I swear, once this truck hit 83K, the noises REALLY started up.

The newest one sounds like it might be coming from a tire.

You know that sound the tires of a 4WD make, slapping the nobby treads against the road? My truck sounds like that, but it's a 2WD with normal highway tires.

It does it all the time - when it's driving normally, when it's coasting in neutral, and even when the engine's off. The pitch of the whine is consistent with the speed of the truck.

I'm also feeling a new high-frequency vibration in the floorboards.

Any ideas before I get ripped off by a repair shop?

This truck is getting to be not so much fun.

 

What year is your truck? What engine/trans combination do you have. Any other info could help. EX: ever been wrecked etc....

The immediate diagnosis I would believe would be a bad tire.
You could try to use your spare and install it at the corner or location of your truck where you hear the sound the loudest.
This is what I would try first, since you ran the truck with everything turned off. The second thing I would look at would be the differential. There is also a possibility that it could be the back brakes. I don't know what year you have, so I don't know if you have drum brakes or disk in the rear. Little noises travel very far and loud.

It sounds like a rotating mass, so when you are coasting along with the engine off, the gears turn and the trans/driveshaft turns, and the brake drums rotate around the brake shoes. Sometimes these can cause a vibration or hum, whick will travel through the frame of the truck giving off a very unpleasant roar. You can have the brakes checked at any discount brake store for free.

Check your tires first. Sometimes they rip apart internally. The belts separate. This may be what your hearing, and it is the cheapest diagnostic elimination you can do yourself. Normally when a belt seperates in your tire, it is accompanied by a disturbing vibration which you will feel throughout the truck. Sometimes not.

Hope this helps a little. Good luck

 

To me, it sounds like a bad wheel bearing.

To check: drive at a speed where you can hear the noise and then turn the steering wheel slightly to the right, enough that the weight of the vehicle is placed on the left front tire. If the noise goes away, your left front wheel bearing is bad. Then do the same to check the right side. If the noise goes away when the weight of the truck is on the right wheel, your right wheel bearing is bad.

 

I swear that y'all got me hearing noises on my truck now.

Now cut it out!

 

I'll tell ya - once the noises start, new ones pop up every day. Don't know whether that's *actually* happening, or whether its psychological.

I rode in the back of the truck last night while my friend drove the truck around the neighborhood - I was hoping to pinpoint where the noise was coming from. I didn't, but I heard all kinds of NEW clunky noises that I can't hear from the cab.

I'm taking it to Firestone this afternoon because that's where I bought the tires, and because I think there's a possibility this might be a new manifestation of the brake noise they created by adjusting my brakes against warped drums just before Christmas. I'll keep you posted.

 

Took it to Firestone. They agreed it was a tire noise. Specifically, they said there was a tire with uneven wear, which makes no sense to me since I've religiously had them rotated every 3000-5000 miles.

They rotated & balanced the wheels and realigned the front end.

The noise is better - or at least harder to hear with the bad tire on the back - and they said I might have to live with it, or it might straighten itself out. It's not time for new tires.

We'll see.