Premature wheel bearing failures.

I have a Jeep TJ which has the 4H/4L through the xfer case so I'm either in or out. I do know what you mean when in 4x4 it gets grabby. I guess what I'm getting at is make sure the hub is freewheeling when the truck is in gear and that the diff is not dragging, if it were it would get hot real fast.It should be running very cool.l

When you get it back together run it for a few miles and check it with an infrared temp gun and compare to the drivers side also shoot the front diff, it should should be running a lot cooler than the rear diff. If your cooking the grease in the hub should be able to back track it from there.