Wheel Bearing Noise?

[Banditsteve]

Hi All, Been out of circulation for a while due to a health hiccup but back to normal now. I have noticed a noise recently which I had put down to wind noise from the roof rack but after taking the roof rack off, the noise is still there. The noise sounds very much like a front wheel bearing or even both of them is/are on the way out but after pricing up a new one from Jeep and discovering it is over £350 supplied only (About $550 US) I started looking for a cheaper alternative and went from the sublime to the ridiculous after finding one on Ebay for £90 but got a nasty feeling it will have been made in China, and although I love their food, I am not too keen on their replacement vehicle parts so I just wondered if anyone in the UK, or even the US, knows of a reputable dealer in the UK where I can get a decent bearing/hub assembly made by a reputable company as I dont fancy doing the job again in 6 months after putting something cheap and nasty on there. I have still got some investigating to do to make sure it is the wheel bearings, but so far I have removed the front prop shaft, (US drive shaft?) (The bit between the transfer box and the front diff! :happy175: ) and it isn't that. No play in wheel bearings with it jacked up etc which I know isn't always a cert anyway, and no excess play in any of the driveline. CV joints seem ok on the rear prop shaft (US drive shaft?) as do the front CV joints etc. I am going to swap tyres front to rear at the weekend as I find it weird that both front bearings have gone at the same time but noise is constant and not noisier when cornering left or right, so I am hoping it may be the tyres as they are Good Year Wranglers with about 30k on them and are getting ready for the scrap heap although they still have about 3 or 4 mm on them. Some would say they are ready for the bin when they come out of the factory! :happy175: (And no I don't want to know it might be the diff! p: Haha. Not yet anyway) Nice to be back and hope someone can point me in the right direction of a bearing supplier they can recommend rather than me taking a gamble. Cheers All, Steve :smokin:

 

[yellocoyote]

Can you get parts from Rock Auto out to you in the UK? That's where I've gotten mine in the past.

Oh, and welcome back!

 

[ChiefRudy]

I thought I had bad wheel hub on my jeep earlier this year. but it turned out to be my Wrangler SR-A's making all the noise.They had about 35-37K on them when I started to notice the noise. I rotated them and the noises was just about gone. Just a low hint of it b/c the treads where bad on all tires. I replaced them when I had about 39K on them and got a alignment. Everything is good now.

Now, My wife's 02KJ had a bad hub and all the thing did was ROAR until we traded it in. It was a instant roar the moment the vehicle started moving. My KJ never produced any noise until over 25-30mph with the bad tires. So between the two KJs I learned what may sound like a bad hub and what really was a bad hub.

Good luck to ya.

 

[Cardhu]

If your buying the complete hub assembly, I think Timken is the prefered vendor.

 

[Banditsteve]

Thanks all. :smokin: Rotated wheels today and noise is still there somewher but can't pinpoint yet as it's only a gentle whirring at the moment so as there is no other signs of bearing play etc, I might let it develop and may be easier to pinpoint then. Been emailing Rockauto and they do ship to the UK although it is about $100 for 2 hub assemblies but at least the Timken bearings are reputable so it should be worthwhile. Would still like to hear from anyone in the Uk who have bought some aftermarket ones to get an idea of quality? Thanks again, Steve