Strange noise

[icbatbh]

Hope this is a nice easy one:

I have a 1986 SJ413 Samurai and whenever I am driving it on the road it makes a strange noise when in 4th and 5th gear. It seems to do it constantly in 5th, but only when I'm flooring it in 4th. The noise sounds as though it is coming from the passenger side front wheel, and it sounds like metal rubbing on metal. There are no sparks or anything and I cannot see anything different between the passenger's and driver's front wheels, although I haven't taken anything apart yet.

Is this a common problem with a very easy, very cheap fix?!

[twiss]

Not sure what the problem is... but I would start by jacking up the front wheels and checking the offending one by wiggling it around...

You should be able to feel if the wheel bearing or kingpin bearings are knackered by the amount of play there is (or isn't)
I had a problem similar to this, but I thought it was on the drivers side wheel.... turns out in the end that the (external) alternator fan blades were rubbing on the metal part of the lower radiator pipe.

Every time I floored it and the engine leaned over, or I went over a bump, it scraped on the pipe and made a horrible noise...