Front end noise

I have a 97 GC with 5.2 and Quadratrac. When I bought the jeep it began to make the jerking action when steering. I figured it was the VC and went to investigate. Turned out the T-case was completely dry. Filled it up and steering problem was cured. I figured it must have been generating a lot of heat being dry and that was causing the VC to lock. Anyway, immediately following that it began to develop a loud clicking/grumbling sound in the left of the front end when under load. I replaced the hub and axle shaft figuring the CV went bad from all the jerking. Did not help. When I remove the front drive shaft, it goes away completely. The more load put on it, the worse it is. It also seems to get worse when turning but I can't be certain. There are no shavings in the differential, but the diff does get warm (axle tubes and cv's do not).
I'm thinking that one of the bearings must be shot in the diff, but don't have a whole lot of money to throw at guesses. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks and Happy Holidays!

I have a 4.0 Selec-Trac & I'm not that familiar w/your particular GC, but if you have all the time 4WD, maybe the clicking/grumbling sound is coming from the Universal Joints on your front driveshaft?

It's probably worth checking out if you haven't done so already!

I had the front driveshaft rebuilt the day after posting. The CV joint on the shaft was shot. Good call and thanks for your response.