2003 Squeaky front end

[reansor]

My 2003 Mountaineer has the classic squeaky/creaky front end. After WD40ing EVERYTHING to no avail, I've finally narrowed it down to the RF lower ball joint. The disturbing thing is that both the RF upper and lower control arms & ball joints are only a year old and have less than 15000 miles on them. I believe they're Dorman and don't have grease fittings on them but they're in excellent condition otherwise. Is this typical, and will using a grease gun needle to lube them through the boot help? The creak is driving me nuts over bumps, especially now that Spring is here and I'm driving with the Windows down.

 

[ROBinGa]

Have you tried spray silicone yet on all the rubber bushings and joints? Worth a shot before throwing parts. If it is the actual ball joint it wouldn't squeak would it? Rather it would clunk or bump if the ball joint itself was failing

 

[justin781]

End links or sway bar bushings?

 

[reansor]

End links or sway bar bushings?

I hosed EVERYTHING with almost 8oz of WD40 and it didn't help at all. End links are Moog and under a year old. Everything's tight and intact, just squeaky as hell!

 

[ROBinGa]

Just a thought. The two bushings on the outer edges of the upper control arm form a pivot point and that squeeked on mine before I changed them out. Just wondering if you hosed down stuff like that too?

 

[reansor]

The upper control arm is also only about a year old. I actually smash the right front of the truck quite a while ago and had to replace most of the right front suspension. I put a stethoscope on it last night and had my buddy rock it to try to narrow down the creek and it's definitely either the lower ball joint or maybe where the old existing strut mounts to the lower control arm. The actual strut itself seems fine though. Maybe where the bolt goes through it to attach it to the lower control arm? If not it's gotta be the ball joint. I had a mechanic tell me that Ford trucks arnone for the sealed ball joints squeaking even though they might not be bad. I'm thinking I might take the nut off the end of that struck bold and see if I can overdose of WD-40 in there before I go so far as to Jim a needle injector threw the ball joint boot to grease it. I'll keep you posted.

 

[reansor]

The upper control arm is also only about a year old. I actually smash the right front of the truck quite a while ago and had to replace most of the right front suspension. I put a stethoscope on it last night and had my buddy rock it to try to narrow down the creek and it's definitely either the lower ball joint or maybe where the old existing strut mounts to the lower control arm. The actual strut itself seems fine though. Maybe where the bolt goes through it to attach it to the lower control arm? If not it's gotta be the ball joint. I had a mechanic tell me that Ford trucks arnone for the sealed ball joints squeaking even though they might not be bad. I'm thinking I might take the nut off the end of that struck bold and see if I can overdose of WD-40 in there before I go so far as to Jim a needle injector threw the ball joint boot to grease it. I'll keep you posted.

 

[reansor]

SOLUTION:
Yesterday I finally greased my lower ball joint, which is fine because it's only got about ten thousand miles on it and I've checked it, with a grease gun needle and the squeak/creak is gone!

 

[Number Twelve]

Thanks for the news. I have cured squeaky front suspension from a 1965 Mustang to a 2005 Explorer, and they were always rubber squeaks. Always open for some education.