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Rotational play in front hubs


swiggy
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Hi, I've been chasing down a rumbling sound from the front right area of my pathfinder. Thought wheel bearing, repacked with no real change. I only hear the sound from 10-30mph then it goes away. Definitely a rotational noise, like a wub wub wub wub sort of noise. CV boots are good, but I can feel a tiny bit of play in the joints. There is a lot of rotational play or between the axle and the hub however, is this normal? I have it on both sides. I.e you can turn the axle maybe 5-10 deg before it engages the hub. Like a 17mm socket on a 16mm bolt.

 

the play is all between the axle itself and the hub, so not coming from the cv.

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The hub splines should be tight to the outer output splines of the cv axles. A groan sound is either a grind or bearings. Yes you repacked them. But your races may be shot.

 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

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So the play is cause by either worn splines on the axle or inside the hub? I guess I'd better hope its the axle

 

What do you mean by a grind?

Edited by swiggy
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Do you have OE or manual hubs?

 

OE. I had a look at it again just now and the splines don't look damaged in either hub or axle. But theres definitely some slop in there. Did Nissan use harder steel in the axle or the hub?

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The OE hub (aka drive flange) is a very simple piece. Not likely the point of failure here, but easy to tell.

 

When you say, "the play is all between the axle itself and the hub, so not coming from the cv", are you talking the axle as in differential? The connection between the CV shaft and the wheel hub, joined by the drive flange should have no play. If it's not that, then it's either a) the outer CV joint, B) the inner CV joint, or c) the differential (and small play here isn't abnormal to me).

 

Though, I can't see how any of the above rotating parts would only make a noise at low speed, including bad wheel bearings. Do you have OE wheels? Short lug nuts?...anything that might prevent the wheels from coming into full contact with the wheel mounting surface? Any noticeable wear on the wheel studs? Thinking outside the box for a moment.

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Let's go back inside the box for a moment. :0

 

You seem to be clearly describing play in the spline to hub interface.

Irish said that it's not a likely point of failure. Well, I can't speak to the likelihood, but I can say that a couple of years ago I was almost stranded in some mud when my front hub stripped. Why in the world would the axle to hub strip out? Who knows.

But it did. Then it made a horrible clicking/grinding sound when I drove it to the shop for R&R.

 

Your hub flange may be bad and, if so, proactively replacing it (them) now might save you an axle.

 

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I was thinking it'd be unlikely because a damaged flange would be pretty noticeable when removed (damaged splines, metal dust, etc.). But, I also want to be sure we're talking about the same hubs (drive flange vs. wheel hub) and axles (R200A vs. CV axles).

 

Drive flange below. There should be very little tolerance when it slides on the CV shaft. If you slide this on the CV but not bolt it to the wheel hub, is there rotational play?

3851273p00.jpg

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Hi guys, sorry for the slow reply, and thanks for all the thoughts. It is play in the hub spline to CV axle spline that I'm talking about.

 

 

 

Drive flange below. There should be very little tolerance when it slides on the CV shaft. If you slide this on the CV but not bolt it to the wheel hub, is there rotational play?

 

Yes that is where I am seeing play. I'll try and take a video today showing how much. Maybe this is the time to get manual hubs and new CVs.. I definitely still have 4wd so the hub isn't stripped (yet)

 

 

Though, I can't see how any of the above rotating parts would only make a noise at low speed, including bad wheel bearings. Do you have OE wheels? Short lug nuts?...anything that might prevent the wheels from coming into full contact with the wheel mounting surface? Any noticeable wear on the wheel studs? Thinking outside the box for a moment.

 

I'm going to do the wheel bearings today, the noise changes slightly as I swerve left to right so I'm fairly sure the wheel bearing is unhappy. I got the truck cheap because the front brakes had been totally cooked, worn through the pads. So had to do rotors, pads and calipers. I'm guessing it got hot enough to screw with the bearing too, although they seemed ok when I repacked.

 

I do have aftermarket wheels, but the noise never used to be there so I don't think that is the problem. I'm thinking I have a rough spot that just resonates at a certain speed, then above that its overtaken by tire noise? I do have noisy tires. The wheel studs look fine, I've tried taking the wheel off and on a few times to make sure its not off center or something and the noise doesnt change.

Edited by swiggy
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Yeah, if there's some play between CV spline and drive flange, that's probably not good.

 

When you check the wheel bearings, pull them out and clean completely. Races, too (they can stay in the wheel hub). The ungreased bearings should spin freely in the races. You'll notice any binding or hesitation. When putting everything back together, don't forget to torque the ring nut to spec, then back it off a little.

 

About the aftermarket wheels, just be sure the lug nuts aren't topping out, preventing them from being fully seated. I've seen the case where steel wheels, with thinner flanges than aluminum, needed longer or open lug nuts. Also check if the lug nuts are the right type for the wheels.

 

Tires can be noisy at certain speeds. My front left tire on my other SUV does that. Drives me nuts because I've rotated it around and the noise just travels.

 

May want to try swapping sides on things to see what noises carry, including wheel hub.

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