be questioning what the issue is:D)....I would check the tie rod ends and the sway bar links for the clunk....ball joints are a possibility but tire wear would be apparent with ball joint wear on a dodge Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
As has been said, tie rod play will be wheel off the ground side to side, need to watch the outer tie rod end to see if the play is there, it can also be the inner tie rod same feeling but not noticeable visually as its covered by a flexible boot. Wheel off the ground top to bottom will indicate either a hub bearing or upper ball joint. Dodges and any heavier truck, especially 4wd are notorious for ball joints and you can normally view the upper ball joint when checking top to bottom play. To check the lower ball joint you have to jack the wheel off the ground by the lower control arm as you want the front suspension to be loaded. Once off the ground place a pry bar under the tire and pry up and down on the tire while watching the lower ball joint/control arm for play. Ball joints aren't going to give you a humming sound, that is generally either a hub bearig going out or could possibly be cause by cupping of the tread of the tire. You can feel the cupping by running your hand around the tire tread following the rain grooves. Will be raised and lowered. Usually caused by lack of rotation but can be a sign of bad lower ball joints as well. But when a weight shift causes it to quiet down it generally is a hub bearing, not all bad bearings will have play in them, could be a dry bearing. The rattling can be numerous things, upper ball joint, tie rod end, shock mount or dust boot on the front shock or stabilizer links.
2 of us stood on the front end today and bounced it up and down and it really groaned a lot when we did it. My uncle said he thinks it's the ball joint, not the hub...
My truck did the same thing, I replaced uppers and lowers on both sides and that fixed it. I went ahead and replaced the Pittman arm while I was in there, too.
Its hard to tell you on a forum what is wrong....i have never heard any suspension part "groan" while standing still and bouncing it...maybe im crossing your word for what I would consider a squeak or a rubbing noise....if you are bouncing it up and down and hearing a rubbing sound then you need to look at ball joints sway bar links and bushings and control arm bushings (all will have visible play if bad enough to cause a noise while bouncing it)....the humming sound while driving will not be from a suspension part....those hubs have the bearings sealed inside them....if they go dry they will hum as you described and may not have any play in them until they get completely dried out enough to heat up the ring that holds the bearings and cause it to seperate...youll know when that happens because your steering wheel will shake like crazy while driving and if it goes to long it will show uneven tire wear....if you do just one bearing be ready for the other side to go shortly after....you can tell which one it is by if when you turn left and the noise goes away or gets lighter its the right bearing and visa versa...my guess is you have more than one issue to take care of Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
When I was working in the shop, if a truck came in with these symptoms I would initially look at the following in order of suspicion. - Humming when going down the road- tread cupping on tires first, then hub bearing vibration in pedals- possible warped front rotors, would increase during braking, bad tire or wheel balancing, tie rod ends Humming and vibration goes away when I slightly turn the wheel- humming going away is typical hub bearing sign will usually lighten up one way and get louder the opposite, vibration could also be warped rotors. Very hard to determine without test driving vehicle. Balance of tires and also road force balancing to indicate bad tire(belts/separation). - Clunking and groaning when going over bumps or dips- stabilizer links, shock mounts, shocks, upper ballpoints, all rubber bushings on sway bar and lower ball joints. I used to do front end work for a living, trained at Hunter Engineering in St. Louis and was ASE certified steering and suspension and brakes. I really dot think lower ball joints will be the source of your problem as described, very possibly bad but I'd bet against it being the problem. Take it to a good alignment shop, have their tech shake down the front end for you. Everything but the test drive(vibration) can be done easily in a half hour.
Could that groaning noise possibly be a bad shock? I know that's not whats causing the other issues but maybe he's got more then one thing going wrong here. I like what you said about the control arm bushings. The thought never crossed my mind.
Usually a bad shock/strut (coil over strut on the front in this case) will make more of a psssshhhh sound to me when bouncing up and down from the air escaping the seal but I guess I could see where it could be described as a groan especially if the seal is still somewhat tight and it has a slight tone to it when being bounced.....haha car sounds are one of the hardest things to express to another person....I love watching customers try and describe what they are hearing Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
