To all who said the noise was a wheel bearing, you were correct according to a local tire shop. They drove the car and if you make a sharp right turn over 30 mph, the noise decreased. I was not jerking the wheel hard enough to see a difference.

They put the car on a rack, jacked up both front wheels and spun them by hand. No noise. Then they put it in Drive and had to get the speed above 30 mph where the tech said he could feel vibration on the left suspension arm and no vibration on the right wheel under the same test. So he concluded the left bearing and said it would cost $250 + tax to replace. Could someone who has replaced the hub give me the step by step procedure and tools reqd or point me to such a post here?

Here is a pointer to someone trying this technique. The tech turned the engine off with transmission in Drive and shut the door with keys in ignition. We could not open the doors! My wife had to bring the extra keys instead of using a slim jim. Figured out that the doors locked automatically when we were running above about 20 mph!!

Could anyone venture a guess on how urgent it would be to replace the bearing? There is no looseness now in the bearings.

Thanks for all your help. Will update after replacing the bearing.

 

Looking at changing the left front hub assembly on a 2001 2 dr, V6 Stratus SE Coupe. The hub is held on with 4-11/16 hex head bolts, not the torx head bolts mentioned several places on this forum. The big problem is getting a socket or wrench on the head. There is a bell shaped metal cover that the boot attaches to and the socket or wrench will only catch the corners of the bolt head and the socket has to be at about a 15 degree angle. Don't know if I can remove the bolts without stripping the head points. Anyone done it on this model? If so, what did you use to remove the 4 bolts?

Also, looked at the replacement hub and there is an note with it to be sure to tighten the hub to 180 ft lbs in order to maintain proper bearing preload and that this hub is different from the original. They have to be referring to the large 1 1/4 hex nut with cotter pin that extends through the hub. In addition, the brake calipers must be removed, but the 2 bolts are easily accessible.

Looks like maybe an hour job if you could get the 4 bolts out. I assume the large nut can be tightened to 180 ft lbs with the transmission in park and that this is less than the drive shaft sees in normal use? Maybe better to lower the wheel until the tire touches to react the torque? Price of the hub is $99, so could save about $150 doing it myself.

 

Sorry for the long posts. Would appreciate if someone could help with 2 items. 1. How to get to the 4 bolt heads (bolts hold hub on) when a socket will not go straight on and open end wrench slips off?
2. Does the drive shaft nut really require 180 ft lbs torque. One I looked at in the boxcautioned "tighten hub to 180 ft lbs". This has to mean the nut with cotter pin. Another one at a diferent store had no such caution and the salesman said the nut needs to only be snug since a cotter pin keeps it from turning.

thanks,

 

Wrong wheel bearing diagnosed by the tire shop. They said left front. I thoughtnoise was from the rear and took it to a local Dodge dealer who put "chassis ears" at all 4 wheels and concluded it was the right rear hub bearing. They were correct-replaced it and now very quiet. A word of CAUTION: If noise lessens on hard right turn, it could be either the left front or right rear (since you would also be unloading theright rear on a hard right turn).

The Stratus is an '01 2 dr coupe with 3 liter V6. I asked for the old hub bearing and noted that it did not have the cogged wheel that is on those the parts store said was the replacement. Maybe the cogged wheel was removed and reused? There is a smooth diameter cover over the large nut and thread. In Indigo's post it is on the old and new hub, but that is an R/T? The new hub bearing installed by the dealer had a Mitsubishi part number. Only 22,500 mi on car. Should not have to replace bearing this early. It has taken 3 mo. and many posts here to finally fix the noise.

 

This is what I did to determine which wheel was bad.

Chock the back wheels. Jack up the entire front of the car. Start the car, carefully push the gas. The front wheels should start to spin. (this might help to have a pair of second eyes). Ease off the gas and watch the wheels spin. The wheel with the bad bearing should slow to a stop much faster than the good bearing.