bearing or half shaft?
 

ok, this car is damned! on my way to get new u-joints put in the main driveshaft i started to hear a clicking from the passengers front tire. after the u-joints were fixed i was on my way home and the clicking turned into a groaning then click. when i got home i noticed the axle nut was not fully tight so i tightened, now the groaning click is louder and pretty much constant(it's very loud). i don't really feel any binding so i'm kinda leaning toward the bearing, but maybe it could be the axle. so i don't know, what do you guys think? this car is killing me, it sems pointless to have a car that something breaks litteraly every time i drive it! :mad:

Both?
 

With your explanation, I suspect you have both a bad bearing AND axleshaft. A properly torqued axlenut is essential for bearing life. The clicking of course points to the axleshaft and the "groaning" more than likely--the bearing. Did you torque the axlenut to proper specs and if so--do you still have a "groaning" or roar?

I am not a highly qualified technical mechanic but do have considerable personal experience with both of your problem areas. :o

Lee

PS--I just had to comment here as I am from the OLDER Las Vegas. :p

oh, good l.v.ers helping l.v.ers, that's what i'm talkin' about. however that was a whole lot of bad news. well, i'm not sure if that one was torqued right, it was the only bearing i have not replaced in the last 8 months(or ever actually), i'm assuming it was not, being that it came lose. anyway i did tighten in up but the groaning got worst and more frequent(i was too pissed to noice the clicking). i was hoping the bearings were only bad, and the clicking was them(bearings) floppin' around against each other, do you think that's likely? oh, BTW the groaning wasn't really a roar(compared to bad rear bearings) it was like a heavy duty piece of steel was being pushed to it's limits and could be induced at very slow speeds(walking). is there any way to field test the axle shaft if i remove it? man, this is gonna get ugly again.

By the sound of it your axle needs to be replaced so start with that... seeing that the bearing on the front wheel is a 4.5 hour job

fix!
 

great advice, i pulled out the half shaft and put an old one in(had an extra layin' around) the sound is gone!! the one i put in isn't in great but it's just temp untill i can get the old one rebuilt. i think the problem axle was defective, it was rebuilt less than 10k ago, the boots are even still good. i've been through a few axles but they have never sounded that bad all of a sudden. thanks for the help guys.