I have a 2000 Dodge Dakota with 220 k. Just started having a roaring noise, almost as loud as mud tires. Seems to be coming from the front. Engine runs fine, no panel lights. Just had new bearing and seals in rearend, but like I said, the noise seems to be coming from the front. The noise does not change with acceleration or braking. Any ideas?

Thanks for any suggestions...

 

It could be anything. Did you look under the truck, at the tires under the hood ect already?

I will move this to the 2nd Gen. Dakota section.

 

So it's there when sitting, accelerating or braking?

IF it's there in park/not moving, that rules out a wheel bearing

IF it doesn't change with engine speed, rules out the clutch fan

Next, put it in neutral and coast with the engine off.

IF it's still there, then it's something in the driveline

IF it goes away when you shut the engine off, we can start narrowing in that direction.

 

The noise happens only when the truck is moving. I did jack the front end up and tried to move the tires from side to side and top to bottom, but does not have any play either way. If it is the bearings, wouldn't it have some movement? I also noticed other post indicating that if they turn left or right that the noise would go away. This is not the case with my truck. The noise does not change with speed either.

 

With nobody around you on a good, clear road (might be hard to find), put the trans in neutral and shut the engine off.

If the bearings seem to be good, I'm running out of ideas.

So once you start moving, it's there, but never changes, until you come to a stop?

 

It only roars when the truck is moving.

That rules out engine issues as the engine is running when you are not moving & it isn't roaring.

I'm going to go out on a limb & say wheel bearing. It may be a CV joint - but I'm guessing wheel bearing.

modern perminantly sealed bearings dont' have to have play when worn out. The weight of the truck isn't really suspended by the bearing as it is on old bearings so when they go bad the wheel may not be loose.

It usually has a speed sensative sound, but if it is really bad it will scream just as loud at slow speed as it will at high.

 

On our ram, when both front bearing went out, we knew it. The tire had about 1/2" of play up and down. Plus the bearing had blue burn points where it had gotten hot.

 

The wheel will have play depending on how bad it is I drove mine for about 300 miles before I did mine. Here is a vid of it

 

Even though it's coming from the front, I'm leaning towards maybe it being a driveshaft U joint. If it's a 4x4 than the more likely option would be a halfshaft CV joint.