Grinding From Front End

[Jinsin456]

Hi guys, having a bit of an issue with a very faint grinding noise coming from the bongo. After about 2-3 miles of driving approx 50mph when I come off the throttle or lightly hold my foot on the pedal (Enough to be slowing down but still applying minimal power) there is a very faint grinding noise coming from the front end seems to be coming from the right hand side. It seems to be a rotational noise. It comes and goes between about 10-15 miles its basically gone but any longer and it can come back.

It's a 2.5 Diesel 4WD AFT. Just changed front drop links, front ARB bushes, rear ARB bushes & brackets.

Also changed front diff oil & transfer box oil, noise was there before any of this. There was very little furring of the magnetic plugs, no worse than any other car I've seen. Turning doesn't seem to make it any better or worse.

My mind is saying either wheel bearing or CV joint. Would a CV joint cause a noise in a straight line? If it's the wheel bearing would I be able to do the usual check by rocking the wheel at 12 & 6 o'clock jacked up? There is also a vibration in the steering between 50-60mph, I'm putting this down to me just realising there are no spigot ring in the wheels, these have been ordered.

Power steering level is fine, no leaks, gearbox & engine oil are fine.

Any advice?

[Spencer54]

Gotta go with wheel bearings first, give them a check in the way you say - I've had the same but on a motorcycle.
Once up to speed the centrifugal force evens the bearings out but at slow speed the races started to make an awful noise.

[Simon Jones]

If you had a 2WD I would suggest jacking up the front end & giving the wheels a spin. As you have 4WD, you will have to jack up both ends. I would also check brake pads for wear / binding & also see if there is anything touching the disk. If there was any slight binding, it would get worse as the components heat up & expand.

Spigot rings are only required if you have non-standard wheels as genuine Bongo wheels are a perfect fit. Other reasons for a wobble could be wheels in need of re-balancing or a deformed tyre.

[Jinsin456]

I've had wheels balanced and that helped a bit. The wheels on the car are alloys, I don't have a clue what they came off but measuring the diameters there is approx a 3mm gap. Popped into my local car place and we tried different rings in the wheels until we found one that fit but they didn't have any that fitted the wheel and were 67.1 I/D so they're on order.

I'll check this probably at the weekend when I have time and light. Am i right in saying that the hub nut should be warm to the touch if its the wheel bearing? Obv warmer than the other wheels as braking etc will heat them up.