Rotational Grinding or Rumbling Noise

[Reklaw]

Ok, I know some of you have read my previous posts about a bad wheel bearing in other threads and it has been replaced but i'm still having the same symptoms.

The start of the problem was a grinding or rumbling noise when I turned my steering wheel to the left. I replaced the front right wheel hub/bearing assembly with a cheap one and it was still noisy as soon as I hit the road. Bought a better wheel hub/bearing assembly and put it on. It seemed like the new bearing I had just put on was definitely loose already when i got it off and it was covered in grease on the inside surface. I thought I solved the problem. Drove around the back roads with no noise for the afternoon. Next morning when I hit highway speeds the noise was there again when i turned the wheel to the left. I know this could be the rear bearing and I have never replaced them but I think it just "feels" like it is from the front of the Explorer. Someone on here, I think @imp suggested that maybe I over tightened the axle nut. This time I made sure that I did not over torque the axle nut and also made sure that everything I put back together was torqued to spec.

I did think, what if it is the cv joint. A few internet searches tell me you will hear a popping if the cv joint in the half shaft is bad. I have looked at the boots on these and they also look fine. I did see some reports that you may see grease all over if it is a bad cv joint. Well, my brand new strut, the sway bar link, and lower control arm on the drivers side looks like it is mud or something. Now i'm wondering if it is really covered in grease and I need a new half shaft on the left side. And then I also remember that There was a bunch of grease on the back side of the bearing i changed out that I thought was from the bearing and i'm wondering if that was from the cv joint instead? Also, I don't know if this has anything to do with my problems but after I got the new hub/bearing put on the other day the abs light was on until I drove it about a quarter mile then it went off. The next weird thing is that when I was turning I felt like it was in 4WD as if the transfer case was kicking in when it should not have been. I currently have the transfer case unplugged and it doesn't feel like it is in 4WD now.

2004 Explorer XLS 4WD with 165k on it. The front wheel hub/bearings were both changed at around 100k 3.5 years ago. I just put Rancho Quicklift Loaded Struts all around the Ex at the beginning of the summer.

What do you guys think my next step should be? Should I jack the rear end up while i have the transfer case unplugged and free wheel to make sure my rear bearing is not bad? Are there any more tests to check or confirm bad half shafts on the front? Your help and thoughts are greatly appreciated.

 

[Mbrooks420]

You might not be able to feel a bad rear bearing by freewheeling the wheels.

If you had marginal CVs, and added lift it could make the failing CV more noticeably bad.

Since you are not a solid rear axle I might bite the bullet and slap a set of bearings in the rear.

 

[Reklaw]

Just to keep everyone up to date. I jacked up the rear of my Ex the other day and put it into drive to listen to the rear wheels. Couldn't really tell anything until I held each wheel individually. When i stopped the left wheel from spinning I could definitely hear a noise from the other side. I could not hear said noise when I stopped the right wheel. Then when driving with my kids my son said the noise was definitely coming from the rear on the right side and that it was vibrating his seat. I also inspected the rubber on my front cv joints at the same time and could not see any tears so I am definitely moving to the rear bearings next as I have been wanting to do them but never did.

Now I have to decide what to do. I have pressed the bearings on my Escape already so it's not like I don't have the press available to me or the experience doing it. It's just a pain that I have to use my parents garage to take everything apart and then use my uncles press to do that part of the job.
I have thought about pulling a "knuckle" off a junker and prepping it ahead of time and then just swapping out but when I checked the price of the bearing a new hub, which i will replace too, I'm thinking I might as well go with the Moog knuckle with everything already together.