Rear Wheel Bearing or Diff Noise?

Hi, 
Thank you for your advice. I did push and pull on the wheels to check for play both horizontally and vertically, there was none to be noticed. No signs of an oil weeping, I did take the drums off to look inside.

I am going to slacken the handbrake cable off slightly, as they have done it too tight and it sounds like the shoes are dragging. Pully the handbrake up 3 notches and it is 'On', can just squeeze a 4th if you try hard.

 

Understood. Also, it’s possible that the issue comes from bad external bearings, but without any wear (they make noise just because). This has happened to me several times—even with brand-new bearings that were just installed and came out perfectly fine, with no apparent explanation for the noise.In my case, what’s left for me to do is disassemble the differential to check if something is wrong there. One would think that if it were the large internal bearings of the differential, it would function horribly and make a lot of noise, as the gears would lose their alignment due to the play in the bearing (which would generate a lot of noise and vibrations).I also have noises coming from the rear differential, and I’ve never been able to eliminate them. I haven’t taken apart the differential in a long time to check its condition, but it has sounded a bit strange for years, especially when the vehicle is loaded. That’s why, as soon as the external bearings have any play, I replace them immediately, thinking they might contribute to the noise.

Also, are the brake pads original? In my country, which is somewhat poor, they are sometimes repaired and end up being bad, causing noise and even braking issues. Sometimes, they install pads that are "shorter" than the previous ones, leading to braking problems (such as abrupt braking when cold).I've never been able to get rid of the "old bed" or "creaky bed" sound when turning the wheel (sometimes).How many kilometers does it have? What year is it, and what generation?Mine is a third-generation, 250,000 km, 2012.When braking with the handbrake (just a little) while driving, does it make any noise?There shouldn't be any noise at all. If it does, it's possible that the installed brake pads are not original or not the correct size for the drum. As I mentioned, in some countries, they repair them instead of installing brand-new originals. Sometimes, the repair is done poorly, resulting in a "different geometry." This happened to me once—I occasionally work on Jimnys in my country.

Firstly, the 4 pin rear diff is incredibly rough feeling and noisy when you are used to 2 pin diffs (I've only ever owned a Terrano in the 90s with a 4 pin (LSD) diff- that felt a bit "odd" as I recall, all my Land Rover/Range Rovers and my Jeep were 2 pin open diffs) . I actually swapped mine because I was convinced that it was the source of my noise from the rear, having already changed the rear wheel bearings with no effect. It was of course perfect (Martin actually had it to fit a locker into).

My noise was absolutely definitely coming from the rear, I even got my brother, who is one of those professional "Mek-a-niks" to confirm it by riding in the back- he thought it was diff noise, but to keep running it until it got worse (or not).

I just lived with it until eventually I had to keep pumping the brakes to stop because a front wheel bearing collapsed. Changing it cured all the noise. (Yes I did jack it up at the front and spin both front wheels- they were quiet and smooth with no weight on them)

Spare Jimny has a noise. Has had for over 24 months. I have had it in many bits and back together and it persists. And now it will until something fails, cos I am out of ideas. As they say in land rover circles, it's not a problem it's a feature.