Front passenger wheel randomly locked up on right turns.

[mentalattica]

I was making a right turn from a stop and when I accelerated (under 10mph) my right front tire felt like it was skidding on gravel and chirping like it was being dragged. I wrote it off as maybe road debris. The next right turn the same thing happened while decelerating into the turn. On the last right turn, from a stop, I didn't even accelerate at all I just let the truck roll into the turn and the wheel was still dragging and chirping. I parked it and ran into the store. When I came back out I drove in circles in the parking lot and it wouldn't happen again. I drove home, and no issues turning right. My best guess is turning it off and on remedied whatever was happening which leads me to believe it may be electrical related? ABS or Stabilitrak?

Jacked the front end up when I got home and there's very little to no play in the wheels at the 9 and 3 position. There's absolutely no play in the 12 and 6 position. The wheels also spin freely from lock to lock which I think rules out a stuck caliper. I popped the tie rod ends off and the balls are nice and stiff. The inner tie rods were extremely loose (see video Loose Inner Tie Rod) and had a tiny amount of play pushing in and out. But nothing that would suggest locking up a wheel.

I went and got an alignment check and it's within spec (it was just aligned 8 months ago).

My steering rack has been leaking for a year or so, but not bad enough for me to feel like replacing it yet. With how loose my inner tie rods are I'll prob be replacing it in the near future but I doubt that's what caused this particular issue.

Anyone ever seen anything like this before? Do you think I'm on the right track with ABS/Stabilitrak/Wheel Speed Sensor? I was reading other posts about rear diff being a possible culprit but I'm not sure how in this case.

No OBD or ABS codes and no dummy lights.

2007 GMC Yukon SLT 2WD 137,000mi.

 

[Geotrash]

I was making a right turn from a stop and when I accelerated (under 10mph) my right front tire felt like it was skidding on gravel and chirping like it was being dragged. I wrote it off as maybe road debris. The next right turn the same thing happened while decelerating into the turn. On the last right turn, from a stop, I didn't even accelerate at all I just let the truck roll into the turn and the wheel was still dragging and chirping. I parked it and ran into the store. When I came back out I drove in circles in the parking lot and it wouldn't happen again. I drove home, and no issues turning right. My best guess is turning it off and on remedied whatever was happening which leads me to believe it may be electrical related? ABS or Stabilitrak?

Jacked the front end up when I got home and there's very little to no play in the wheels at the 9 and 3 position. There's absolutely no play in the 12 and 6 position. The wheels also spin freely from lock to lock which I think rules out a stuck caliper. I popped the tie rod ends off and the balls are nice and stiff. The inner tie rods were extremely loose (see video Loose Inner Tie Rod) and had a tiny amount of play pushing in and out. But nothing that would suggest locking up a wheel.

I went and got an alignment check and it's within spec (it was just aligned 8 months ago).

My steering rack has been leaking for a year or so, but not bad enough for me to feel like replacing it yet. With how loose my inner tie rods are I'll prob be replacing it in the near future but I doubt that's what caused this particular issue.

Anyone ever seen anything like this before? Do you think I'm on the right track with ABS/Stabilitrak/Wheel Speed Sensor? I was reading other posts about rear diff being a possible culprit but I'm not sure how in this case.

No OBD or ABS codes and no dummy lights.

2007 GMC Yukon SLT 2WD 137,000mi.

If it were 4wd I'd say stop running it in Auto mode, but since it's 2WD it's a head scratcher. That type of behavior is also often associated with wheel bearings on the way out, but raising the wheel and checking for play is the way to rule that in or out. An intermittently sticking caliper is a good possibility. I've never seen the stability control/abs system behave in this way on one of these.

 

[strutaeng]

I suppose you can remove the ABS fuse to see if it's the EBCM causing this, but I wouldn't think so.

Ditto on checking the calipers. Probably wouldn't hurt to remove the brake pads and lubricate the caliper slide bolts. Has that hardware even been replaced?

