what do you mean up and down? You mean in and out? Do you have a picture of the bearing, even though I am pretty sure I know which one you are talking about. Did you have to remove the differential pinion to get to the bearing?

 

its the bearing right behind the pinion seal, and i can literally move the drive shaft up and down about 1/2" right there.

 

pretty sure it's the left rear bearing, can't tell by jacking it up so up no play and rotated the tires as fast as i could but no sound without the weight i guess.

 

no its not a wheel bearing, ive replaced both hubs and the noise is still there, and it does not go away when turning, only goes away when accelerating, it is definatly the diff bearing, it should not have any play just as a wheel bearing moved that much it would also be bad

 

Well the diff bearings do fail, even though it is not very common. For what its worth, when I did my pinion seal I could move the bearing in and out, but not up and down.

 

well this rover was not very well taken care of when i bought it, but i figured that would be the case since it was only 4k for a 2002 with 95k miles

 

Mine roared like a 747 too. Turned out it was the tires.

 

Well it is a bigger deal than it sounds to replace it. You will need a big press to get it off and then to get another one back on. You may be able to just find a new center drop out from a wrecking yard. that way you can just pull it out and put in another one. They will probably come with a warranty too.

 

Damn you got a deal!