Alright, I'm hoping this is the right forum for this. Last week, I was driving my truck to college and when I turned left onto a street I heard this quiet grinding noise on the left front. The noise continually got louder. It occurs, when I'm driving period, turning left(the worst noise), turning right(not as bad as turning left), and under breaking. Took it to a buddy's auto repair shop and he said it was the upper ball joint, which I've already replaced on the right front so I guess it could be it. The grinding noise almost leads me to believe it's something in the rotor/hub/bearing area...but I'm no mechanic. I have an 04 f150 and I've replaced the Left front hub/bearings, right front A-frame, the whole rear-end, and a couple of plugs...at only 59k miles. I don't beat my truck up, I take really good care of it. I just can't seem to buy a break with this thing, but any help is appreciated...sorry for the rant.
Thanks guys,
Jake

 

2wd or 4wd?

 

2wd

 

What size wheels and do they sit back furher than stock? Possible if you have really wide wheels with deep backs that the rim was close to the upper control arm on a good day ...
... and that a worn upper ball joint there's enough slop to let the rim come into contact with the upper control arm. Being tghe noise is on the left and it get's worse on a left turn which puts more strain toward pushing the wheel against the UCA?

No way with stock wheels, too much clearance, but looking at your sig pic .... not so sure?

Your friend .... did he look and just say "upper ball joint" or did he maybe explain a little? Did you not get under the lift with him and look too?

 

I didn't think about that, but there's no sign of rubbing on the inside part of my rim so I don't think that could be it. They're 20", I have no idea if they sit back further...they were on the truck when I bought them, it doesn't look like they do imo. My buddy drove the truck, had me go back and forth in front of his shop slowly while he was down looking to see if he could see anything visually and didn't see anything. We took the LF off and I guess the brake pads were loose and were moving left and right, which I don't know how that happens but we fixed that and that wasn't the problem.

 

What did you do to "fix" them?

Loose or damaged / worn wheel bearings will cause loose brake pads, they let the hub and rotor wobble while the caliper pretty much stays fixed to the spindle, result is pucks or pistons are pushed back into caliper.

I'm 57 yo, don't know how many times I've pulled wheels and looked at or changed brake pads / rotors / etc in my life, but it's a "bunch". Have 5 Fords and a Subaru now. Only times I pulled a wheel and found loose brake pads in a brake it was because the wheel bearings were grinding themselves into dust. Most recently it was a friend's daughter's car one weekend when she came home from college and told her daddy about a "noise". I've seen quite a few over the years broke down alonside interstate highway too in my patroling.

Once you get stopped and don't move, hitting the brakes a few times will tighten them up but as soon as you start rolling again, it happens again. One way to check is simply place a jack under the control arm and jack the whjeel until it's off the ground, then grab the tire at top and bottom and try to wiggle. Then grab at front and rear, and wiggle again. Normal condition is "no wiggle". If loose, something's not right.

About wheel and upper ball joint ..... just get under truck and look at top of spindle at ball joint area. How close is wheel lip to upper control arm?

You need to get her fixed.

Don't take this wronmg, but your friend with a shop, etc .... is he a "mechanic"?

 

sounds like a wheel bearing

 

To be honest, I'm not sure what he did to fix it. I know, not being much help here lol sorry. But umm, when I had it jacked up at the house checking it out, the wheel did wiggle but not bad. So I'm going to replace the ball joint and see if that's it, if not then I will for sure replace the whole left front hub/bearing...because thanks to Ford, we can't replace just the bearing. Well for my truck anyways, or any 04 I believe...not sure. Same thing with the ball joint, I can't replace just the ball joint, I have to replace the whole control arm/whatever it's called.

I really hope it's not the bearings because I literally just replaced them less than 20k miles ago on the LF, I'll be pissed if they're already worn out.

My buddy has been a friend of my family for over 10 years now and has been a mechanic for about 30 years and has done a great job fixing our cars, and my truck in the past so I put my trust in his hands. He's absolutely sure it's the ball joint, but I'll relay the message about what you said with the bearings and everything and maybe he can check it out.
I appreciate it man!
Jake

 

Should not have wiggled enough to see, maybe just enough to feel but I mean barely at all and nearly imperceptible. And I don't mean wiggle including moving steering linkage .... just talking about "free wiggle" where loose.

Also, it'll take more force to feel looseness in a ball joint than it will the bearings because with bearings, it's just the wheel and hub and rotor you move. With ball joint play, you gotta move all that plus caliper and bracket and whole spindle.

In that case .... chances are he knows his stuff and is right and isn't likely to want to steer you wrong at the risk of friendship and a core customer base ...
... and perhaps any vagueness here is due to vagueness of the discriptions given?

Hard to diagnose on the internet, it's much much easier when you can lay hands on the subject. Sounds like your trust is well placed.