Odd squeaking all of a sudden...

[fedyfedz]

parked my truck last night and when i went to leave this morning i notice some squeaking like suspension or something... It sounds like and older gen that would squeak pretty loud when the you hit the slightest bump. its not that loud now but it just started and is annoying. what could of casued this? and what might i need? In previous posts i stated that my ex sits lower than others think i need new suspension or shocks? rather do some pm instead of waiting till something goes wrong.

 

[bamnq6]

There are about a hundred things in your suspension / chassis that could be squeaking. Is it a metallic squeak (kinda ringing) or rubber on metal (kinda a chirp)??

I suggest that you grab a friend and a can of white lithium grease. Have a friend rock the car while you crawl around and locate the squeak. If you can track down the area (ie: drivers rear suspension), start methodically lubing your bushing one at a time and rocking the car. When the squeaking stops, you've found the culprit.

White litium won't last too long on the suspension, but it'll help you find the spot that needs more serious grease treatment. I've heard people say "Use WD-40" but that will attack rubber bushings,,,

Ford "red" grease and a grease-gun with a needle will last much longer. Unfortunely, the 3rd gen ex chassis is "lubed for life" so you don't have any zerk fittings to just attach the gun's nipple too. You'll havta wiggle that little needle fitting in between the bushing and the metal and pump in a little bit of grease.

Good luck.

 

[kylecolb]

I had an odd squeaking in my front end since I bought the truck. If it was raining out and the front end got wet, it would go away. As soon as it dried up the squeaking came back. I could make the truck squeak just by pushing on the front side and bouncing front end up and down. It would also squeak on most bumps on the road at lower speeds and not at highway speeds.

I tried multiple types of lubes such as WD40 and other silicon lubes spraying down all the rubber bushings and nothing worked. I took my truck in to have them look at it about 3 weeks ago, and what I had come down to for a diagnosis was my coil spring bushings, or my sway bar bushings. The mechanic agreed that it was the sway bar bushings. He dropped the sway bar and tried lubing the hell out of the bushings, reassembled and dropped the truck back down and squeak was still there. So what he did was just take the old bushings out and put new sway bar bushings in and there I had it, no more squaeky squeak!

Total cost was a few cents over $177.
Beakdown: $70 for work to raise truck and drop sway bar, lube, and reattach. That didn't work to it was an another hour of labor to drop sway bar again and insert new bushings and reassemble. The bushings were only around $27 and then the tax on top of that. Totally worth the $177 to get that annoying sound gone!

Hope this maybe helps?

 

[Limited02]

Front swaybar bushing's squeaking are a common problem. When I last had my swaybar off, I greased them up real good, no squeaks for the last 6 months.

 

[kylecolb]

Front swaybar bushing's squeaking are a common problem. When I last had my swaybar off, I greased them up real good, no squeaks for the last 6 months.

My mechanic packed mine full of grease, tried to save me money and nothing worked. When he got them off the truck they crumbled. I'm sure this is why they squeaked.

When I was trying to figure out what the noise was a lot of stuff online pointed to the sway bar bushings. Check them out for sure.

 

[fedyfedz]

thanks i will defiently look into this casue its driving me nuts i feel like my truck is to nice to be squeaking like a 2nd gen

 

[Justin311]

I have the same squeak when going over speed bumps and any other bumps. I'm going to take a look at the sway bar bushings.

 

[Axial32]

I on a regular basis throw some mystery oils lub. on all the rubber bushings on my front end.. lower&upper A-arm bushings.. swaybar endlinks, swaybar bushings, etc...

 

[fedyfedz]

was going to replace front sway bar and though i might do the read while im at it. Does this seem like a good kit? Is everything included?
http://www.partstrain.com/store/details/Ford/Explorer/Eibach/Sway_Bar_Kit/2002/Limited/8_Cyl_4-dot-6L/E273595320.html?location=Front_And_Rear_Suspension

 

[matt0248]

I don't have experience whith this kit, but Eiback is a name brand. It appears that it does not include the end links. You'll need those too.

 

[fedyfedz]

do you now of a kit that has everything? or one for cheaper? Also think i only notice the squeak in the front should i just do the front or do the back to while im at it?

 

[matt0248]

I don't think anyone else makes them. les that $300 is not that expensive for two sway bars.