"Gravel" noise from front wheel in reverse

[SportTrac101]

I own a stock 2002 4wd ST. It has about 165K miles. I replaced both bearing/hub assemblies, both links, and both outer tie rod ends in March 2014. A couple of days ago, I noticed an intermittent sound (like a gravel between the rotor and wheel) when I was backing out of my driveway (slight incline) at slow speed. It went away when driving forward. But then I heard it again when turning right from a stop (again only intermittently). It got worse today when backing out f driveway today. It is still intermittent though maybe every couple of tire rotations. It was enough to make me burn a day of leave though to try and fix. Any ideas? Could the bearing/hub assembly be going bad in 14-15 months? Bought all the replacement parts from a national chain.

 

[429CJ-3X2]

Check the guards that protect the back side of the rotors. They can get bent enough to contact the rotor, or debris can get caught in them. A twig got caught in mine a while back and made a horrible noise. Gave me a good scare!

 

[01STrunner]

Definitely check the dust shields first. After that it could be not enough grease in the hubs or a faulty bearing. Could also be something with the CV axle.

 

[HELMUT RONER]

I pulled this picture from a Facebook ST Group. Don't know if the 4WD rotor is the same as a 2WD (2WD pictured), but on the back of the rotor when those things (I'm having a brainfart) on the back of the rotor get damaged or rust off they make that same kind of noise.

 

[Kjhadfield]

No the 4wd rotor is just a rotor- we don't need to pull the (hub?) nut to take off the rotor

 

[swshawaii]

Sure the noise is coming from the front? These vehicles have known parking brake issues if not used and corrosion sets in. Somewhat common for the parking brake shoes to separate from the backing plate and cause rattles, especially in reverse.