bad hub or strut

there's a terrible deep creak coming from front left wheel idk what it is it sounds like metal grinding together in a way and it was just when i turned while stopped or at very slow speeds now i can kinda hear it while going straight and with any up or down movement of the front end and it's very loud when turning now. is it a bad hub or wheel barring? my buddy said it sounds like my "spring" so could it be a strut? i've got a 2 inch hell bent steel spacer leveling kit so it's a 1 inch spacer on top of the strut. any and all help will be appreciated

 

Sounds possibly like the cv joint.
Quick way to check wheel bearing is grab tire at 12 o'clock and push and pull it to try and feel some play in the bearing. Should be snug.

 

if i do that i can't tell if it has play but it makes a weird pop, it's not a balljoint pop it's like a metal pop sound

 

Sounds like a bad wheel bearing to me

 

i haven't used 4wd in over a year it's got a busted boot but i haven't used it beside it won't lock in i think it's an actuator problem so does that rule out it being a cv?

 

Is it a loud poping when you turn?

 

it doesn't pop at all just creaks really bad it's a deep creak too
rule out balljoints cause they're not even 6 months old yet

 

hmm my cv's popped when they were dead, my wheel bearing was horrible metal on metal screaching like i had no brake pads, not sure what this is

 

did you grease your balljoints when you installed them?

 

they already had greaser in them i've used the same types of balljoints each time i swap them and they've never made a noise like this

 

What brand LBJ's did you install (OEM, MOOG, other) ?

Your CV's turn ALL the time, even while in 2wd. Since the boots are torn, your CV's are likely bad due to crap getting into the joint over a long period of time.

 

this happened after i tried climbing up a sand hill the other day so could sand have gotten in the cv and just killed it?

 

Yep, sure could. Sand would wreak absolute havoc in a cv joint.

 

raised the front end up and turned the wheel around and it made a clicking noise

 

That's prolly it hombre. Not a bad do it
yourself job. Lots of write ups and info here and YouTube.

 

You could pull a wheel and check out the rotors too. See if any sand got between a pad and the rotor but it seems to me more likely sand got in that open torn cv joint boot.

 

I'll replace it soon thanks for the help man!