Front end clicking noise

S

steven d. ferguson

New member
Aug 1, 1999
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Seems like I learn something new every day!
After reading all the horror stories about front wheel bearings here I
had mine pulled & replaced by a local shop since I had no history on the
coach. Glad that I did too. (40K on the originals & the hubs fell out
of knuckles.)
Within 200 miles I could hear some very pronounced clicking noises
coming from the front wheels. Brought it back to the shop. The owner
pulled the front wheels, did a careful "touch & feel, nada! Replaced
the wheels sans centers, no noise. (One of the wheel center caps was
loose enough to be rotated by hand after the lugs were torqued down.)
Thought we'd found the problem. The first 300 miles of our trip the
temps were in the triple digits so we kept the coach closed up & ran on
the roof AC. It was cool in Sierra Vista, AZ so we opened up the windows
& the clicking noises were back more pronounced than ever. I decided to
chance it back to San Diego & pulled back into the shop immediately upon
arrival. The owner walked along side the coach as I drove back & forth
in his parking lot & agreed there was a problem. On the hoist. Wheels
off. Much pulling & shaking. Owner swears there is nothing wrong with
the bearings. Think! What was the only thing the owner did during the
repairs that was different from what he normally did.........Bingo! Put
a drop or two of oil on the wheel studs. Cleaned everything in new
solvent, including the lugs, remounted the tires........ total silence.
There's a lesson here. The Weld Wheel catalog specifically states NOT
to put any lubricants on the lug studs. Now we know why.
Steve Ferguson
San Diego
 
If you have the original steel wheels and GMC hubcaps they make that noise.
You should never never oil the lug nuts.

>Seems like I learn something new every day!
> After reading all the horror stories about front wheel bearings here I
>had mine pulled & replaced by a local shop since I had no history on the
>coach. Glad that I did too. (40K on the originals & the hubs fell out
>of knuckles.)
> Within 200 miles I could hear some very pronounced clicking noises
>coming from the front wheels. Brought it back to the shop. The owner
>pulled the front wheels, did a careful "touch & feel, nada! Replaced
>the wheels sans centers, no noise. (One of the wheel center caps was
>loose enough to be rotated by hand after the lugs were torqued down.)
>Thought we'd found the problem. The first 300 miles of our trip the
>temps were in the triple digits so we kept the coach closed up & ran on
>the roof AC. It was cool in Sierra Vista, AZ so we opened up the windows
>& the clicking noises were back more pronounced than ever. I decided to
>chance it back to San Diego & pulled back into the shop immediately upon
>arrival. The owner walked along side the coach as I drove back & forth
>in his parking lot & agreed there was a problem. On the hoist. Wheels
>off. Much pulling & shaking. Owner swears there is nothing wrong with
>the bearings. Think! What was the only thing the owner did during the
>repairs that was different from what he normally did.........Bingo! Put
>a drop or two of oil on the wheel studs. Cleaned everything in new
>solvent, including the lugs, remounted the tires........ total silence.
> There's a lesson here. The Weld Wheel catalog specifically states NOT
>to put any lubricants on the lug studs. Now we know why.
>Steve Ferguson
>San Diego
>
>
>
 
Steve

Are you running original steel wheels and hubcaps, or after market wheels
made by Weld Wheel? When I received Weld Wheels, they did not have the
proper diameter hub, and all of the weight would have been carried on the
lug studs. Excellent article in GMCMM about this problem, and with that
article, I was able to return the wheels, even though we had mounted tires
on them. Subsequently replaced them with the "other aluminum" wheel which
has the correct hub diameter.

Chuck
77 Kingsley
North Idaho

- --
>Seems like I learn something new every day!
> After reading all the horror stories about front wheel bearings here I
>had mine pulled & replaced by a local shop since I had no history on the
>coach. Glad that I did too. (40K on the originals & the hubs fell out
>of knuckles.)
> Within 200 miles I could hear some very pronounced clicking noises
>coming from the front wheels. Brought it back to the shop. The owner
>pulled the front wheels, did a careful "touch & feel, nada! Replaced
>the wheels sans centers, no noise. (One of the wheel center caps was
>loose enough to be rotated by hand after the lugs were torqued down.)



> There's a lesson here. The Weld Wheel catalog specifically states NOT
>to put any lubricants on the lug studs. Now we know why.
>Steve Ferguson
>San Diego
>
>
 
Steve,
Are you running original steel wheels or alcoas?
If alcoas, do you use the flat center pieces?
If not alcoas, any other items on the wheels (you mentioned the Weld Wheel
catalog).

