Chasing a front grinding noise

[ahlem]

I have a front grinding and binding on my 2001 X5 3.0.
Occasionally when taking off from a stop at low speed it feels like the front diff is having issues. To date in the last 6 months, I've replaced the front ball joints and done front brakes. Thinking my problem was CV joints, I replaced the front axles. The old axles were a bit sloppy but not more than a 125,000 mile vehicle should have. My next thought was that it was the front drive shaft. I ordered one of the 1" longer splined ones and started to replace my original. The splines on the original are very clean and show no odd wear nor do the female splines inside the transfer case. So here I sit on an 8 degree Saturday with the new reman drive shaft 1/2" too long to install without loosening something. I'm tempted to re-install the original one. I'm guessing the $240 longer drive shaft and the $150 core deposit will turn into a $240 stupid mistake on my part as I return it for my core deposit. The vehicle feels like you have the brakes partially depressed plus get a free grinding sound.