front end noise

I have a 99 XJ sport, which has a rather loud whining noise coming from the front end somewhere. The noise starts around 20mph, and gets louder up to hwy speed. There is no in and out or side to side play in either front wheel. I bought used, it has 185k on the clock. Anyone have ideas?

Jack up one wheel at a time and spin them. It's not uncommon for these front bearings to get spalled in a way that makes them noisy long before they feel loose. Your mileage is about right for this to be possible. You should be able to feel or hear this if you rotate a wheel in the air.

I presume you have done the usual things like checking for anything else loose, taking it out of gear to coast, and so forth, and the noise is staying the same, related only to road speed, with no particular change when braking or turning.

If you can't detect anything in the front wheels, you might try running it briefly with the front drive shaft disconnected, to see if that makes a difference. But I've had a couple of front bearings do this, and that's what I'm guessing first.

Thanks, yea Ive done all the other things, I even tried spinning one at a time. No noise really but harder to turn(for each) than I expected, I guess just from all the extra mass. Thanks

You should also make sure the u-joints are ok. Crank the steering over and rotate the wheel again. It shouldn't pulse or clank, or otherwise make a lot of difference over being straight.

For the bearings, it can be hard to hear or feel a difference owing to drag, but a stethoscope on the unit might reveal something.

I recently pulled a front driveshaft to diagnose a squeel when the vehicle is moving... when i looked at the driveshaft, part of the cv joint centering cup was cracked in multiple places...

xcm said:

I recently pulled a front driveshaft to diagnose a squeel when the vehicle is moving... when i looked at the driveshaft, part of the cv joint centering cup was cracked in multiple places...

Click to expand...

Good point. Elsewhere here there's a thread with pictures from someone with TC problems who put off fixing a bad front driveshaft. I think he needed a broom to collect his transfer case off the road.

If you disconnect the front driveshaft and drive it you'll know right away if it's involved.