2011 LR4 175,000 miles
I've had a mystery noise coming from my front end for a few months now and have changed just about everything except the front differential. The noise sounded exactly like a wheel hub on the drivers side that gets louder when loaded lateral force on the wheel doing a left or right turn. I replaced that wheel hub, checked the other for play, replaced both rotors, checked the dust shields for rubbing and pebbles, and replaced both front axles....the ones with the CV boots, joints and shafts that come out of the differential on each side. I think they are simply called front axles or output shafts? Anyway, I'm now suspecting the differential since the car has high mileage. The front output shaft oil seal was leaking and I also found that the oil was low in the diff. No chunky metal was found on the magnets drain plug, only some very find metal dust. There is the chance that the oil level was low and best I can guess is that about 1.5 cups of oil came out when I drained it.

On the passenger side driveshaft I notice a bearing that sits in the extension tube close to the oil seal. The bearing felt ok but it did leave a pattern on the output shaft. The image below show that wear from the oil seal towards the top of the image, and the bearing wear towards the bottom of the image. One of the shiny rings could be slightly felt when rubbing a finger nail across it. Just wondering if this bearing could be the culprit. I plan on replacing the diff with a low mileage junk yard one if I can't figure out any more items to check. Love to hear anyones advice about how to determine if its possibly the gears or the bearings that sit in the diff. Right now I'm getting a quote for $400 for a front diff with 57k miles or there is a bearing and seal kit for $300 online but then need to find someone who can rebuild it in the LA area.