notchy feel when turning rear wheel by hand

Had this posted in another thread but moved it as its probably a topic in its own right.

Jacked up the rear of the car, removed the wheels & rotated the drums. There was some noise from something, especially when turning the N/S wheel. A sort of notchy vibratory feeling from the drum as it turned. Not so obvious on the O/S. Nothing seemed to be touching the propshaft or anything out of place. This is really surprising as I drove a few cars before deciding on this one & it had less transmission/rolling noise than all the others. You can't hear this noise when driving & I actually think it is remarkably quiet at say 50mph on a good road.
So I'm wondering is this normal or should the rear drums sound/feel silky smooth when rotated? The car is an 07 but has only 34k miles on it, surely major mechanicals bearings/diff etc should go on way longer than that? I couldnt find any play at all in either wheel bearing.

sounds like rear wheel bearings you could narrow it down by undoing the rear prop shaft then doing it that will narrow it down to the rear axle

thanks! I guess deep down I agree. Just can't believe a wheel bearing should begin to fail after such low miles.

I got different results from each wheel (with the other one locked) so its not going to be the prop as that was always rotating & the same probably goes for the diff. Are they normally nice & smooth?

The car has some used vehicle warranty on it so will go that way first. Odd its not obvious while driving though.

its a ressonably easy job and cheep to replace them I get good rear bearings and seals for £17 a side, and I think rear wheel bearings on a jimny are a slight problem area but this mite just be with offroaders

Although you may have a wheelbearing out, I changed my OS wheelbearing for this reason, and then changed the diff and it still does it.

I think it is a characteristic of the 4 pin differential, sort of a notchy whirring noise/feeling. :blush:

Seemed much worse on one side than the other, but that might have been the direction I turned the wheel...........

facade wrote: Although you may have a wheelbearing out, I changed my OS wheelbearing for this reason, and then changed the diff and it still does it.

I think it is a characteristic of the 4 pin differential, sort of a notchy whirring noise/feeling. :blush:

Seemed much worse on one side than the other, but that might have been the direction I turned the wheel...........

Thanks facade, that's very interesting! your description fits exactly what I am feeling/hearing. So your replacement diff made no diff huh? :lol:

Seriously though, I did consider the diff as it feels a bit like pinions meshed too tight or ill-fitting in some way.
Might also explain why its not rumbling on the move. Do you hear any noise from yours when driving normally?

I've had noisy wheel bearings before on other cars (but only after inter-stellar mileage) & they're usually quite noticeable. This doesn't seem like one somehow. Anyway, I checked it again last night & it seemed to have improved from the day before I think :blink:

Mine also seems worse on one side (N/S) but so far my tests have been with one wheel on the ground stationary. Think I'll test again with both up in the air & the car running in gear so the diff isn't working. Then stop each wheel & see what happens.