Hey everyone,
On my 1999 24 valve dually, the right front wheel seems to click when it gets around 35 mph and up and can especially be noticed driving down the highway although it is quite faint. I'm thinking it may be something with the 4x4 engagement because when I click it into 4h, it seems to go away. However, when it's in 2h it comes back. I can't remember hearing it before I got my brakes done by the Dodge dealership in Starke.... any ideas?

 

Your hub bearings may be going out. Jack the wheel up & grab the top & bottom, then try to move it. If there's play in it, then the bearings are going bad.

 

If its a clicking/clunking noise that dissappears in 4x4, then likely its the axel u-joint, and its likely very very bad. jack up the wheel then rotate the wheel back and forth likely you will see the slop in the joint, or if you see rust near the cap's seal the u-joint is positively shot

 

Ok thanks guys for the quick responses. I'll check all this out tomorrow and let you know what I find out!

 

My right front hub went out to lunch today! I had been hearing a low growel that sounded like rear axle now for a month or so. I ran it on a lift and listened with a stethiscope but couldnt find a noise. While on the road there are too many noises to hear to localize the problem. I tried the wheel test like "wadecool" had suggested, but it tested good on both sides till this morning. the right hub said goodby now I have to wait till am to get a new hub. the left front went at 112k and now the right at 154k.

 

i agree with nickg on this. sounds like an axle u joint. i had one that the cap had broke and all the bearings fell out. this made it sloppy and while drivin down the road i would hear a clicking like u stated. had a friend drive beside me and he said it sounded like the front right tire location. so i got under there and poked the ujoint and i could move it around and wiggle it. so def check those out!

 

Probably a ujoint falling apart. Could possibly be they over tq the lug bolts and broke one off and it's rattleing around in the hub cap. Had that happen after they rotated my tires.

 

When my right front hub went out, I had no warning, it just got so hot that ir blew the tire & wheel nearly fell off. Good luck.

 

I cought mine before that happened and i bought an extra on just incase i am one of those guys that like to have that extra part just in case it happens. So now i have one in the tool box

 

you had to have some kind of warning! hubs do not fail that quickly, and to fail like you describe it was gone long before it broke. you just may not have heard the growling or felt the truck wandering around on the road.
Another reason it is just good practice to jack up the truck and check all the front end stuff, everytime you do an oil change/lub, this would include checking u-joints in the driveline and adjusting the rear brakes as well

my two cents

 

well I jacked the truck up today, and i couldn't find any looseness within the U-joints so I'm guessing it's the bearings...

 

Nick, you are probably right, there may have been some warning noises. But I had 305/70 R15 mud tires which make a lor of road noise, a 4" straight pipe, so I couldn't have heard the grinding. Plus, I hadn't had the truck very long & didn't know about jacking up the wheels to check them. I sure learned the hard way!

 

You might want to check the control arm bushings, mine were out and I thought it was the hub bearing. An easy check prior to tearing apart the hub.

 

I would look closer at the u joints before pulling the hubs apart. Hub bearings going out make a growling sound. Like Nick said if there is ANY rust around the cap seals the bearing is shot. The clicking is the first sign the u joint is failing.

 

mine made a similar noise, it ended up being the wheel cover. try removing yours(if ya have them) and see if thats it