[gERgMan]

Sorry for the delay in responding, I had to go to dinner with friends after stopping at Checker Auto Parts to measure the battery. And as of this morning, the problem is weirder, again.

First, the battery measured 12.7V with the truck off and everything else off. With the truck idling, which also had the DRL, clock, and some misc. electrical stuff on that I can't shut off, the battery was drawing 14.5V. I proceed to measure the voltage with and without the HVAC fuse inserted, doesn't seem to change. So, from what I can gather, the battery and fuse seem to be fine. I have never measured the battery, so correct me if I am wrong.

Now, I mentioned it got weirder. So, after I got home last night, everything seemed to be fine. I parked it and left it till this morning. Get in to start it, and the 4WD fuse is blown. It seemed to be fine last night, so I can only assume it blew over the course of the night (doesn't make sense) or it blew when I turned the key to start it. This happened last week with it blowing, but seemed to stop after I had engaged 4WD and replaced the fuse to disengage it. The reason I know it blows, is the fuel gauge goes to "E", low fuel light comes on, battery light comes on, and the 4HI, 4LO, and 2HI light buttons disappear and are unresponsive. I believe all of these components are controlled by this fuse.
So, I replace the fuse and head to work. Everything seems fine, except half way there, the passenger side front wheel starts making a whining/grinding sound that you can only really hear at lower speeds and gets louder as you slow down until you come to a near complete stop, in which the sound is not there anymore. I pull into a parking lot, engage the 4HI, and the sound disappears. The sound reappears as soon as I switch back to 2HI. So, with the truck in 2HI, I pull the 4WD fuse to see what this does. The gear indicator box that tells you what gear you are in disappears along with the buttons for 4HI, 4LO, 2HI, which is what happens when the fuse is blown. However, the gas guage, low fuel light, and battery light don't come on like they normally do when the 4WD fuse is blown. So, I am at a loss as to what is going on there. Oh yeah, the sound is still being made.
Finally, when I get to work, the sound I am hearing by the front passenger wheel is gone.

I am absolutely baffled by what is going on here. Other than all of this weird crap, the truck drives fine, shifts fine. It never showed any of this a month or two ago when I bought it. Thanks for any help.