thesavo Posted October 10 Report Share Posted October 10 (edited) This is a 2014 Edge 3.5L SEL AWD with 161,000 miles. For the past few weeks we now there has been a "thump" noise that is in sync with vehicle speed. I can upload a video of the noise, but is is the sound of "thump","thump"-"thump"-"thump and gets faster with an increase in vehicle speeds up to highway speeds. We were late in to a road-trip when it started. We had a tire-shop rebalance the tires, no change in noise and frequency. The inward pad on the driver side was worn almost down to backing of the pad. The passenger side seemed to have even wear, however the piston was equally difficult to react as the driver and boot was torn up. I changed the rear calipers. The calipers were targeted as they needed an extreme amount of torque to spin the piston back into the caliper. I tried to bleeder trick to determine if it was a bad caliper or brake hose, by pumping up the peddle 4 times and cracking open the bleeder screws. They only dribbled out and I still needed way too much torque to spin the pistons back in. Now, having replaced the calipers, the brakes work fine, however the parking brake doesn't seem to hold as well. I'll work on that in another thread. The passenger side holds better than the driver side. The "thump" noise is still present while driving as slow as 2-3 miles per hour. There is no left-to-right or up-to-down movement when shaking the tires on either side. Before I reload the parts cannon with rear-wheel bearings, what further troubleshooting should I try next? Edited October 10 by thesavo grammar 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samurai Edge Posted October 12 Report Share Posted October 12 Your " thump","thump"-"thump"-"thump " sound is a rotational noise, as opposed to something loose banging. Possible options: - Something with the drive shaft. Could have a worn bearing - Something with a tire. I know you said you had them re-balanced, but could have belt separation. How many miles on the tires? Those are the first two things I would consider. You also didn't say where the noise was coming from? Front, Rear, Right Side, Left Side? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesavo Posted October 13 Author Report Share Posted October 13 Thank you Samurai Edge for your response. The sound did emanate from the rear of the vehicle, though pin-pointing to one side or the other was in conclusive. The tires are only 2 years old with no visual signs undue wear. A nail what noticed in one threads, however this discovery was minimized by a shade-tree mechanical member of the family as "being beneath the death of thread" as the sound can be heard starting at such low speeds. So on Sunday, I made a failed-attempt to unbolt the wheel bearing from the knuckle and isolate it from the drive-shaft non-destructively. To make a long story short, this did not workout. A 55-ton press was required to remove the (bolt-on) wheel bearing as attempts with traditional slide hammers and hub pullers lead to another failed attempt with the an Orion puller. https://a.co/d/09GzRjxl New wheel bearings are on order from Detroit-axle which has been a good brand of brake and suspension parts in the past. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1004ron Posted October 13 Report Share Posted October 13 @thesavo I may have missed it, but did you confirm that the wheel bearing was bad once it was removed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesavo Posted October 13 Author Report Share Posted October 13 (edited) Sadly as another friend was called in to assist, the passenger side bearing we started on was not in a trustworthy state of being tested. Through I will say we didn't impart the same force on the driver side bearing as we were able to remove all the remaining bolts to remove the knuckle. It did have some drag while trying to spin. As a note. There is special tool to separate the knuckle from the control arm. Though do remember to loosely re-install the nut on the joint connecting the knuckle to the control arm before using the press, or you will need an angle-grinder to repair the threads. If anyone else is attempting this in the salt-belt, I would advise to remove the knuckle completely and use the services of a machine shop to press the bolt-on bearing from the knuckle. It doesn't separate as easy as many youtube videos would have you believe. I will be making use of silver never-seize when installing the replacement bearings. Video removal https://youtu.be/8lpb7_TarU4?is=eMjgVEoQMRU1bhlA Special tool https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/performance-tool-ford-ball-joint-separator-low-profile-w83051/50159995 Edited October 13 by thesavo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samurai Edge Posted October 13 Report Share Posted October 13 I have found that TRQ makes good videos. Informative and easy to understand. And, yes, I already have that removal tool, and others. They work really well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1004ron Posted October 14 Report Share Posted October 14 @thesavo I hope your issue is resolved with the wheel bearing replacement. The symptoms you describe "thump,thump,thump,thump" aren't what I've encountered with a bad wheel bearing. Could it be that the typical early signs of whine/drone were there for a considerable time before the thumping noise? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesavo Posted October 14 Author Report Share Posted October 14 We shall see. I can't say as my wife made no mention a noise leading into our last trip in late September. The noise started late into the trip. I'll update as it progresses though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesavo Posted 13 hours ago Author Report Share Posted 13 hours ago (edited) I have installed new wheel bearings and even with both wheels off the ground, they move much smoother than before. I also replaced the sway bar links, and the passenger-side wheel-speed sensor. (Buy an inductive heater if you don't have one. /Chef's_Kiss) I am still not sure if I have a defective replacement driver caliper or a cable issue as that side does not hold as well as the passenger side. The service procedure Pinpoint test says to 1. check for broken cable. (driver side cable shows no damage) 2. check for pad thickness (Brand new). 3. Brake pedal and control cable move when disconnected from the equalizer 4. Disconnect cable from caliper and move the cable in and out of the conduit. - yes - replace the caliper - no - replace the cable on the affected side. Also, I am able to move the parking-lever on the back of the driver caliper manually (no cable attached) to actuate the parking brake. The lever moves more freely and farther on the Driver side than the passenger. Again, no cable attached. The service manual shows no adjustment to be made here, only at the "equalizer" I did try to remove the nut holding the parking lever to the caliper, and tighten the inner bolt as shown on some performance calipers, but the lever stays on the pivot bolt. The Driver side cable seems to expose more of the center of the cable at "equalizer" when setting the parking brake. I seem to have conflicting symptoms Edited 13 hours ago by thesavo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1004ron Posted 12 hours ago Report Share Posted 12 hours ago Does that mean that the new wheel bearings didn't resolve the "thump, thump" ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thesavo Posted 8 hours ago Author Report Share Posted 8 hours ago 4 hours ago, 1004ron said: Does that mean that the new wheel bearings didn't resolve the "thump, thump" ? Just the opposite. I just took it for a test drive. I wasn't able to get up to 60 MPH, however the sound is gone at slower speeds. Since I removed the rear Knuckle (spider?) I want to get a 4-wheel alignment before I get it up to highway speeds. The parking brake not holding on the driver side will need to be addressed though. The Passenger side parking brake is holding the vehicle off the park pawl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1004ron Posted 7 hours ago Report Share Posted 7 hours ago With everything you've done my thoughts turn to bad CV axles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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