Hey, Sorry for the mazda question but there's no mazda forum and it's pretty much the same as a Ranger. So Someone's got to you know what's going on with this thing... It's a 99' B4000 4l 4x4 with abs... Sometimes the right front will make this awful clicking and popping noise then sometimes it sounds like its grinding. Is it the wheel bearing or the cv driveshaft gonna shit the bed? Any help would be great!

Up date... I popped the wheel off. Cv boot and clamps holding it on look new. or new-ish. So I'm thinking it's not the cv joint. when you pry up on the cv joint, it doesn't barely move at all. But when you watch the hub when you pry on the cv boot, there's play in the hub it self. It shimmys about 1/16" back and forth... I'm thinking it's the hub it self. Also, There's a vacume line that plugs into the back of the hub that is un-plugged with a screw. I can't see why someone would do that? The trucks new to me, I'm still working out the bugs. Any help would be great. I just don't want to pull it apart, replace something, put it back together, and it still make the same noise.

obviously it has the auto hubs still. that's what the vaccum line is for, sends a vaccuum signal to the hub to lock when you push button for 4 wheel drive. i would personally get a conversion kit for manual locking hubs. odds are the popping and grinding are the bearing going bad, or rather, gone bad. and i believe they are a sealed unit bearing on your mazda, not completely sure, but pretty sure. which means the whole hub to be be replaced, which is actually pretty easy to do. however. with that vacuum line plugged makes me wonder if the hub was stuck locked and maybe now the locking mechanism maybe came apart? that could also be a possibility. would be aesy to tell when tearing down to check unit bearing.