[RockHopper]

A question for the experts. I just replaced my front hubs at 111,000 miles. I had previously replaced the drivers side 30,000 ago with a napa hub and it already went out so I replaced both with timkens. This cured my loud rumble I had as well as the vertical play in my wheel. Now after I put about 100 miles on the new hubs I have a loud squeal sound coming from the passenger side at slow speeds. It sounds like written pads grinding on the rotors but the pads are newish and looked fine when I replaced the hubs. I hacked the truck up and I have no vertical play in the wheel but I do have a bit of 3 to 9 o'clock play on the passenger side. It may have been there before I replaced the hubs. When I feel the play I notice all the steering components are moving, not just the wheel. I suspect my idler arm or another steering components is bad but why the new squeal? Could the new hub be bad? They both seemed to spin good and be solid before I installed them.

 

[Ron Nielson]

At first blush, steering play at 3 to 9 pm sounds like worn tie rod end on the right side. And your idler arm is on the right side also. I look for up and down play of the idler. I think you should check all of your joints carefully and replace any that are not up to par. Sometimes we don't realize how worn our trucks are when we drive them daily. However, neither the tie rod nor the idler would create a squeal.

Are you running stock wheels and tires?

 

[RockHopper]

I looked at the idler and it may have moved up and down slightly but looked more like it was just moving in and out with the rest.

The tires are 285s with 17 inch wheels. I also have a 4 inch lift.

I'm hoping it stops. If not, I'm probably gonna have to tear everything apart again and see if there's side to side play at the spindle.