This is a shot in the dark, but here goes. Several thousand miles ago, at about 40K miles, my 2002 RAM 2500, 2WD diesel started making a tire howling type noise (kind of a loud moaning, low pitched vibration type noise), from the right front, only when turning or bearing to the left (in other words, when loading the RF tire). I noticed considerable premature, uneven wear on the outer band of the RF standard Michelin LTX tire. Figured it was alignment, so took it to a reputable truck alignment shop and had them put two new Michelins on and do a front end alignment. The guy was kind of noncommital about what, if anything, he found wrong. When I drove it away, it had the same, very noticeable noise, same conditions. When I took it back, they said the RF wheel bearing was bad, so I took it home, raised the front end, pried the caliper away from the disk (so it would spin free), and spun the tire. No play, no grinding or unusual noise from the bearing. It sure sounds like tire noise to me, but the outside edge tire wear was so bad when I took it in, they would have to completely missed/botched the alignment for that to still be the problem. Still, the alignment plus new tires made no change or improvement in the noise, and in fact the noise has gotten worse ever since. Any ideas for solving this would be greatly appreciated. I hate to replace the bearing set based on the unlikely possibility that this is the problem. It now does it going straight down the road, but is much worse when I bear to the left (load the RF tire) just the slightest bit. Thanks, all for putting up with this long post.
Svenfran

 

The only thing it can be is wheel bearing. On a 2WD there is nothing else turning up front.

 

Thanks, Lifted. I did some more searching and the most on-point thread I could find confirms what you said, that it's most likely a wheel bearing:

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/3rd-gen...ont-right.html

The only other possibility is that the alignment is way out, causing tire noise, but that seems unlikely. Guess I'll bite the bullet and replace the wheel bearings on that side.

 

In case it may help others with this symptom (growling, vibration type noise from a front wheel, esp. when loaded by turning the wheel at speed), the fix was indeed a new wheel bearing and hub assembly. It's an easy fix, but required the part (I bought a Timken hub/bearing ***'y that was identical to the OEM part), a 41 mm socket to remove the hub nut (I used a six-point 1 5/8 inch socket), and an 18 mm socket to remove the brake caliper mounting bolts. If anyone wants more info on the part number and source or whatever, I'll help in a PM, but I think posting prices and sources is usually discouraged on forums. Thanks, esp. to Lifted4X4Astro, for the help. Now after the hub R&R, I guess I'll have to take it back in to have the alignment re-checked so I don't ruin the new tires. Svenfran