Warning: Long post

04 Disco, 203,000 miles. All high mileage list done + some.

I'm chasing what I believe to be a bearing noise and would love some suggestions.

Synopsis: Last week on the drive home out of the blue I get a crazy squeaking noise. First thought is that it's the serpentine belt (new this year) but the noise is coming from that area. The noise comes only when I'm in motion. Sitting still at a light or in my driveway and no noise. Busy week and I didn't get to it right away but didn't drive it either. Two days later I go to check it out and it won't start. D'oh, Alternator says me since it's been giving signs over the last two weeks that it was going bad. Pulled it, had it tested (bad) and replaced it with a new Bosch over the weekend. In the process I spun all of the other pulleys (new idler pulleys & tensioner pulley earlier this year). All spin well except for the water pump. It's squeaking AND grinding.

At this point I'm like "cool", got a new alternator that was going out and I'm in need of a water pump (last one was put on at 103,000 miles). Been on my list of replacements anyway. So I order up a nice Airtex water pump, an extra gasket just in case and some new bolts.

This evening I did an easy swap out of the water pump (messy but straight forward), changed my one piece fan for the two piece 01-02 set up and cranked it back up. New pump works great, so does new fan.

But when I back out of the driveway the F'ing squeaking is still there... Really? FML!

After some choice language I'm thinking hubs maybe? Brakes dragging? Noisy as h*ll coming from up front on my test drive.

On a whim I jacked up the drivers front side and spin the tire. Squeak! Jack up the passenger side and spin that tire. Squeak! D@mmit Jim I'm a shade tree mechanic not a Rover Master Tech!!! Both front tires squeaking as I turn them. WTF?? Both at the same time? How can that be?

Brakes don't appear to be dragging and I just rebuilt the calipers and put new fluids, hoses, rotors and pads on in December.

At this point I'm frustrated and in need of a break. And some bourbon. And some advice.

So my thoughts are that I've got two possible bum front hubs, but that seems odd to me that both of them would go out on the same damned day last week. I also have this nagging thought that it might be my new front drive shaft which I replaced in July with an HD model from GBR Utah.

Would my drive shaft have gone bad that fast? I grease the zerks at each oil change (4,000 mile intervals). Sounds unlikely in my head but more likely than two hubs going out at the same time.

More observations. The squeaking is quite loud but lessens as I accelerate, and gets louder when I coast with my foot off of the gas. Also there seems to be some drag on the wheels when I coast (can feel it through my feet on the pedal and hear some kind of muted drag metal on metal noise) but if I shift into neutral while coasting along then the drag goes away (but not the loud @ss squeaking/squealing).

My thoughts are bearings in the front hubs going bad or worse this is a terrible case of a drive shaft on it's last leg. I fear for my transmission at this point.

Plan of attack tomorrow. 1) Drop my front driveshaft and lock my CDL. If that cures the noise then I get to rebuild this shaft and/or order another one. 2) If that doesn't stop the noise then I'm going to jack up the front, place each side on jack stands, remove the tires and inspect the brakes closer for dragging on the rotor and then remove the pads and see if the bearings in the hub are grinding without the tire and brakes on.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Or an alternate plan of attack? My only other thought is that I'm having a master cylinder issue causing my brakes to drag severely. But I've driven around town and on the highway and my brakes seen to be functioning just fine.

Sorry for the long post. I've done a lot to my disco over the past year, replaced a lot of parts, done tons of preventative maintenance and used it as a daily driver. Never once has it left me stranded so this extended outage has me a little frustrated.

 

Just a thought. must be drive shaft since only when you move the squeak starts. Sorry, short post.

 

Would hope it's not a driveshaft but stranger stuff has happened. It could be the front wheel bearings depending on when they were last replaced. Better to both go out at once then one after the other. You could also have a bad ball joint if you tried to move the tire up and down. I hate how most of this isn't greasable.

 

Turn your HVAC off. Do you still have a squeal?

 

Tried that, it didn't make a difference.

Turns our it was my 9 month old front drive shaft. 5 grease fittings and I was only greasing 4. Talk about feeling more than a little stupid! My center joint is smoked so I guess I get to learn to rebuild one this weekend!