99 T&C Front Bearing?

SlimJimRD · 06-01-2009, 10:16 PM

I have a squeal coming from the front left wheel area when going around a long right turn like exiting a highway. This does not happen every time or necessarily thru the whole turn. I replacing the hub 2 yrs ago with an Autozone part twice and then replaced that earlier this year from a local Autopart store as the Autozone only had 1 yr warrenty.
Is there anything else that could make a similar noise while turning. I do not always hear the noise when making right turns and it mostly happens when getting off the highway where you go thru a 270 degree turn (also going up an incline).
Should I just replace the hub? Is there anything else that could cause the hub bearing to go bad as it seems like a good machine fit when I replace them. Maybe the way I tighten the axel nut. Strut going bad? Other ideas?
Van has 160,000 miles, 3.8 L and new tires with alignment. The noise occurred both before and after the tires/alignment. The Firestone store that does my alignment had noticed the bad hub bearing but have not said anything on the current one.
Thanks
Steve

tempfixit · 06-02-2009, 01:00 AM

Does it make a difference if using brakes or not? Does it make any noise if backing up and turning sharpley left or right?

Amother thing to try is find a lightly traveled road and drive about 45 MPH and swevre right to left and left to right to see if there is any difference in noise at either direction of swerving.

Bear · 06-02-2009, 07:51 AM

Are you sure it is the hub you replaced that is making the noise? On my '96 I replaced the right front hub twice (we all said yup, right front hub) only to discover later it was the left front hub that was making the noise, sound really travels.

tempfixit · 06-02-2009, 05:08 PM

I have found that if a hub bearing is bad on one side the other will fail in a matter of a few thousand miles. Friends 95 Voyager both bearings failed within a week of each other.

SlimJimRD · 06-03-2009, 09:34 AM

Does it make a difference if using brakes or not? Maybe, I cannot get it to make the noise but I think it might of made a little difference in the pitch of the noise.

Does it make any noise if backing up and turning sharpley left or right? Cannot get the noise when I just tried this, I have not noticed this befire either.

Amother thing to try is find a lightly traveled road and drive about 45 MPH and swevre right to left and left to right to see if there is any difference in noise at either direction of swerving. Did not hear any noise when I did this.

Are you sure it is the hub you replaced that is making the noise? Pretty sure it is the same one but I never have enough time to be positive. Also cannot get the noise to occur on command.

I have only heard the noise while making right turns never heard it going left. Also it does not happen all the time which just makes it frustrating to determine the cause. Can a hub/bearing make noise when it is not under load ie right turn causes the right bearing to squeal?

Airjer_ · 06-03-2009, 10:23 AM

Sounds more like you have an issue with break squeal or something rubbing on the rotor.

Bear · 06-03-2009, 10:58 AM

On my '96 I had a louder sound on a road that cambered to the right as well as on sweeping left hand curves and that was why I was sure it was a right side bearing, my bad.

SlimJimRD · 06-03-2009, 11:37 AM

I have checked the brakes / rotor and can find nothing wrong. I have done all the brake jobs on the van if that matters.

If I cannot get reproduceable results when I drive does anyone think that it will hurt to keep driving until it gets bad enough that I have the noise more often so that I can isolate exactly what is happening? That way I am not changing parts to maybe fix this.

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