Wheel bearing noise?

Got back on the highway after hunting this year and noticed a loud hum or howling noise. Starts about 35 and is still present at highway speeds. I am swapping tires to rule that out ,as thats exactly what it sounds like.Do worn wheel bearings make the same noise? Thanks

 

Does the noise get progressively louder with the increase in speed? There could also be play in the wheel when you jack it up and feel.

 

I just went through this nightmare a couple months back. If it's a hum it's probably just tires. But if there is a vibe or a "wop wop wop" at lower speeds or a pulsation at higher speeds, it's probably wheel bearings.

I have never been able to feel play in a bad wheel bearing. I've heard that only happens when they are completely donezo.

I went to a 4x4 shop and they told me it was probably a front wheel because "The rears hardly ever go bad." Don't trust anyone who tells you that because I went through a driver-side front wheel bearing, a front differential drop, and a driverside cv axle replacement because he was convinced it was in the front end and he threw the kitchen sink at it.

After the cv job, he told me it was gone. When I was driving back home it was still there. Frustrated, I jacked the truck up and spun the rear wheels; I could hear them both making a noise when I spun them. Went to the Toyota dealer after that and told them I thought it was the rears and I already had a front replaced. A tech then diagnosed it as both rears being bad so they replaced them and it's been fine ever since.

 

If you search Wheel Bearings on this forum, there's a handful of posts about it. I would read through some of them because they might be describing similar sounds as you.

 

What made me think you have a similar problem to what I had is that I had a super loud hum and wop sound that just got worse and worse over time between 30-40 mph. Right there about 35-40, it was the worst. Did it at 55 too. Going 70-75 at highway speed it was like a pulsating hum noise but only when I was on the gas.

What kind of roads were you on while hunting? Did you encounter any water crossings, mud puddles, etc? I got stuck in a mudhole on accident for like an hour in the backcountry once and within a few hundred miles after that, one of my front wheel bearings started telling me bye-bye.

 

Just something to try. If it's the front the sound should get worse as you drive turning the steering wheel right or left depending on which one it is. If I remember correctly, if you turn left and the sound gets worse it's the right and if you turn right and it gets worse it's the left.

 

My bad wheel bearing made a loud howling noise as you described. Stock wheels at the time with stock suspension. No play in the bearing. Did figure eights in a large parking lot. Noise went away on hard left turns. Bad drivers side bearing, replaced both.

 

Maybe something like that? My understanding it that the sound is supposed to go away when you remove pressure from the side that is the culprit. Say the right side is bad for instance, if you turn hard left (removing pressure from the right side) then the noise should briefly go away and vice versa.

This apparently is true for the rears too cause I could do this and the noise would go away for a second or two until the truck straightened out and there was equal pressure on all 4 wheels again.

 

This can go either way for the front bearings, as there are two bearings in each hub assembly, an inner and outer, so depending which goes out the change in sound or going silent one direction or the other could actually be the opposite of what you'd think. For me, the bad hub went quiet when weight shifted onto it.

Front hubs, if you buy the complete assembled unit, are a really easy job. I'm no mechanic and I was able to do them in my backyard. Only tool I didn't have was a big enough socket and an impact gun. Bought the socket online, and borrowed impact from sister. Now that I know how to do it, I could probably do it again about 15-20 minutes per side.

And if your bearings have 80K miles or more on them, might as well just do them and rule out the problem.

 

I did make some deep water crossings probably 3/4 to the top of the tire. Same symptoms you described but no wop. Right turns makes the vibe/hum go away. The vibe is more like a small resonance though. Today I swapped the tires from my 23 on there and the noise did not go away so tires are ruled out. I did have a rotation just before this started so my initial thought was tires. I have replaced both cvs in the last 18 months and did not replace any additional seals at that time so maybe that was my error,and the water intrusion got me.I guess I will jack up each side individually by the lower a arm and spin the wheel to check for grittyness as my next test. All opinions welcome. Thanks

 

My bearings were shot but had no play and no noticeable sound when spinning by hand. Only way I knew was swapped one bearing and drive the truck and 90 percent of the noise was gone. Swapped the opposite side and the remaining noise was gone. Now I hear every little grown from my truck and worry constantly what it may be, but it's just my truck was so noisy for so long it drowned out all the other sounds.

 

So Im going to replace the front wheel bearing assemblies after a little more research. Do you guys know the toyota part# for the seal that goes in the spindle?Thanks