my neighbor has the 99 silverado 1500 4x4 and he told me he changed the front passenger side front wheel bearing unit and he used a impact to tighten the axle nut. then the next day he headed out to work and said he heard some kind of tapping or knocking noise from the front. we finally discovered it was coming form the right front wheel. you can hear it when the wheels turn on stands. i put the stethoscope in the spindle by the axle as it turned and i could hear the intermittent sound and i could feel it.

so he loosened the nut yesterday and on the stands the noise when away but on the test drive it was still there. so we are wondering if the impact damaged the bearing unit or maybe the outer cv is failing in the straight ahead position or maybe he just got a bad bearing unit. he did not drive it more than a few miles after he changed out the bearing unit.

so maybe you guys can help me figure this out? thanks bp.

 

It sounds like you guys are on the right trail. Those nuts are not supposed to be tightened with an impact wrench. Chances are pretty good another hub assy or brgs will be needed.. The next time you assemble this unit , there is a torque spec for that nut AND a new nut should have been installed.Borrow a torque wrench and eliminate the guess work.

 

thanks he said he had one for the drivers side so maybe that one will fit on the passenger side, if so i will take it off with him and spin it by hand to see if it feels or sounds like it gor damaged. i never had a cv joint fail without hearing noises when turning but i have heard of it. the boot is not damaged so chanes are the cv is still good. and when he used the impact on it he crushed the races and now they have a bump that the bearings jump over now and then.

 

ok here is what i found. believe it or not it was a bad bearing. he said it never gave him any sound as a bad bearing. when he tightened it down he must have moved the races a bit closer and that then gave him his tapping irregular noises. when we took the axle nut off and got the axle lose inthe bearing the hub about fell out of the outer race. it may have been the rollers got a bit sideways and would bind up and then make that tapping noise.

so now you have the rest of the story just in case yu find yourself in the same spot. thanks for the ideas and help bp.