my wife has a 1997 explorer i havent climbed under there yet but i would like to know if anyone has gone through this .it's making a strong sqeak noise when going over a bump on the right side front wheel.any help would be apreciated thanks.

mine made that noise. For me it was the ball-joint. i just poked a very small hole in the rubber boot, and filled it with lube. Now squeak is gone

It's a ball joint more than likely, they are supposed to be lifetime sealed but their not. If it's a ball joint replace it with a Moog unit with a grease nipple and you won't need to replace again. And you only need to replace the side that makes noise..

Sid

do the strut mounts go bad on these and cause them to make noise? i'll ck it out next weekend. the ladie who i bought the truck from said the ball joints were replaced this year begining of the year i bought the truck in september.could they have gone bad that quick?

They might have put them in and never greased. That happened to my parents. Shop put in a U joint and never greased it. That lasted 9 months! Some have reported a squeek from inner tie rod inside the boot of the rack. A good check for several front components is to jack up on the lower arm and watch what happens as weight is removed from the tire. See if it kicks in a lot. Depending on miles, you could be due for hub bearing problems. You would be wise to grease them if they haven't been replaced. The bearing alone runs about $175. I just had to put hub bearings in my 97 because of noise. Replaced lower ball joints but can't say the wear was excessive and needed to be replaced.

When it's been dry out, turn the wheel so you can put your hand on the ball joint and then with the drivers door open have someone rock the the truck by the end of the door and you can feel by the vibration if the ball joint is toast or if it has a nipple try greasing it.

Sid

Originally posted by sgarcia89lx
do the strut mounts go bad on these and cause them to make noise? i'll ck it out next weekend. the ladie who i bought the truck from said the ball joints were replaced this year begining of the year i bought the truck in september.could they have gone bad that quick?

My 98 5.0 had a serious sqeak that took a while to find. When I rotated the tie rod at the outer end hex , back and forth, it stopped. A few miles more, it came back. It was just what Opera house stated, the inner tie rod inside the boot. I popped a small hole in the boot, shot a little lube in there, and its been fine for nearly 4 months now. Just fill the boot hole w/ silicone so no water gets in.

My front end squeeked too, replaced the front shocks and the squeek is gone.

Does your model have the torsion bars? If so, take a spray can of lithium grease and lube the front of the bars where they fit into the mounts. This cured my squeek.