I have finally found the source of the droning and moaning my Scout was producing under load at speeds of 40 mph upwards. First I thought it was wheel bearings as it changed when cornering, and under the steering test at speed, so replaced both front bearings and hubs. This quietened things slightly but not by much. I had " so called" experts drive it, they could either not hear it as only test drove below motorway speeds, or they just said needs the gearbox stripping, an open cheque in my opinion. Well I persevered and after many months I found an old post on a USA Jetta owners forum dating back years, where I found a guy had the same issue. Ok not a Skoda but still a VAG  vehicle. His finding was the inner front CV joints , although showing no signs of play or wear. We all think of CV joints clacking away, least the outer ones, but the inner ones only go up and down mostly with the bumps in the road. Then I started to get the same noise on those fast undulations you often get on motorways as the suspension rose and fell at speed. So I thought could this be my my non metallic moaning and groaning noise that went away as soon as you backed off the torque, and never did it during normal town driving ??? You bet !!! two new complete driveshafts and everything is quiet again under all loadings including towing. I cannot believe the difference, and, as this info came via a Jetta forum one has to assume this wear to inner CV joints may well apply to other VAG vehicles as well .

Hope somebody out there finds this of use, it certainly has ended months of frustration believing I was the only person hearing it, and my 4x4 transmission system is not now  facing expensive repairs. One final point is driveshafts seem to need replacing between 90,000 & 120,000 even if not showing obvious CV wear, mine has 126,000 on the clock so guess it was due. It's great and I have now got my very versatile 4x4 back as she should be :)

Edited 5 September, 20187 yr by Trucker30101960
grammar error

This is very useful to me although a tad too late I feel. I purchased a used 4X4 back in May. It was a 2014 model with 73K miles on the clock. There was a distinct droning when cornering from the front. It was most prominent on the front left corner. Also, intermittently, if the vehicle was reversed on a full right hand lock from a standstill, the nearside front wheel acted as though is was rolling over a house brick. My local garage had the vehicle for 4 hours and they managed to get the fault to manifest 3 times but they couldn't ascertain what was causing it. I had visions of the Haldex coupling being the cause and the cost of that made me return it to the dealer I bought it from for a full refund.

 

Anyway, this information is useful because it introduces a new aspect of possible causes for my issue and gives me personally, something to look out for in the future.