The Nissan Path

i have 81,000 miles. Just redid ALL u joints 5k miles ago. I just recently started getting a "feeling" of resistance/ friction and a whirling noise at low speed and high speed. You can hear it die down when coming to a stop. I had the fan clutch replaced last year. Dont think that is it. Are wheel bearing or front axles issues common? This happened 2 weeks after i did the radiator bypass (no contamination).

I thought I had a bad wheel bearing back when I had my old set of tires on. I could hearing a slight roaring noise and some vibration when slowing down at lower speeds. It turned out to be my tires which were out of balance and cupping pretty bad. Just something to consider if your tires are older.

they are older 81,000 original miles with good tread left but maybe that is the issue. It almost a grinding sound of resistance when you go from a stop to 5mph

That could be your problem. I didn't realize it was my tires until I rotated them and the noise wasn't as bad.

I had to replace a front hub assembly on my 05. You need to check the hub for excessive endplay. Just lift the truck, and try to move the tire holding it at 12 and 6 o'clock. If you hear clicking or see the tire moving, your bearing assembly is likely shot.

Don't hold the tire at 9 and 3 o'clock, that would tell you if your tie rod ends are worn.

On mine, it took very little effort and there was a very obvious 'click-click-click'. Once I replaced the hub assembly, the play was gone.

t

Appreciate the help!

martyf250 wrote:i have 81,000 miles. Just redid ALL u joints 5k miles ago. I just recently started getting a "feeling" of resistance/ friction and a whirling noise at low speed and high speed. You can hear it die down when coming to a stop. I had the fan clutch replaced last year. Dont think that is it. Are wheel bearing or front axles issues common? This happened 2 weeks after i did the radiator bypass (no contamination).

Marty

did you ever determine what the noise was? I am starting to get the same "feeling" on my 06

No I havent taken it in yet. I jacked up the entire car and slowly put it in drive to see if we could hear where it was binding, etc. could not determine. my brakes looked ok. the U joint are all new with 10K miles. will probably get it in soon though. the clicking coming from the front when turning is getting louder and more frequent too

did you do the u joints yourself?

yea...but hard to do but my bolt were rusted on real bad and had to have two people yank on the wrench for a half hour. then just used a hammer and small/ larger sockets to pound in/out the u joint caps. then bolt it all togehter

martyf250 wrote:yea...but hard to do but my bolt were rusted on real bad and had to have two people yank on the wrench for a half hour. then just used a hammer and small/ larger sockets to pound in/out the u joint caps. then bolt it all togehter

Not rust, it's lock-tite. If you're doing the front u-joint, turn the tires when it's in the air, that way you can access the other nuts/bolts more easily. Instead of hammer, use another wrench to double the length of the wrench to get more leverage.