Hey guys,

I've owned my 06 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4 Big Horn Edition 5.7L Hemi since 2008. Trucks been great, just turned 50k miles. Within the past 2 weeks when im driving around for at least 15min, get everything hot i'm getting a humming/howling sound ONLY between 10-20mph. Its very difficult to tell where its coming from front or back of the truck, the sound kind of echos around from underneath. When i start driving to work in the morning (cold starts) i hear nothing, it only starts doing it after driving awhile (15-20min) and it is inconsistant. I stop at one light, accelerate it does it, after passing 20mph it goes away, the next light it may or may not do it again. I took my brother who used to be a mechanic and my dad for a ride, everybody has been clueless. I thought maybe it was one of my brake pads hanging up on a rotor, checked them and they look perfect. U-joints looks a little rusty but everybody says they'd be making pretty bad grinding noises as well as wheel bearings. Wondering if anybody else has had this or has any ideas? It is under warrenty but i'm hesitant to take it in for fear that they will just say can not duplicate noise and charge me for the time they spent driving my truck around. Any suggestions before i have to just suck it up and take it in?

 

tires maybe? what type and size are you running?

 

check fluids in tc and both difs. if there good and up to par i would say its probably the begining sounds to a bearing. normally yes the grind. we like to tell people it sounds like a chopper taking off. but its varying would be consident with the direction of the wheel turning in take off too. also look and see if you have a flex pipe in the exhaust. they have been known to make a growl sounds right before letting go because the noise can pass threw the thin metal. but im going to go with the beginning of a bearing. but possably tire noise.

 

I am running Cooper Zeon LTZ's 275/60R-20, i've had them on the truck now for about 10k miles. They look to be wearing pretty good, never were noisey at all. The noise sounds more like something you would hear in a drivetrain moreso then tires. Its hard to describe the sound or even immitate it. Its more of a howling sound from under the truck again only between 10-20mph. I can put it in drive, let my foot off the brake and let the truck roll, you will never hear the sound. When i give it gas and get it about 15mph you'll hear it and its gone after 20mph. Very strange. I've been searching a lot seeing things like bearings, pinion seals, transmission, tires as mentioned above but nothing standing out definitive. My transmission shifts perfectly, fluid looks perfect as well, no lag between shifts or lag when putting it from park to drive, etc.

I guess next i will check the fluids in the diffs and go from there. Any other ideas or simple things to check? If it is a bearing would you just wait till it gets worse so i can idetify it for sure or take it in to a shop and have them diagnose it under warrenty?

 

sounds like a carrier bearing maybe....mine howled for a bit, and then we found several bearing had broken races, and if the bearings would have fallen out, boom goes my rearend but we caught it....

 

Thanks for the replies so far guys.

jusjay727, did you know for sure it was coming from something in the rear end before you pulled it apart? I guess the only way to find out is pull the rear cover off and take a look huh..

 

yes i knew for sure it was coming from the pumpkin ask a friend to sit in the back and drive around safely....and have them listen to where its coming from, i have alot of friends that work on cars so we pretty much knew, then i found a chrysler gear guy he knew what it was before i took him for a ride...

 

Whenever I hear a new noise on my truck, my first step is to find out if it's engine speed related or drivetrain speed related. Since this happens between 15 and 20 mph try driving in first gear when it's likely to occur. If the noise happens much louder you'll know it's related to the speed of the engine, if it sounds the same it's drive train. And that extra info should be able to clue these experts in even more. It ain't much help but that's all I can think of at the moment.

 

mjs1988 Did you find out what was making the noise? I pulled my trailer today for the first time and my truck is making the same noise you've described with your truck. Mine is only doing it when accelerating away from a stop, it starts making the noise around 10mph and stops right at 20mph. I have not heard this noise until today and only when pulling my trailer.

 

Could be a carrier bearing that didn't show up until you put the extra load on it. Might want to pull the cover and look for any metal in the fluid. Also check the clutches as well if you have the anti-spin LS unit.