Hi all. Please help! I have a 2003 Durango SLT. There is an extremely annoying ratling noise coming from the front left tire area. It is not made worse when turning, does not go away or get worse when I hit the brakes. It is only there when the truck is moving. The rattle does get worse when I engage the 4wd. I am doubting it's brake related and while I was hoping it was simply that thin metal shield behind the brakes I am doubting it since it gets worse when I engage the 4wd. I have new shocks and ball joints so ....... Any ideas?

 

Is it more of a hum or definitely a rattle? If it's a hum, Wheel bearing. I just replaced mine in my Durango and it is much easier than most think it is. The wheel bearing is in the hub assembly so you must replace the whole assembly, and I'd recommend replacing both of the front at once.

http://www.1aauto.com/1A/wheel-beari...tm_content=SHS

If it's definitely a rattle, have you had your brakes replaced lately? Could be a loose brake pad or a sway bar bushing. Also, check the CV joint on the front axle.

 

Sounds more like a rattle to me. Sometimes I even get a high pitched whine as well. the whine comes and goes. I am gonna put the truck on jack stands tomorrow and tear into it. unfortunately I really have no idea what i'm doing, so we will see what i can figure out. Thanks for the info. hopefully it's the brakes, easy fix, I just didn't think the 4wd would make it worse if it were the brakes.

 

its probobly broken where the front driveshaft connects to the transfer case... they break often on these trucks.. check it out and let me know if im right

 

Will take a look, but if it is broken, how do I know? i was looking with the tire on, can on driveway, and saw nothing obvious. Took it to the shop for the rattle and I came back with new upper and lower ball joints, new shocks, and the same rattle!!!! Not going back to the shop. Now it's persona between me and the noise!

 

I would jack up the left front like you said. Leave the tire on and push on the top, then the bottom. If it moves alot then your bearings are shot. Like widow said you have to replace the hub assembly to fix. Not hard to do and runs a little over $100 but most places have a core charge so it ends up costing arond $60 a side.

 

I'm trying to figure out that one. Did they at least put some nice brand name shocks on your ride? I've never heard of a rattle noise due to bad shocks.

Also, did you check the obvious first and foremost and make sure there's no loose plastic or anything rubbing on any moving parts such as the brake rotors or wheel hub.

 

Jaster, I had the same problem up until 2 weeks ago. It turned out to be the CV joint on the front drive shaft. CV joint is at the TFR case end. The boot had deteriorated and the joint was shot.

 

Wheel bearing would be more of a hum or a whine.

If it's more of a rattling sound, check the CV joints first, U-joints on front drive shaft, then finally the front differential. I would agree with session9 that the CV joints are probably the most likely...

Also, crawl under there and look for any missing bolts, broken parts, or anything just hanging loose. Your symptoms sound like it's probably something in the drivetrain, but a rattle can be pretty much anything. Just grab stuff and see if you can move and/or shake things that aren't supposed to move and/or shake....

 

Well thanks all for your help. Put the truck up on jack stands today and crawled underneath. The tire had no wobble to it at all, brakes were good, no loose parts, no ripped boots, nothing out of the ordinary from what i can tell. I did learn that I have know very little about what I am doing an looking at underneath a car, I learned that 35" tires are pretty heavy. But hey, I am trying! I rotated the tire off the ground and didn't hear anything like what I was hoping for. Very little noise anywhere. Oh well, gonna crawl back underneath this weekend when I have all day.