2004 Suburban help

[rogerwa]

My Suburban has developed a whump whump whump sound when turning to the left. I am thinking it may be the CV joint on the left side but am not sure..

I know a wheel bearing howl and this is not a howl. It also is more apparent at slower speeds. Does it sound reasonable that this is the CV joint??

Also, this appears to be replaced as an assembly in half shaft. Is this a fairly straight forward repair? I know how to pull all the brakes and have pulled wheel bearing assemblies but have not done a half shaft like this. It looks like all I would have to do is to pull it down to the wheel bearing assembly, unbolt the half shaft assembly from the front diff and then reassemble.

Here are the involved parts..
Wheel Bearing http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/d...l=Suburban+1500&vi=1424191&pt=03338&ppt=C0362

Half shaft
http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/d...l=Suburban+1500&vi=1424191&pt=01424&ppt=C0362


Anyone with any experience with this??

Thanks

 

[642mx]

Re: 2004 Suburban help

I think before you do anything, you should jack up all 4 corners and put it in 4WD to isolate the sound/problem.

 

[royal0014]

Re: 2004 Suburban help

What 642 said ^^^

I have no experience with 'burbans, but other Chevy 4x4 products the upper a-arm must be broke loose at the ball joint in order to have clearance to pull the halfshaft. No big deal, pickle forks are cheap. Good Luck


<<)))(((>>

 

[thefairlaneman]

Re: 2004 Suburban help

Can an average at home mechanic fix it? YES...But be prepared for it to take much longer than you may think it will..good luck

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: 2004 Suburban help

If you have never done it before, it will take longer than you think!

I broke a front axle on an aerostar 4wd once and it took me a couple of days to figure out how to replace it, the next time I did one took me about an hour..but that first one was a bugger to figure out!

 

[Splat]

Re: 2004 Suburban help

Try gettnig into a parking lot, turning the wheel to the extreme in both directions and drive in slow circles, many time a CV joint will click and pop, if your not sure if that's what is it.

I've replaced one before, it wasn't terribly difficult, but as stated will take longer than you think. You will want to remove the upper ball joint, and if it were me I'd just replace them while your in there messing around.

Bill

 

[rogerwa]

Re: 2004 Suburban help

After talking to my father in law I am thinking it is probably the hub.. It is more of a scrape than a click.

He told me that the wheel bearing can give different behavior depending on direction.

The hub seems to be fairly straight forward.. I had to pull both my hubs on my old expedition with the rotors still on so I could take to them to the machine shop and have them pressed off.. I did that in 8 degree weather, so this should be a piece of cake..

 

[kmarine]

Re: 2004 Suburban help

I have two of these trucks and would bet it is a wheel bearing hub.
Jack up front end put truck on jackstands. Shake wheel up and down. If you have any play at all you have a bad hub. $150 at most parts stores 1.5 hours of labor per side. I have 325k miles in my one truck and 240kmile on the other with origional cv joints. Hint the sound gets louder on sweeping turns.

 

[rogerwa]

Re: 2004 Suburban help

Good news is that yes it is a wheel bearing, problem is that I replaced the wrong side. Duhhh. I really hate when that happens..

What I cannot beleive is that the right side hub was replaced when it was in an accident about three years ago. I am not sure what kind of crap part they used but the oringinal OEM on the left, which I just replaced is still good.

Does this qualify as a stupid human trick?

 

[BlkY2k]

Re: 2004 Suburban help

Good news is that yes it is a wheel bearing, problem is that I replaced the wrong side. Duhhh. I really hate when that happens..

What I cannot beleive is that the right side hub was replaced when it was in an accident about three years ago. I am not sure what kind of crap part they used but the oringinal OEM on the left, which I just replaced is still good.

Does this qualify as a stupid human trick?

No thats preventative maintainence, and thats what I tell the wife.