proverbial clunking sound but different than cv?

[SgtDuckyboy]

I have had the clunking sound of a CV joint gone bad for a day now. when accelerating it disappears completely. when little load or coasting its very prominent. I had thought it was left front side and bought the replacement to do today after work. but on the way to work, i decided to double check location and to my surprise, this 'clunking' noise is under me, middle of the car. with the window down and/or door open, i hear it very clearly under me, not in front of me. i looked under and there is the axle going to the front end from the transfer case. it has some u-joints on it, it appears and a boot over a joint coming out of the transfer case. I am now very concerned this may NOT be the CV axle on the front left. if i am to get under there and check the CV axle, but what am i looking for when i check axles/shafts with cv or ujoints? both left and right front axles appear intact with the rubber boots and no leaking exists. turning right or left does not make it better/worse, only speed affects the noise with load reducing the noise and braking reducing the noise.
will there be 'play' in a bad ujoint/cv axle? if its the shaft going from the transfer to the differential, is it hard to replace, or temporarily remove until i get the time to fix it completely? I have an 06 4x4 Z71 with 160K.
thanks everyone.

 

[SgtDuckyboy]

well, it turned out to be a wheel hub bearing,, actually easier to replace , so I'll just replace it.. turned out that i had a warranty but that part wasnt covered. so I'll leave this thread up in case someone is looking for possible solutions to what I experienced.