Thanks

Heinz



> Drove it back to San Diego & pulled back into the shop immediately upon
> arrival. The owner walked along side the coach as I drove back & forth
> in his parking lot & agreed there was a problem. On the hoist. Wheels
> off. Much pulling & shaking. Owner swears there is nothing wrong with
> the bearings. Think! What was the only thing the owner did during the
> repairs that was different from what he normally did.........Bingo! Put
> a drop or two of oil on the wheel studs. Cleaned everything in new
> solvent, including the lugs, remounted the tires........ total silence.
> There's a lesson here. The Weld Wheel catalog specifically states NOT
> to put any lubricants on the lug studs. Now we know why.
> Steve Ferguson
> San Diego
>
>
 
> You should never never oil the lug nuts.
>

Can you elaborate a tiny bit please. Would a rusty ol' stud not interfere
with proper torque, even if brushed clean, etc.?

TIA - Heinz

 
if they are rusted badly the studs should be replaced. Simply wire brushing
them off is enough. If you oil them the torque will be higher since there
is less friction on the threads.

>
>> You should never never oil the lug nuts.
>>
>
>Can you elaborate a tiny bit please. Would a rusty ol' stud not interfere
>with proper torque, even if brushed clean, etc.?
>
>TIA - Heinz
>
>
>
>
>
 
Steve,
Are you running original steel wheels or alcoas?
If alcoas, do you use the flat center pieces?
If not alcoas, any other items on the wheels (you mentioned the Weld
Wheel
catalog).

Thanks

Heinz

Heinz,
I'm running Weld Aluma 163's. A PO installed them. As it turned out,
the center caps had nothing to do with the noise. But, since they were
pretty beat up I'll be replacing them since Weld still sells them.
http://www.weldracing.com/aluma.htm
Steve
 
Can you elaborate a tiny bit please. Would a rusty ol' stud not
interfere
with proper torque, even if brushed clean, etc.?

Are you running original steel wheels and hubcaps, or after market
wheels
made by Weld Wheel? When I received Weld Wheels, they did not have
the(snip)

Heinz & Chuck,
There is nothing wrong with wire brushing rust off the studs. Probably
good practice. Weld (& others) just want a clean, dry fit. I had this
problem many moons ago with a set of Centerlines on one of my other cars
& when I think back on it, I had put a drop of oil on those studs too.
I listened to that clicking for a lot of years without ever identifying
the source.
The Weld wheels register on the studs (& use shoulder lugs) like many
aftermarket wheels do. The inside of the wheel has a machined relief
for clearance for the center cap. Admittedly, I am not an expert on this
subject but it would appear that GMC over-engineered by using 8 lug
studs. Check out a Revcon setup.
Steve Ferguson
San Diego
 
>
> There is nothing wrong with wire brushing rust off the
> studs. Probably good practice. Weld (& others) just want a
> clean, dry fit. I had this problem many moons ago with a
> set of Centerlines on one of my other cars & when I think
> back on it, I had put a drop of oil on those studs too.

Steve, I don't quite follow your train of thought here(Monday morning and I
probably need another cup of coffee), but it's not a good idea to oil wheel
studs. Torque spec's are "dry" and using oil may result in overtorqueing.
That might be what you were trying to say, but I didn't get it.

> Admittedly, I am not an expert on this subject but it would
> appear that GMC over-engineered by using 8 lug studs.

I think the 8 lug wheels were used because they were available from the
truck line and matched the offset requirement for the front wheel drive
system. More a financial decision than "over-engineering". Much to our
benefit too - if GM had developed new wheels for the motorhome, we'd likely
have no aftermarket models available.

Patrick
 
Thanks very much. Once more shows the value of the GMCnet. Even the
brain-dead get to benefit. :-)

Taking corrective action and have brain cells adjusted (hopefully hit the
longterm cells).

Heinz

> if they are rusted badly the studs should be replaced. Simply wire
brushing
> them off is enough. If you oil them the torque will be higher since there
> is less friction on the threads.
>
>

> >
> >> You should never never oil the lug nuts.
> >>
> >
> >Can you elaborate a tiny bit please. Would a rusty ol' stud not interfere
> >with proper torque, even if brushed clean, etc.?
> >
> >TIA - Heinz
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
 
Steve, I don't quite follow your train of thought here(Monday morning
and I
probably need another cup of coffee), but it's not a good idea to oil
wheel

Patrick,
I guess that's what I said. Two weeks off.......first day back at
work...Monday morning...you know the rest.
What I meant was that all my problems stemmed from lubricating the lug
studs. This practice will forever be a no-no in my fix it book.
Steve Ferguson
San Diego
 
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