Wondering if anyone could give me some advice on this. I have a 06 Silveraod 1500 4x4. I was leaving to go somewhere today when I randomly heard some loud clunking coming from the Left front end. I did it twice then didnt hear it after. Well after going down the highway about 5 minutes later my abs light came on. No more clunking. Stopped by my girlfriends house for a few hours. Leaving there after about 2 minutes from her house heard the loud clunking again. So I really payed attention on the way home. I could hear a constant squeling/grinding noise coming from the left front. Not super loud like when i heard the clunking but definetly noticable with the radio off. Didnt seem to make it any better/worse if I was turning or anything. Was just random. I was thinking maybe the left front axle shaft or maybe just the wheel bearing?? I'm not a mechanic or nothing but im somewhat mechanically inclined. How do I go about checking this? I am going to use a lift at work tommorrow. I crawled under and to check and make sure neither boot was torn on the axle shaft and those both looked good. Any help or thoughts appreciated. Thanks!

 

Sounds like the wheel bearing, but I don't know how you can check them. I believe that on your year truck, the wheel bearing is not serviceable itself, and you have to replace the entire hub assembly. You could just have one issue, but it's also possible that you have more than one. Clunking could be the intermediate steering shaft, or ball joints, but the squealing/grinding noise makes me think it's the wheel bearing.

 

Most likely a hub bearing asm.

 

It's a sealed assembly. Just replaced mine last week. Clunking while turning is often associated with axle shaft. Constant squeeling more likely hub assembly. Unfortunately that's the more expensive one!