loud screeching noise

hi new member here,a bit green with jimny,s having had a landrover previous.bought mine as its more economical but it came with a loud screeching noise which comes from i presume lower middle to front of the vehicle.the noise is not consistent,does not start for the first mile but kicks in inconsistently after.if i engage 4wd the noise is a lot worse after about 500yds as if its destroying itself.if i freewheel out of gear the noise is still there.also noticed the 4wd light on dash flashes while 4wd is engaged but i do not have a manual.i think it may be transfer box wheel bearings or diff/front, propshafts look ok,any ideas,p.s.what did you think of the off road show,i feel its turning landrover kap etc did not bother this year.

kirky thanks for your response though ive had a good 8yrs off roading i have no expereance with freewheeling hubs you may be correct with your diagnosis.how do they work on these jimnys,also it is not connected with the alternator belt,eagerly await your response,i am in the midlands by the way.

Take the hubs right off and go for a ride in the dry (in 2wd) Nothing will fall off, they are just drive flanges.

If the noise is still there it isn't the hubs or inside the front axle.

Jack the front up and see if the wheels will wobble side to side, but not wobble with a foot on the brake.
(wheel bearings)

Look and see if there is a brake pad worn down to the metal.

ok took off both hubs no noise,great replaced n/s only noise was back but not so loud,replaced o/s noise was louder but not as often.to sum up no noise without both but it returned with either on,could this be diff or hub

My friends 2001 Jimny does this, he has a problem with the panhard rod and at 45mph it starts jumping around the road, so bad that you've got to stop to go away.
Getting that fixed, but the noise you talk about is the same on his, not sure if it is related or not, as we first thought the problem was a Kingpin bearing and I thought the noise was the bearing destroying itself.
Kingpins seem fine so I'm no longer sure what the noise is. When the noise started (about 30mins into a motorway journey) we took it out of gear, still there so tryed turning the engine off and it was no better.
So I've ruled out engine trouble. The noise seems to be coming from the passanger front wheel. It goes away once you slow down to a near stop.
Something in the front right is doing it!

This has just started on my jimny too. Did anyone find out what was the matter with it? My jimnys in a garage at the moment and they are not surw what it could be after changing the bearing and several other things

mine did exactly the same. it was the auto hubs not properly engaging and disengaging. the cure - fit manual hubs or permanently lock the vac hubs. no more noise

Yeh thats the same as the garage guy said cheers for reply