so my 82' wagon has a noise that is slowly getting worse and worse. It started by just making a loud rumbling noise from the front passenger side wheel area when decelerating at higher speeds this has continued to get worse as well as when i let off the gas at anyspeed above about 35mph it pulls to the passenger side. I was told it was probably the lower ball joint but when i pull on the tire there is no real play to it. I contacted the previous owner and the cv's have been recently replaced.

Any other ideas or way i could diagnos it?

any help is greatly appreciated,

Nathan

maybe the wheel bearings are going out... just a thought

Jack it up with the rear wheels chocked - leave the parking brake OFF, and try to move the wheel. Wheel bearings, ball joints, or tie rod ends are your culprits for it pulling, but the noise leads me to suspect the wheel bearings.

 

GD

does having the parking brake on make a difference?

Yes - or I wouldn't have explicitly told you to leave it OFF . It effectively clamps the rotor to the knuckle - rotor attaches to hub, hub is splined and bolted to axle, axle is fitted through wheel bearings.... see?

 

GD

I see!

I will go check it again,

this time w/ out the parking brake!

Now that i have it up on a jack w/ no parking break the tire is extremely loose

is there a way to tell one problem from another?

well if its a loose castle nut, you'll se the rotor/hub move with the wheel but the axle stub will stay stationary and you'll see the conical washer behind the castle nut move a bit with the play from it. Bad bearings will have the axle move with the hub but the knuckle where the bearings are housed will stay still. Bad balljoint will have lots of play where it goes into the lower control arm from the bottom of the knuckle

Look under and from the side - you will be able to see the ball joint at the bottom of the control arm - the knuckle will move but the control arm will not. If the knuckle is not moving, then it's almost certainly wheel bearings.

 

GD

Yeah - check that castle nut too. If that's loose you'll need to replace the cone washer under it, and if the splines in the hub are shot you'll have to replace the hub, and most likely the axle too in order to prevent the problem from re-occuring.

 

GD

ok well...

the ball joint area was not moiving from what i could tell

so that leaves me w/ probably a worn out wheel bearing?

Most likely - can you see any movement in the castle nut? If not, then the wheel bearings are totally gone. They will make some pretty loud humming noises, and grinding at lower speeds. I've run on bad wheel bearings for quite a while before, but if they are dry they will fail quick. Mine were shot, but not dry of grease so they kept on trucking for a few thousand till I had a chance to replace them. If you can move the wheel a LOT then stop driving it - if they totally fail then you are in BIG trouble.

 

GD

yup, bearings go bu bye, then axle bids farewll and the wheel takes a trip!

thanks guys!

i will see what i can do!