Trying to identify a grinding-squeaking noise

[cplvc]

I did some off-road driving in Mammoth, going about 40 - 50 mph on a dirt road. By the green church looking for hot springs, for those that know that area. Mostly dirt and puddles but a few spots had some snow. One of those snow spots had me skidding sideways and come to a stop. I was in 4WD and two things broke. One, some welds on the muffler / tail pipe came apart and I recognize vibration/clanking noises from that. The other is something I can't figure out, I hear grinding noise from my right front (passenger) wheel area. Atleast that's where it sounds like its coming from. I haven't had a chance to take a long look at what might be causing that noise. I drove 300 miles back from Mammoth to LA on it. No vibrations, just metal-to-metal type noise that gets faster and slower with speed.

I'm thinking its either the brake wear indicator or wheel bearings. But wanted to get some input from the forum on what else it could be. I did some search on here and elsewhere grinding noise brings up these things to check.

Brake dust cover bent or for rocks (checked)
Brake wear indicator (rotors look pretty smooth)
CV axles for leaks or play (boots are fine no leaking or play)
Drive shaft for play (checked)
Wheel bearings - How do I check this?
Ball joints (no play side-to-side or up & down)

I put a jack under the lower control arm and turning the wheel by hand makes a slight squeaking noise at one spot everytime it rotates. Can't tell if its brakes or bearings. Any input greatly appreciated.

[4runnerchevy]

Do you have a rock in your debris cover. The one that shields your front brakes. Had this once and it sounded horrible. I doubt its the bearings. It is probably simple, or very bad :lol:.

[cplvc]

Thanks for your response.

No debris in the dust shields. I took off both front wheels last night and inspected a lot. There's dirt on top of the calipers, I rotated both hubs by hand in the forward and reverse direction and they both make about the same sound, right side made a little more squeaking sound.

Now, I'm thinking its not wheel bearings or brakes, may be u-joint. I'll have to wait till I get the tail pipe welded back up to diagnose where the grinding is coming from, since too much rattling is going on. :confused: