getting sick of it

[explorer ak]

hey guys got a 97 exploder got a load groan/squeak when i go over bumps or turn my wheels i have just replaced the swaybar end links and sway bar to fram bushings and aslo just installed procomp ES9000 shocks all around. im thinken it mat be the a arm bushings or maby ball jojnts not really sure.


any help would be great

thanks guys

 

[gavin]

could be UCA bushing, LCA bushings, or balljoints.

Although usually bad balljoints don't "squeak"

You could try getting some wd-40 or some other form of lubricant, and spray it on 1 bushing at a time, to try and pinpoint the culprit.

although... it's also possible it's due to worn teflon pads on the rear leaf springs, causing metal-on-metal rub that could cause a squeak-type noise.

 

[explorer ak]

thanks i like the idea of the wd40 to try to find what bushing. but it just mskes more sence to just get all new ones1 and for the rear teflon pads in the rear leafs they seem to be alright. the noise is for sure comeing from the drivers side front.

 

[gavin]

of course it certainly wouldn't hurt to get it all replaced.
2 new upper arms and 2 new lower arms, and you just replaced 8 bushings and 4 balljoints

 

[79broncojosh]

I have a 95 and my lower ball joints were bad and the drivers side was squeaking really bad when i turned and went over bumps. I changed them and that was the only thing I changed and all squeaking went away.

 

[gmanpaint]

The ball joints can squeak, mine did when I first got it. Replaced, & the noise went away.

Now just a few months later, the squeak returned in a different location. The control arm bushings. I tried WD-40, worked for a few days, but it dries up and the squeak returns. White lithium grease in a spray can works wonders till you can replace, or just spray again when needed. Driving in rain, car washes will limit the time it lasts.

Sometimes a rock can get stuck between the brakes dust shield and the rotor, causing a constant squeak. If that happens, remove the tire, and pull the shield away a bit & inspect. Most of the time the object will fall out when creating a space by pulling the shield away a bit.

 

[yellowford]

Definitely don't ignore squeaks I did for a long time on my Mustang, what a bad idea ended up having the ball joint break right in half.

 

[holter95]

Yeah, mine's doing the same thing... started quite suddenly the other day. I know the BJs are getting loose, as I've been developing all sorts of clunking in the front end (thank you terrible MN roads).

Can't stand the thought of doing yet another round of BJ replacements on an Exploder. 'specially those PITA upper control arms bolts that are impossible to get a wrench on. I swore those off 3 years ago, but then I went all brain dead and bought another one.

And to make matters worse, 10" fresh snow this week = sloppy ass garage.

 

[springer275]

Same here. Mainly on the passenger side. Still have all the orginal factory installed suspension, other than shocks and torsion keys.

I hose them down with WD-40 and it lasts for 10 miles. Started getting real bad with all the liquid salt they put on the rodes here in Ohio this winter. The BJ's are fine, so i think the control arm is unhappy.

 

[holter95]

Crawled under the truck last night... by feeling the spindle it definitely appears the noise is coming from one of the ball joints, likely the lower. I've never had a BJ fail with the noise like this before - only with slop that creates a clunk in the past. I didn't notice any evident tears in the dust boot (hard to see at night) - but those that have experienced this before - what is the failure mode of the BJ that creates this noise? Friction from grit? Rust? Broken ball joint shaft? Chipped retainer?

I'm curious. Won't have mine off until Saturday (have to live with the incessant creak for another few days - it's really annoying).

 

[79broncojosh]

Due to there not being any grease fittings they just dry up ( no grease) The noise your hearing is metal on metal because the grease has gone the rust and salt has taken over.

 

[gmanpaint]

Due to there not being any grease fittings they just dry up ( no grease) The noise your hearing is metal on metal because the grease has gone the rust and salt has taken over.

This is why I installed grease-able ball joints.

 

[79broncojosh]

Yeah I have in the past 2 weeks replaced everything in my front end so everything is grease-able, after that I did the TT put my shackles on and mounted my 31's then got it aligned.

Its like having a new truck!!

 

[springer275]

What brand of grease-able ball joints did you use? Beginning to wonder if my creaking is the start of a bad ball joint.

 

[gavin]

I always go for the Moog balljoints, myself.

 

[gmanpaint]

Moog! FTW!!

 

[holter95]

Got mine done this weekend. Replaced all 4 with Moog parts - which are substantially beefier than stock, are greaseable, and have a lifetime warranty (for whatever that's worth). LH side took me 8 hours (ugh) and a lot of cursing, until I learned the tricks all of which are well documented here:

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=188225

After that, the RH side took me only 2 hours. Note: I did upper joints too, so the LH side is a bit of a pain fighting the UCA bushing/alignment bolts.

Follow the instructions verbatim, applying liberal amounts of whacking where necessary. 2 words of caution: wear hearing/eye protection, and NEVER hit the spindle (cast) with a metal hammer. Always hit the control arms which are stamped or forged. A 3-4 lb sledge, a meaty pry bar, a floor jack, and a rented ball-joint-press are essential.

I still have a bit of a rattle/clunk over bumps, even after replacing the sway bar bushings... so I'm still on the hunt for that source. But overall, performance is way improved. Pretty much all the ball joints had enough slop in them that I could make them "clunk" by hand - the RH lower was completely dried and rusted out and what was causing the grinding noise.

Amazon has the parts cheap - roughly the same or a bit cheaper than RockAuto... and I have Amazon Prime, so shipping was free and FAST. Rock is really gouging lately on shipping... they just ripped me $15 to ship 2 lousy $3 axle hub nuts via standard shipping, and if your order comes from different warehouses the S&H price soars.

 

[79broncojosh]

I have replaced everything in the front of my truck and it still clunking/popping noise in the front end. Mostly on the passenger side, I have done everything and cant find anything lose at all. Kinda frustrating because it wont go away.

 

[springer275]

What about your differential? Does is clunk/pop down the road, turn your steering, or when you put it in gear?

My rear went out about 40K miles ago. It roared and vibrated going down the road at about 60MPH. When I shifted from reverse to drive, it really banged around too.

 

[holter95]

I have replaced everything in the front of my truck and it still clunking/popping noise in the front end. Mostly on the passenger side, I have done everything and cant find anything lose at all. Kinda frustrating because it wont go away.

I've heard of body mounts going bad or loosening. ??