2 Truck Imponderables... ???

[NickC]

First off... Hello People!!! I know its been a while but as some of you know, this is my time of the year to make the money to pay for the rest of my off year. To say in busy right now would be an understatement! Hope all is well with you guys!

Here's what brings me...

I have been having a weird noise come from (what sounds like) the front of the truck. Its a humming sound much like you would get out new of huge mudding tires (which i dont have). Its speed related so when i speed up, it does too. It starts after 15-20 mph and can be slightly heard over the radio. It could also be described as gears reving up, but its not like anythings clanking or anything. I brought it to a reputable shop that we bring all of our heavy equipment into and they thought by the way i described it that it could be a front wheel bearing. I had the passanger side one replaced around 2 years ago so im thinking that it would be the driver side one going. They came up with nothing. They said they had 3 people test drive it and they could get the sound to happen every time, but could not trace it or get it to make the sound in the shop once it was up in the air. Im thinking it could also be in the 4 wheel drive or even the transmission but they said probably not. I know that my dads Explorer a few years back was doing the same thing and he thought it was his brand new tires, so his tire shop tried a new set of tires and it didnt stop. It ended up being his wheel bearings causing the noise. It was very similar to the noise my truck is making. Any ideas? Could it still be a bearing or is there something in the 4wheel drive that could be responsible for this gear'ish noise?

Second... is there such thing as a brake adjustment? Even when my brakes are new, it seems that i really gotta keep pressure on the pedal to keep it from creeping forward. Every other car and truck i drive, its got a nice solid grab whenever you apply pressure and you dont have to keep heavy pressure on it to keep it stopped. Or is this just the nature of the beast and its a sign of being hard to keep stopped?! lol

I have 3 trucks and 2 trailers in my operation. Yesterday my dump trucks power steering belt came off because of a bad pulley and my guy almost drove through someones house because the brakes and steering went immediately after. Had to pull it a mile into a repair shop with my Bobcat and a chain to avoid the tow cost and the time it would have taken for the tow. The dump and my pick up were in the shop today and we had to take the day off causing a huge set back. My dump trailer has some type of wiring problem which is stopping the brakes from fully working. All of these vehicles and trailers are crucial to my everyday situation and i only have Sundays off. What a mess of scheduling vehicle repairs are for a guy with no time... 

[ERT]

Definitely sounds like a hub bearing noise. 

[NickC]

That was my first thought! I dont know why these guys did not pin point it... they're a pretty known shop. He said they did not want to throw parts at with without knowing exactly what it was.

On the freeway yesterday, i had a slight vibration at the wheel. Kinda like what ive had when the u-joints go bad in the drive shaft. But they looked ever all of the joints and replaced 2 of them while the truck was in the shop so now im wondering if the vibration is a sign of a bearing, too?!

[NickC]

Ended up making a way possible for my truck to get into a different shop with the handy help of a brother letting me use his truck to pull the Bobcat around..... and... it sounds horrible!

After all sorts of things they looked into, they pulled the front differential apart and its full of metal shavings. They said they'd keep me in the loop once they had some info, but it was near the end of the day so hopefully ill know more tomorrow.

Sounding to be around a $1000 fix. 

[ERT]

Ouch! Didn't you just have the front pinion seal replaced recently? If they didn't get the pinion nut back on correctly they probably screwed it up.

 

[NickC]

And thats EXACTLY what i was told happened!! I just got the truck picked up and when i asked them if plowing or pulling heavy was the culprit, they said no. They asked if ive recently had a seal replaced and i said yeah. They then told me the same thing you just did... that whatever it was inside there that needed to be tightened to a certain spec, possibly wasn't.

 

What do i do now... call that shop that screwed me 3 months ago?! If i would have brought the truck to them for the repairs, it would have been different. Im almost positive that they're not just gonna ask me what address to mail the reimbursement check to. Mother f'ers!!

The total was $1650 but i had a front brake job in there along with the replacement of the drivers side front wheel barring assembly. But still... if it was the previous shop doing that seal... those f'ers set me back atleast grand and a few days worth of pulling my hairs out trying to get it into the shop and finding a way to get my trailers from job to job. What a nightmare!!

Anyone reading this... what would you do as far as the shop that replaced the seal a few months back is concerned?!

Is there a way that they DID do the job right and it just happened to go? I had the seal replaced in early March.

[Jims1dodge]

Take them the bill, with an explanation of the damages for an untorqued assembly.  Have the shop that did the repair write it.