Starting 2 days ago I started hearing a loud 'whirling' and vibration noise from the front end. The noise goes away when turning to the RIGHT, even slightly. When driving straight or left, the noise is consistant. So that tells me its the right side wheel bearing right? Well today I replaced the right wheel bearing but the noise is still there. And it still goes away when making a right hand turn.

I know the obvious thing is to probably just replace the left side bearing as well but if the left side bearing is shot, why does the noise go away when turning to the right and not to the left???? In fact, when turning sharply to the left, the vibration gets worse.

I have checked things like tire pressure and even got new tires with alignment yesterday.

 

How are the tie rods and ends?

IndyDurango

 

TRE's are new as of 6 months ago. So are ball joint and control arm bushings. The only thing I haven't verified yet is any free-play when I try to shake the wheel while it's suspended. I just still find it odd that the left side is causing a problem when the noise disappears while turning to the right.

 

Slow turn or fast turn? Are the TREs on the correct side? You laugh, it happens. It did to ME!

IndyDurango

 

The noise goes away when making a slight or drastic turn to the right, whether slow or fast.

I assume the tre's are in the correct orientation. I matched them to the ones that came off. Also, the truck has been smooth as can be up until a few days ago and the tre's were replaced months ago.

 

If the noise is apparent only when turning... the TREs has a tiny 'scalloped-out' area built into each end that is meant to clear the wheel as the wheel is turned. It isn't overly obvious and they do fit on the wrong sides. The edge of the inner rim clears the TRE via passing through the scalloped area.

With that said, I re-read your symptoms and you indicated that the sound goes away when turning right and is always apparent when moving forward or going left. That's NOT TREs. Sorry for the misdirection.

My remote diagnostics on that is the wheel bearing. The sound goes away because you are applying pressure and flex in a different direction than normal. Given enough time, it would make noise at every variation. On a 4 wheel ABS setup, the hub and bearing are all one piece. Costs about $225 and isn't hard to replace. Caliper and brakes come off as does the rotor. It's a great time to inspect everything and the replace/repair anything else in there that is suspect.

IndyD

 

^ LOL ^

That would suck.....

Now if turning to the right the weight shifts to the left exposing the bearing (weighted area of the bearing) to the race of the bearing causing alike signs. I would replace it.

 

just replaced left wheel bearing and noise is gone. thanks

 

Glad that got it for you. Did your hub have 2 wheel or 4 wheel ABS?

IndyD

 

The D has 2 wheel rear ABS only. So the hub just pops off with no electrical connections.

Last summer I brought my D into the dealership to diagnose terrible steering wander. There was about 2-3 inches of play in the steering wheel. They pretty much diagnosed every single little suspension item and quoted around $1500 to do the job. I knew it was BS however I just ended up buying everything on their list aftermarket for around $400 and replaced the parts myself then got an alignment. The list included all 4 greasable ball joints, inner and outer tie rods, pitman arm, idler arm, shocks, and upper control arm bushings. I also tightened the steering box. After all this there is only about 1/4"-1/2" inch of place in the steering system so I am very happy. However, when I did the job, I really had to hammer off the hub assembly so I suspect that may have caused the bearing wear.

For a Durango in the clean condition that it is in with 156,000 miles I have to say I really like it. The only major problem I ever had to experience was a bad tranny but it happened just after I bought it from the dealer back when it had 87,000 miles on it so they paid for it all. The second major problem I am about to deal with is the heater core which I’m going to replace in the upcoming weeks - yikes.