The sound is like a wheel bearing (wowwowwow), except more of a grinding noise, and it happens even going straight. there is no looseness in the wheel when it is up on jackstands, and when I pull the halfshafts out of both front knuckles, they both turn freely with no hint of anything like this happening. Front Diff also feels very smooth and shows no indication if bearing problems. sitting in the passenger seat, I feel the vibrations through my feet like it is right under them. None of the wheels are loose in any way. I came in suspecting a wheel bearing, but could not find any confirming evidence with the wheels off the ground so I'm asking for a second opinion from you all.

 

car is a 97 OBW 4EAT, 110K miles.

I just replaced both front halfshafts. Thinking about putting both front berrings in, but I do not want to just throw parts at the car. . .

 

Any ideas?

Did you have the noise with the old half shafts?

 

Aftermarket half shafts have been a problem.

 

Larry

yes, the noiuse was there to begin with.

Has it been getting any louder?

 

Does the sound change at all during turns?

 

A bad wheel bearing I had made a WUB-WUB-WUB-WUB sound that got progressively louder over a long period of time, maybe 10+ months.

 

It got so loud my daughter finally heard it over the radio.

 

I am thinking a bad wheel bearing. Recently, I had noise from my right front on my 99 OBW. Mechanic could find no looseness when jacking the front wheel off the ground, and yanking the road wheel back and forth, so he did not think it was a bad bearing. Still the noise was there. I finally replaced the wheel bearing myself, and that solved the noise and vibration.

 

It is a difficult job to do with a hub tamer. I don't know that I would want to do this job again. Prolly, best done by a shop with a hydraulic press.

Mine had play in the hub after I took wheel/rotor off. 255,000 miles on it. I'm doing the left front wheel bearing right now. I'm having local shop press out old and new in for me. pressing was done Friday but I ended up needing new hub as it was scored/pitted from bad bearings and took couple days to arrive. Have one handy just in case and you could always return it I guess. For the hub Pep Boys wanted $150, Advance Auto/Autozone/Western Auto wanted $105, Napa wante $90, and my other local Auto Plus got one for $51 (Dorman). Thats' about what I found online for to. Should last till my 99 wagon falls apart. I was thinking about hub tamer from Harbor Freight but I don't have impact wrench like GD mentioned and I don't know what it would have been like with a breaker bar. Bearing was $30 from Autozone and 2 seals with retaining clip was $26 from Subaru. I'll be reassembling tomorrow night.

My 02 OBW had a loose exhaust that was rattling against the underside of the car....just a thought!

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you all, I have been away from my computer. Yeah, it was sounding like a wheel berring, but I could not find any physical indication of that. I'll just go ahead and have a new berring swapped in and see if that fixes it. . .

Back in the rear wheel drive days... You could easily tell if the noise was a wheel bearing by lightly applying breaks while coasting. The brakes take the load off the bearings and the noise stops. Cant see any reason why this wont apply to awd/fwd cars.

it does not apply why to fwd/awd cars because it worked by shifting the weight off of the rear bearings, by sending it forward. in fwd/awd cars, this only adds *more* weight to the bearings, if they are in the front. . .