 

[mentalattica]

If it were 4wd I'd say stop running it in Auto mode, but since it's 2WD it's a head scratcher. That type of behavior is also often associated with wheel bearings on the way out, but raising the wheel and checking for play is the way to rule that in or out. An intermittently sticking caliper is a good possibility. I've never seen the stability control/abs system behave in this way on one of these.

An intermittent sticking caliper did cross my mind. I'll have to pull it, inspect it and check out the pad wear, then take the wait and see approach. It's so much easier for me to over complicate things and assume it's the most obscure problem I can think of lol.

I suppose you can remove the ABS fuse to see if it's the EBCM causing this, but I wouldn't think so.

Ditto on checking the calipers. Probably wouldn't hurt to remove the brake pads and lubricate the caliper slide bolts. Has that hardware even been replaced?

I did the front pads and rotors last year and replaced all of the hardware except the rubber boots bc they're a pain in the ass. Now that I'm thinking about the caliper, I did replace one of them with a reman. one from the auto parts store a few years ago. I forget which one, but I'm sure it'll be easy to identify as the rusty one.

 

[vinbart]

Did you hear the noise or feel it or both? If you just heard the noise, it could have been a piece of gravel or trash stuck between the tire and wheel well liner or wheel and brake heat shield -- I've had that happen on vehicles.

Is your car stock in ride height and wheel/tire size? Mine is 4WD, but even in 2WD mode it will squeak/chirp/scrub tires on smooth parking lot pavement at full lock.

 

[mentalattica]

Did you hear the noise or feel it or both? If you just heard the noise, it could have been a piece of gravel or trash stuck between the tire and wheel well liner or wheel and brake heat shield -- I've had that happen on vehicles.

Is your car stock in ride height and wheel/tire size? Mine is 4WD, but even in 2WD mode it will squeak/chirp/scrub tires on smooth parking lot pavement at full lock.

Everything is stock including the 20in. wheels. I definitely heard and felt the tire dragging/skipping. The odd thing is the turns I made weren't at full lock. I have however always had the tire chirping when I cut the wheel hard pulling into parking spots. I consider that a wake my wife up to let her know we're here feature lol.

 

[Ibustbravo]

I have seen brake line and caliper failures that will do this. Most recent was on a BMW 323i.. This could be an internally split hydraulic line to one of the calipers or a shagged caliper puck/seal. You might be able to rebuild it instead of replacing it.

 

[j91z28d1]

putting new brake hoses on it isn't a bad idea, but that it didn't do it after a restart leads me to the only other time I've seen/heard of this. it's very common in c6 corvettes.. things will just randomly try and kill you by locking up one side front brakes at all the wrong time.

there's a huge to do about it, class action lawsuits and stuff, but gm has never been made to do anything about it. on those it all leads to the steering angle sensor on the column. a cheap plug makes a bad connection over time on the power into it.. throws the active handling module into fits and it starts locking up front wheels thinking it's saving a spin.

no clue if that carries over to these trucks. but if you have scanner that can read the steering angle pid, might be worth logging it the next time you get it to do it. if you can get it to do it again.. the other test while it's activing doing it, is if you can get the plug, just unplug the sensor, it will disable it. if it stops doing it. you'll know, if it still does it. it's something else.

my 2 cents is it's probably not a mechanical issues. it's probably activing applying the brake over something.

 

[swathdiver]

That type of behavior is also often associated with wheel bearings on the way out, but raising the wheel and checking for play is the way to rule that in or out.

Dave, can the hub as the culprit only show up under load?

We've got a 17 year car here, the hubs are past their service life by mileage, as are the brake calipers/hoses by age and nearly by miles.

 

[Geotrash]

Dave, can the hub as the culprit only show up under load?

We've got a 17 year car here, the hubs are past their service life by mileage, as are the brake calipers/hoses by age and nearly by miles.

For sure. I can think of a few failure modes where the bearings wouldn't reveal any freeplay when on a lift but be binding under load. For example, a metallurgical flaw in a single roller that causes it to disintegrate slowly over time, could leave a bearing that has minimal play but binds under certain load conditions. Adhesive wear and corrosion etching can also cause binding but not have any play in a no-load condition.