Question on a 2000 Ranger

[mjk]

Hello all, and Happy Holidays.

I am posting a question, just to learn more about vehicles. I have never pretended to be a person who does more than the routine maintenance work on vehicles, so here it goes..


Just spoke to a friend who lives about an hour and a half away from me. He has a 2000 Ranger 4.0 4wd with very low miles (80k). On the way home this week, he heard a grinding noise from the front wheel area, which ended up smoking as he got to his house. As he tried to describe this to me over the phone (he is not very good with details, etc) I thought his front hub assembly gave in.

Then he told me a bit more. There is grease all around by the axle boot.... so then I thought 'the boot ripped, he lost the grease and the axle is shot'. I realize there isn't a lot of info to go on, just throwing this out there. He is going to get it towed and fixed later this week. The only other detail he told me was that it does engage into 4WD, so the transfer case seems to be fine....not that it really has anything to do with this specific issue.

So based on what little I can provide as discussion, what would you guess is going on? Like I said, he's not good at explaining things well, and I just thought this might prove to be something to discuss among the group.

Thanks for the feedback, it will be interesting to potentially learn more.

 

[dishdude]

My guess would be the wheel bearing came apart.

 

[HangFire]

Wheel bearing and/or front brake locked-up. Constant heat from a stuck brake can cook a wheel bearing.

He could also have CV joint problems on top of something/everything else.

 

[01rangerxl]

Could be a hub assembly or CV axle...an '00 is going to be live axle, so CV axles are spinning with the wheels all the time regardless of tcase setting.

As mentioned above, brakes should be checked to make sure they didn't contribute, and/or are now damaged.

 

[Kruse]

My money's on the front hub. Those "sealed" bearings just don't stay sealed enough to keep dirt and moisture out.
I'll be replacing one on my 4WD Navigator this weekend.

 

[exranger06]

Originally Posted by 01rangerxl
Could be a hub assembly or CV axle...an '00 is going to be live axle, so CV axles are spinning with the wheels all the time regardless of tcase setting.

As mentioned above, brakes should be checked to make sure they didn't contribute, and/or are now damaged.

I believe they changed to live axle mid-year 2000, so there are some 2000s with the vacuum hubs. I could be mistaken on that though.

Another vote for wheel bearing. I just replaced one on my '06 last week. Fairly common on these trucks. It was the same side that had a seized brake caliper about 2 years ago, and I suspect the heat from it contributed to the bearing failure.

The grease is likely from the CV joint, but that's an unrelated problem.

 

[stanlee]

Hopefully a wheel bearing/hub assembly.... Even though it's very uncommon to go to that level of failure with no prior warning unless he just ignored other symptoms. Either way hub assemblies on 4WD rangers are a simple job. Just stay away from part store brands (AutoZone, O'REILLYs, Advance etc) and not even Moog can be trusted anymore. Use either Motorcraft or Timken which is the EXACT same hub assembly for half the price (the Motorcraft has Timken stamped right on it).

 

[exranger06]

Originally Posted by stanlee
Hopefully a wheel bearing/hub assembly.... Even though it's very uncommon to go to that level of failure with no prior warning unless he just ignored other symptoms. Either way hub assemblies on 4WD rangers are a simple job. Just stay away from part store brands (AutoZone, O'REILLYs, Advance etc) and not even Moog can be trusted anymore. Use either Motorcraft or Timken which is the EXACT same hub assembly for half the price (the Motorcraft has Timken stamped right on it).

The original bearing that I removed from my Ranger indeed had Timken stamped on it. The Motorcraft bearing that I bought to replace it though, did NOT have Timken stamped on it, and it didn't have any manufacturer, or any info stamped anywhere on it. The box it came in said "Contents Made in China."

 

[Black_Thunder]

if there is a large amount of grease thrown out I doubt its the wheel bearing.


unless the wheel bearing is that bad that the CV axle shifted, tore the boot on something and threw grease onto the exhaust manifold causing the smoke?