Imagine putting a ziptie on your driveshaft and driving slowly. You get this ticking sound. It only happens at low speeds. When I accelerate I don't hear it.

I had my brother try to listen and I drove up and down the driveway. But it's really to hard to pinpoint where the noise is coming from. So I put the back wheels on safety stands, and put it in gear, no noise.

I brought the truck to a mechanic, he put it on the hoist, removed the driveshaft and inspected the u-joints. He can't figure out where the sound is coming from. Can anyone think of a test I can do to try and isolate the issue? I would like to sell this truck for a brand new one, but don't want this issue when someone looks at it. Otherwise this truck runs fine.

Thanks,

Glenn

 

Did he inspect the front hub assemblies?

Also what year is your truck? I know it was a common failure at around 120k miles for 03-07 models

 

Speedometer cable?

 

Funny you mention that. It's also common for those hubs to not detect the tire rotating properly and activate the ABS at low speeds. I changed the drivers side out 2 years ago. Did the passenger last month, and the driverside is activating again. I was going to buy a hub assembly tonight on the way home and replace again. The abs going off AGAIN! had it tested. I will try that, in the meantime, any other thoughts?

 

Wouldn't that make a noise though if the back end is off the ground and running the truck?

 

Yea I'd think.

 

Rear end might have enough fluid in it. When you accelerate and go faster it could be cycling more oil through the gears so they don't tick anymore and at low speeds the upper gears aren't getting any. Just something you can easily check yourself

 

If it only does it down on the ground and loaded, I'd sure be looking for a cracked wheel.

Allan

 

Try checking your u-joints mainly on the drive shaft. That is exactly what they do before they get really bad.

 

sorry to revive this thread, but this is my exact issue. Did anyone ever find a solution?

ticking at low speeds, abs activating at low speeds. Additionally, steering is all over the place but it could be an unrelated problem. Lastly my left tire sikids and screeches when i turn left quickly. Not sure it it is related to the other issues or not. I replaced ball joints twice (they keep dying) and replaced u-joints of front drive shaft about 4 months ago. Any thoughts?