Need Help...

[RockMonkey]

My 02 WJ makes the same noise and when I asked the guys at Six States about it they said they fix lots of them by rebuilding the front axle. They said that what they take out looks fine and they aren't sure why they whine like that. Mine is worse once the warm weather hits.

Does yours also seem to come from the driver side? Any idea what they do when they "rebuild" them? Just the bearings and seals?

 

[RockMonkey]

I took off the front drive shaft. One u-joint cap seems to be frozen. I would expect it to squeak, so that's a possibility for the source of the noise. Also, the rubber boot is all torn at the base of the CV. It still seems to move freely, but it looks a bit rusty inside. Are the CVs serviceable?

 

[RockMonkey]

Just checked. They have replacement CV joints at Oreilly for $172. Damn.

 

[RockMonkey]

Looks like I can just replace the boot for much less. Might try replacing the U-joint, and putting a new boot on the CV.

 

[DaveB]

Does yours also seem to come from the driver side? Any idea what they do when they "rebuild" them? Just the bearings and seals?

It is hard to say which side since it will only do it above a certain speed with a load on it. If I jack it up on all four it won't do it. I think they changed the bearings and seals, not sure on the gears.

 

[RockMonkey]

Update. It still makes the noise with the drive shaft removed, so that wasn't it. Still, it was good to remove it, because it clearly needs some maintenance.

 

[RockMonkey]

Another update... I replaced the u-joint on the drive shaft (which was frozen) and put it back on. I also replaced the axle on the driver's side. The noise is still there. I'm going to try to warranty the wheel bearing. When I replaced it, the noise went away for a while. When I was testing after replacing the drive shaft and axle I noticed the wheel bearing was hot. This was with the vehicle on jack stands, and the brakes removed, so there shouldn't have been anything generating heat near that bearing. I'm wondering if it was the wheel bearing all along, and I got a bad replacement. Probably not, but worth a try.

 

[RockMonkey]

I got a warranty replacement on the wheel bearing. I went for a 20 mile spin at freeway speed with no noise. I'll update the thread if the noise comes back, or if it remains silent for a month or so. Fingers crossed.

 

[Rock Taco]

Hopefully that was it and you don't have any more issues.

 

[Herzog]

That would be ridiculous. Keep us posted.

 

[RockMonkey]

So far so good. Several hundred miles on the new bearing and no noise! Really hoping to have this problem solved.

 

[gijohn40]

I had two replacement unibearings from two different vendors that were both bad from the get go... thankfully I don't have that heep anymore....

 

[RockMonkey]

Still good. If your WJ makes this noise, replace the wheel bearing. If it still makes the same noise, replace the wheel bearing again. So glad to have this fixed!