2004 Dodge Ram 1500 5.7 2wd. Theres this humming noise from what I thought was the back end since I had to redo the ring and pinion on the rear diff last summer so I thought it might be bad so I jacked up the rear end and ran the truck all the way up to 65 with no sound I was noticing on the road. The sound goes up in intensity and pitch the faster you go on the road and I can only assume it's coming from the front end since I think I've eliminated that it's coming from the back end at this point. It's almost like a winding up and winding down noise. Any thoughts on what to look at next or what it could be?

 

Check hub bearing

 

Is it rotational? Does it get better/worse in relation to speed? Hub bearing is my thought, too.

 

Yeah it gets worse going faster. Nothing real evident from turning definitely up and down play and maybe side to side as well when jacked up. Less play in the left hand side so I think I've narrowed it to the passenger side and am gonna replace the wheel bearing on that side hopefully that will fix it.

 

Sadly I have the same including the fact that I overhauled my rear end about 15,000 miles ago, which tends to make one paranoid about any of these sorts of noises! I don't know that checking with no load on the backend is fully diagnostic , because weight on the wheels can make a difference. I hope it's your front wheel bearings and I hope the same for myself.

 

I just bought my 2003 Dodge Ram 1500 Quad.. i noticed off the bat that the humming has to be the Wheel bearing hubs.. looking to replacing them right away then i will tackle the Upper Control Arms and Ball joints.

 

Yep, hub bearings. Both of mine did that on my 08 while it was under warranty.

 

My latest noise turned out to be the driver side hub. It made a subtle noise for 15,000 before it got bad enough that I was pretty sure it was the front left hub. I replaced hubs, ball joints, upper arms, and rotors and pads on both sides too, while I was at it. It was easier than my last job (overhauling my rear end) but still not a lot of fun beating on those ball joints and pressing out the lower ball joints.