Front U-Joint / Wheel Bearing Question

While doing a brake job on my 93 XJ (4.0 Auto 137K Miles), I spun the front wheels with the BRAKE CALIPERS & PADS OFF and both wheels made a ta..ta..ta sound.....Could not tell if it was coming from the hub or the universals....Is this normal for a 4x4 or should the wheels spin perfectly quiet like a 2x4 w/o the brake pads draging?

FYI once I put the brakes back on, the drag from the pads drowned out the ta..ta..ta sound.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks much

Is this normal?

mine makes the same noise, and i just checked clearences and everything seemed ok. nothing broken or out of place.

could be ujoints or even the unit bearings. To test unit bearings, with the front jacked up, see if you can move the tire moving from top to bottom (not left to right) or just put a pry bar underneath. If its solid, then possibly ujoints

If the noise of the pads rubbing was enough to drown it out, don't worry about it. Check the U-joints, bearings, ball joints, etc properly.

I found when my front U-joints went bad they actually made a sqeaking sound when I ratated them slowly