[alien]

Hey all, any ideas on the cause of a squeaky front wheel?

Happens rolling forward or backward, in gear or out, hubs locked in and not locked in (ie: has to be something on the wheel area) - also happens on and off brakes.

Its worse if i turn right hand down and almost goes away left hand down, happens going straight as well though.

Whats odd is it appears to squeak at the speed of the wheel up to around 20km/hr then goes away. every now and then it doesnt happen as well, but it is squeaking more often than not.

I've jacked up the front end and checked for any play in the bearings etc, even spun the wheel by hand and theres no squeak at all. I've also greased all the spring bushes in case it was them.

Brake pads still have about 40% left on them too.

Any ideas?

[shep]

brake pad wear indicator?

[Scrawny]

When did you last have the wheel bearings apart? Are they greased properly? Might be worth washing them out and checking them anyway

[alien]

shep wrote:

brake pad wear indicator?

Doubtful - they still have a bit of meat on them (around 40%)

Scrawn wrote:

When did you last have the wheel bearings apart? Are they greased properly? Might be worth washing them out and checking them anyway

That was probably about 9months to a year ago, only driven in some water/mud once in that time (a few weeks ago).

[alien]

interesting - i just got the front up in the air again and gave it another few spins at full right lock (worst position on the road)... managed to make it squeak once or twice so i grabbed the top of the tyre an wrenched it back and forward (more than you would checking if a wheel bearing is loose) and its does have a millimeter or so of play in it... and guess what - when i get that play to happen i can hear the god dam squeak!

looks like they need some grease (maybe a re-tighten too).

[smiffkid]

u got disk brake front end correct, could be some shit between the brakes, or the protective plate, thats supposed to stop sand getting on your brakes is touching your rim,

[alien]

haha nar my rim is like 2" away from the brakes.. its easier to see the brakes from the inside of the rim than it is from the outside =D

[smiffkid]

mmm, not to sure then

[alien]

I am:

alien wrote:

interesting - i just got the front up in the air again and gave it another few spins at full right lock (worst position on the road)... managed to make it squeak once or twice so i grabbed the top of the tyre an wrenched it back and forward (more than you would checking if a wheel bearing is loose) and its does have a millimeter or so of play in it... and guess what - when i get that play to happen i can hear the god dam squeak!
looks like they need some grease (maybe a re-tighten too).

[SSSIERA]

one of the blokes in my 4wd club had a problem like this on his parado. three hours later on the side of a bush track. about 9 men (including auto sparkies mechanics, engineers etc) are standing around the car tyre gone all scratching there heads saying well im stumped. at this point a 8 year old kid walks up to investigate. and finds the problem.

a stone about the size of your pinky fingernail was stuck between the metal cover on the back side of the disk brake and the disk itself.

made a hell of a noise but.

have u checked for stupid shit like this

[alex]

dry wheel bearing seal???

[atari4x4]

nice work & the words credit card & suzukistore weren't mentioned once stekky

[alien]

alex wrote:

dry wheel bearing seal???

Yeah thats what im thinking - either one of the seals in there or the bearing itself.

atari4x4 wrote:

nice work & the words credit card & suzukistore weren't mentioned once stekky

[alien]

so out of curiosity i took the freewheeling hub off (undid the circlip and took it all the way off) and had a peek inside... i was expecting it to be dry, but theres a ton of grease in there. Its a little sad looking (ie: brown) so waters obviously gotten in, but with the sheer quantity of grease surely it can't be the bearing or bearing seals!?

I chucked an extra glob of grease in there anyway before putting it all back together... seeing as i don't have the tools or experience to strip it down any further (especially not at 4.30 on a sat arvo of a long weekend where i plan on driving it monday)

[steak_knife]

atari4x4 wrote:

nice work & the words credit card & suzukistore weren't mentioned once stekky

[alien]

just did a test drive in sheer hope i'd done something, but no luck.. lol still squeaks when i pull the wheel around jacked up too - nearly pulled it off the jack making it do it though =) oops!

[royce]

you have shit in your brakes

[alien]

behind the shroud you mean? or in the pad? Spose i'll take the wheel off tomorrow and poke around in there. I did run my key inside the shroud to see if i'd picked up a stone but maybe a keys not long enough =P

[zukmeista]

Most pads have a groove down the middle, stones can get trapped in there. Make it do the squeaky thing and listen for where the noise is coming from.

[alien]

yeah i've had it in low range (hubs unlocked) doing circles around my cauldersack walking with the car and listening (a few neighbours now think im insane)... its definitely from the wheel/hub area but its too high pitched to really isolate.

i'll investigate the brake pad tomorrow - fingers crossed i get a good result!

[shandy92]

mate those symptoms sound almost exactly the same as mine when my hub(not Freewheeling, where bearing sits) was stuffed. not sure on the set up of sierras. are you able to tighten them up?

im free tomorrow morning, give me a yell if ya want me to pop over.

[alien]

i'll check the brakes first.. if theres no solution there then i'll get a mechanic to look at the wheel bearings (prefer to have it torqued correctly). thanks though =)

[shep]

alien wrote:

i'll check the brakes first.. if theres no solution there then i'll get a mechanic to look at the wheel bearings (prefer to have it torqued correctly). thanks though =)

the only way it will be torqued correctly is if you have a hub nut socket and a torque wrench and so it yourself.

[christover1]

Could be spring leaves sliding against each other,
especially if your clamps have been loosened for better flex,
happened on my sierra, took a while to find,
I just jacked it up and stuck good grease in,
then tightened the spring clamps a tad.
May be time to pull doen leaf pack and derust, clean and grease them

[foolsp33d]

loose upper shock mount will do a similar squeek as described.. just food for thought......

[alien]

thanks guys

[zooky08]

Hey alien I think ive found what your looking for
I'm rebuilding my swivel hubs ATM and I found that if the wheel bearing locking nut is to tight then it has a loud annoying squeak to it(its the first nut not second one with the tabs bent over it)
when you turn the hub it squeaks
Loosen it of nd it doesn't squeak at all

Might be your case

[alien]

GAHHH!!!!!

wheel off, caliper off, pads out - gave the pads and rotor (both sides) a light sand (not enough to take the gloss off though) and even just cos i could reversed the inner and outer pads (ie swapped the inside one to the outside)... down the driveway and down the road had no squeak, then a little further on it bloody came back! oddly it started off hardly doing it and then after a few turns and hard braking it came back.

what are the chances my rotors are just a bit too shiny and its the contact between the pad and rotor thats causing the squeak?

[shep]

remove the pad wear indicators and see if that makes a difference.

[alien]

*puts on dunce hat* what do they look like?