Clicking / Rotational Noise from Front End

[Scottydoggs]

you cant pull the axels and drive it it. the front wheels hubs blow apart and off comes a wheel. park it asap. both front hubs are now destroyed if you did a 30 minute drive.

never heard of a hub for a 4x4 that dont need a axel in it. i know ppl who lost the wheel, fender and door when he ran over his own wheel.

 

[AggieZig]

you cant pull the axels and drive it it. the front wheels hubs blow apart and off comes a wheel. park it asap. both front hubs are now destroyed if you did a 30 minute drive.

never heard of a hub for a 4x4 that dont need a axel in it. i know ppl who lost the wheel, fender and door when he ran over his own wheel.

This is not accurate. It completely depends on the design of the hub.

The new bearings I used, Timken SP500300, are roll formed bearings -- they do not require a stub axle to hold them together. The original OEM bearings were not roll formed and yes, could come apart if driven without stub axles. Below is a pic showing the difference and this has been discussed on many other threads that I found.



I drove 250+ miles without stub axles and zero issues. But, as mentioned, my hub bearing design allows for this.

 

[AggieZig]

Update on the noise - I had the front diff rebuilt locally for $800 including R&R at a reputable shop.

The shop said my original gears were burnt and that was about the only thing they could visually see wrong with it. Below is a pic of the gears, I see an imprint on every tooth of the ring gear so maybe that was my clicking?



Who knows, all done with now and back on the road!

 

[Kozaktrillgod]

I have a similar issue, a small tick sound that pics up when you take off from a stop and it amplifies like crazy if it’s in 4wd, it throws the traction control signal, any insight/advice?