[stinger26]

First off I have an 02 Z71, and I've been having a metal scraping noise and vibration you can feel in the steering wheel for awhile now. The noise isn't that loud, with the radio slightly up, windows, up, or going 60 mph down the road it isn't audible. It's mainly audible going between buildings or on smooth quiet roads under 30 mph while coasting or coming to a stop. There is a vibration in the wheel that comes and goes at almost any speed. It's not a wheel shaking vibration, just something you can feel. The truck has brand new wheel bearings, pitman and idler arms, tierods, and upper ball joints. The noise and vibes were already there before I replaced these parts so it isn't any of that. Tires were rotated, and brakes are ok. Front diff fluid is full. I pulled the front d-shaft and the noise was still there. So that has me thinking it might be something in the front diff. What's a good way to check if the bearings are bad? Hopefully I can found out what's going on because its annoying as hell and also before anything else goes bad. Any help or info is appreciated.

Joe