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Front end noise NEED ADVICE

17K views 20 replies 13 participants last post by  Parker H 
Did they even attempt to align it? - With that much negative camber on the right side, you'll wear the inside of the tire and the truck should pull pretty badly going down the highway. (Negative camber leans the tire inward at the top, positive pushes it outward). Our trucks are spec'd at -0.5 +/- .5 degrees of camber, so we want a little negative camber, but not nearly two degrees worth.

Who did you bring it to, was it a dealer that works on our model truck regularly? Many vehicles on the road have no camber adjustment, if it's off, there's something worn or bent.....my wife's Nissan is a prime example. If camber is off, you start replacing things, strut, then control arm. Our trucks however have a good amount of adjustment built into the design, you loosen the three bolts on the ower control arm bracket and pry it into submission.

If you're at the limit or maxed out, then there is something's worn or bent. Seeing that your about a year newer than mine, common things that need to be checked due to aging are: Upper & Lower ball-joints, lower control arm to frame bushings and outer tie-rod ends. After 10 years, the rubber boots may be rotted, which allows dirt/moisture to enter and corrode the components. The front shocks, as stated above, DO NOT affect alignment. - They could result or contribute to a bouncey ride and cause culping on the tires, but that's about it.

You can also replace the fronts a lot cheaper than $500, hell you can buy two Monroe Quick-Struts for around $300 and do it youself with a mere socket set and hammer and not need to worry about a spring compressor and such. (Quick struts are a strut, spring and top-assembly assembled and ready to install into the vehicle).

It's also worth noting that if the replacement bearing is bad, which is possible, it may be throwing the alignment out. My experience on some of the 'cheap' suspension components from Advance-Auto and others hasn't been glowing. The parts branded as "OE Parts" many times don't survise a drive to the shop for an alignment. My brother's a Ford Mastertech and has mentioned that some of those cheap 3rd party parts have come back and bit him on the back side as well. So to answer your question, yes it is possible the replacement could be bad.
 
Before doing that, I'd check the bearing that came off. - It should spin freely without any rumble/vibration when you turn it. If you can 'feel' any vibration or it doesn't spin smoothly, the bearing is bad. They usually don't fail in pairs, but it is possible. Did the noise itself change when the bearing was replaced....I was under the impression the noise went away and then returned a few weeks later. (Which is why I brought up the low quality of some of the parts out there).

Regardless, there's still a pretty bad alignment issue that needs to be addressed before kills the front tires.

If you're ABSOLUTELY sure it's a bearing noise, and you've got a new bearing in one side, put the OLD one in the side you didn't replace.
I know it's a pain, but I had a '97 Blazer that did the same thing. Replaced it in the driveway, in the snow, twice.
 
Matches that alignment sheet, the passenger (right) side has more negative camber, which leans it inwards at the top (outward at the bottom). The inner tire edge wear is a classic result of too much negative camber (or excessive toe-out).

The alignment bracket on the passenger side needs to be loosened and LCA pushed inwards a bit. We need a little negative camber, just not as much as you have. This is of course assuming that there aren't any suspension parts that need to be replaced causing the alignment issue.

Perfectly strait up and down with no tilt inward or outward is zero camber, inward at the top is negative, outward is positive. (Reverse for what the bottom does). Think of camber as a see-saw between the top of the tire and the bottom, with the balance point the center bearing. You push one in and the other comes outwards. Your see-saw is too far out of balance.
 
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