Wheel hub assembly making noise when turning left

For the past couple weeks there has been a howling noise while turning left that gradually got worse. As it got worse there started to be a little tension that would pull the steering wheel left as the going noise would come and then it would release and let the steering wheel go as the howling would stop until I turned left again. I ordered a new wheel hub assembly and changed the unit (without a torque wrench). After I changed the hub assembly I took the car on a test drive and the howling noise was still there but the tension pulling left was gone. I loosened the hub a half turn and took it on a second test drive and the howling got quieter so I returned to loosen the hub another quarter turn. On the 3rd test drive the tension that pulled the steering wheel left came back with a bad grinding noise. As I was letting the car coast in idle the tension would stop the vehicle for a second then there should be a bad sounding click switch would release the tension and the car would roll again. Could this be the way I installed the wheel hub assembly or could it be a worse problem in the drive train?