Dana 30 trouble, please help!!

I have a '96 with 190,000 miles. I am sorry, this will be long. Ok, my front end has some kind of low pitch moan that increases and decreases with speed, like a bad bearing. When I put it in 4WD, the pitch stays the same, and also a metallic grating sound comes under acceleration. Braking and turning has no effect. Sounds like a bad pinion bearing, right? Why would that go bad on the front, as I don't use 4WD much. I thought it could be a wheel bearing, so I jack front end up. Wheels roll smooth and have no play. Any help greatly appreciated. If it is pinion bearing, I would be better off getting new axle out of junk yard, right? How much could I expect to have to pay for that, and how do I find a good junk yard? I am in Atlanta, if anyone else is around and knows. Thanks very much.

Have you pulled the driveshaft and see if it may be jsut the u-joint. Also if it is a pinion bearing, it would not be that hard to replace. It will also be a lot cheaper than a junkyard axle.

both ujoints are tight as can be, so I figure it isn't them. I thought the pinion bearing was very hard and precise to replace. I have never worked with diffs, just smaller stuff like springs, steering, breaks, and electrical. Could I do the pinion bearing? What do you do, take out the gears and go in the back to replace it?

I second what chuckd said, pull the front shaft first, you could have a worn slip yoke, or worn out cv. even though you dont use 4wd that front shaft still spins all the time, its probably worn out. If in doubt, with the shaft out take it to a drive line shop and have them check it.

I'll third (fourth?) the above; pull the driveshaft. The u-joints may be tight but there's a centering joint in the upper end of that driveshaft that will dry out and sound like crap when it's dying. this would be a good opportunity to replace all three u-joints and check the condition of the centering assembly while it's out anyway.

removed driveshaft and noise was still there. Now it actually goes away on left turns and comes on hard on right turns, so I guess it is a wheel bearing hub, just hope I can guess which one! Thanks for the help guys.