Power steering an water pump idler pulley

[satdog75]

after degreasing my engine, i noticed a whining sound from the idler pulley. it is not belt related, so i removed the pulley to inspect it. the bearing sounds great (no grinding / smooth operation). there are small metal covers on both sides of the pulley, then a shield that goes around the lower portion of the pulley. it seems to me that the dust covers could cause this sound. is there a way to correct this? what order do the spacers / covers / shield go? I dropped my pulley last night taking it off and put it back together the way it seemed it should go, but even packed with grease, i still get the same metal on metal sound.