I have a grinding noise coming from my front left tire! Sounds like the front end is gonna fall out from under the truck. Could that be ball joints, tie rod ends? When it makes this noise it feels like the tire is trying to lock up!

You probably have one or more bad ball joints in the steering on the front end. This truck should have grease zerks on the ball joints. If you greese everything and it gets quite, then it is the ball joints. However a WARNING. If the ball joint was squeaking and grinding, it should be replaced. Have a good mechanic check it out. Its hard to do yourself without the proper tools and knowledge. This is possibly a dangerous situation and something could come loose on the front end and you lose the ability to control the vehicle.
There are other possibilities, like snow and ice build up between the tires. Or bad wheal bearings. Jack the front end up, and rotate the wheels. They should spin freely with no noise. Next grap the wheel top and bottom. There should be no play.

If this is a four wheel drive vehicle it is a possiblility you have bad CV joints or universal joints which transfer power to the wheels. To check this, engage the 4x4, set the parking brake, and jack up the front end. Grap the wheel and try to rotate it, it should not move at all. . If the CV joints are out, you should be able to hear noise when you do this.

Usually only two things on the front end that cause noise for those reasons. Tie-rod ends or ball joints. To check tie-rod ends: fastest way is just to get under there and grab them and try to make them move by hand, best way is jack one side and move tire side to side, if loose and clunky, it's a tie-rod end. as for ball joints: again, jack up one side just enough to get tire a couple inches off the ground and then put a pry bar under the tire and try to lift it. If it lifts right up, and I don't mean lifting the whole car just the tire and it sounds clunky, it's a ball joint. Best to do upper and lower at the same time if it is a ball joint. Some B/J are pressed in and you will need a special tool to remove and install new ones. Advanced Auto will loan you the tools for this job if you plan to do it yourself, with a deposit of about $300.00 (It's a big kit they loan you) If it's the first time the BJ's are being changed they are probably going to be riveted in and you will have to grind or drill them out. I recommend grinding the rivets with a 4" grinder, much faster. (a 9" grinder won't fit in the space you have to work) As for the tie-rod ends, usually best to do inner & outer. (Some newer cars just have one, an outer) Remember to wrap a piece of tape around the threads at the point the old TRE's end at. So when you screw new ones on, you will put them at the right location, otherwise you will have to get a frontend alignment, if you don't keep the tires toe-in & toe-out at the same place they were when you started.

most likely a front hub [wheel bearing ]going bad but jack up front side that is causing problem and try to move tire in and out with hands at top and bottom of tire and listen and feel for noise or excess movement it to much movement remove tire an check the upper and lower ball joints as well as the shock/strut but check brakes grinding can also mean pads are metal to rotor but usually grinding and thumping is related to a bad hub

Hi, there are four possible cause of the loose tire namely you either have a bent rim, bad bearings, the wheel is loose or the ball joints are bad. You have to inspect it to know the possible cause...........

There are several components that could cause noise from the front when turning. The components to be concerned about are, Wheel bearings, Ball Joints, Tie rod Ends, CV joints and brake rotors.

Wheel Barrings:

Jack the car up under the control arm until the wheel is off the ground about 3 inches. Slide a pry bar under the tire and place the other hand on the top of the tire. As you lift and lower the pry bar fell for loose movement in the tire. If there is such movement you have a bad wheel bearing.

On your vehicle this is a sealed Hub.

Ball Joint:

Repeat the test above and watch the upper and lower ball joints for movement. Is there is movement replace the bad ball joint.

Tie Rod ends:

You have changed the inner and outer tie rod ends so you are probably covered there.

CV joint:

The Joint is housed in a rubber boot. If you can feel the joint inside the boot you can turn the tire forward and back and feel for play in the joint. If you are not able to feel the play you can loosen the clamp on the boot and push the boot out of the way. Then repeat the test.

Brake Rotors.

You have already changed the rotors so this is not likely the issue.

The sway bar linkage probably came undone on one of the sides. Wikipedia has a picture of what your sway bar linkage may look like:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sway_bar

That is a picture of a Porsche sway bar, but the idea is the same. Make sure all bolts are tight and that one end is not missing the linkage that connects it to the spring/strut. The grinding of the brakes may be the sound of the linkage piece touching the rotor. Sway bar is a logical solution to both issues.

If that doesn't fix the issue, put the front end of the truck on blocks or jack stands and have somebody wiggle the tire up/down and side to side while you inspect the mechanical components underneath. Other things to check may be the ball joints, tie rod ends and suspension bits.

Jack car up, turn wheel by hand if grinding sound replace wheel bearing.

It sounds like the Bearings are out on that Wheel. You Could have caused damage to the Spindle in addition. Not a Cheap Fix by any Means. Check the Bearings and Spindle for Breakage.

power steering pump

sounds like c/v axles (front drive shafts) they will make a clicking sound normally when turning sharp and accell at the same time at slow speeds / look at the axle boots and look for grease on the inside of the front wheels leaking out the axle boots