Very Cold Weather Makes the Bad Noises Go Away

[The Snowman]

Hi Guys,

Please excuse the seemingly dumb questions I have, trying to teach myself with this 1993 Explorer I bought.

Anyway, the front end of my Explorer is pretty noisy. It's squeaky and clunky, more so when I'm breaking, especially at the moment when I come to a complete stop. But not really over bumps at all.

It also hums when I'm on the road and I slightly turn right on the steering wheel, like when the wind is blowing me over a bit or I have to adjust. But this is intermittent.

I've replaced the front shocks, but that's about it. The auto hubs are also out.

I assumed this was probably a couple different things, such as the hum was probably a wheel bearing and the squeaks and clunks maybe dried out bushing somewhere.

Today it was very cold, my vehicle was sitting in -10 F all day while at work and when I drove it home, it didn't make any of these noises, it sounded solid for once, which now makes me think it's one thing that's wrong. Usually our extreme cold temps bring out the noises in cars, in this situation they go away until it the vehicle warms up.

I couldn't really find anything like this on here, let me know what you think.

Thanks for the help

 

[Anime]

Cold makes the rubber bushings harder so the suspension is firmer, and even makes the rubber tires harder too, so they grip less.

My guess would be the stock rubber bushings are worn and squeaky, and so you get squeaks and clunks when it shifts from one position to another, which happens during braking. The front end might be out of alignment, so when the tires are harder and don't grip as well, it's not as hard to keep turning to correct the vehicle direction.

Generally the lower ball joints on these need to be replaced, which is also the cause of a lot of front suspension clunking.

It's also a good idea to make sure the front wheel bearings are properly greased and the retaining nut is properly torqued (there's a very specific procedure to get the bearings in spec), the brake caliper slide pins are lubed, the brake pad anti-squeal clip and anti-squeal shims are in their proper postions, and that the front end is properly aligned.

Energy Suspension makes a full bushing kit for the 91-94 Explorer, that will let you replace the suspension and sway bar bushings all around and restore the original geometry. They will also last a really long time.

 

[The Snowman]

Great, thanks for the help Anime, I might as well just replace the bushing. I'll pick this kit up. I don't have a heated garage, so I have to wait until spring to do this.

If my bearings are to the point of making noise, is it unsafe to drive or can that go for a while? I do have a different vehicle I could drive, but prefer the Explorer when the weather is brutal, which it is now

 

[2stroke]

Its impossible to tell how bad the bearings are just by sound. I've driven on bearings that were louder than my stereo could go, and while a huge headache, I did make it through the week. To really tell, jack up the front and wiggle the wheel. One thing the clunk could be is the clip broke off a brake pad, and they shift when you brake. Personally I feel you could wait till spring. Replacing wheel bearings is easy on these, so you might still consider it. If nothing else, just take the wheel off, and try and pack as much grease into them as you can.

 

[Gadget X]

The "thunk" when braking is probably the radius arm bushings, and there's several how-to articles on here about replacing them. The "hum" is most likely your drivers side front wheel bearing if it does it when you're going g around a curve to the right, and these are both pretty easy to do. I have personally driven for a couple of months with the wheel bearings making noise, with no adverse effects, so you should be safe waiting on them for the weather to get a little warmer. Good luck with it!

 

[The Snowman]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the all the replies.

A little update, I put on the snow suit and climbed under the vehicle. The sway bar link bushing definitely need to be replaced. I took a look at the Radius Arm bushings, they looked alright on visual inspection, but I could be wrong, they seemed more compressed than I'd think they should look.

Are the factory Radius Arm bushings white? The one's I have are, I'm not sure if they've been replace before. The sway bar bushings are clearly factory. I recently bought this and the former owner was telling me all these things he supposedly had done, but I didn't believe him.

I think I'll just be safe and do them all. Is there other bushings I should check out while I'm at it?

I'm going to try to roll the dice on the bearing, the noise is very intermittent, most days I don't hear it. I'll wait until it warms up, I'm going to convert to manual hubs, I'll do the bearings then.

Side-note: I'm really excited to get to work on this thing, that's one of the main reasons I bought this truck. But man, its cold as hell here. Out of necessity I once had to change a power steering pump in -10 F, the worst experience. In the northern regions, people need to set up businesses where you can rent shop space. Is this a thing?

 

[The Snowman]

One more thing. I was talking to a mechanic about the bearings. He was saying with this model, you typically do not need to replace the bearings, just clean, pack and tighten them. Is this true or should I just spring for new ones? This is also the mechanic that wanted to charge me $700 to do the auto-hub to manual hub conversion so I'm not sure how credible he is.

 

[intelisevil]

$10-20 for bearings? Replace them!

 

[2stroke]

These vehicles are known to eat bearings, I would get new ones if you are going to go that far. Its as simple as taking off the nuts, pulling out the bearing, and then getting the race out. Its old style stuff. I re pack my bearings from time to time, but as soon as they have play, get new ones. Rock auto has some that are $3.53 each. I like to get good ones, but I'm not even sure if there are "good" ones any more. I know a place in st. cloud that might sell made in Minnesota bearings, and I was going to see If I could get some at the same dimensions. I wish I could remember the brand. If I find them, I'll let people know how to get them. Other than that, I usually just get the cheapest name I recognize, and they seem to last a few years.

 

[Anime]

The bushings themselves are generally black, the white part is a plastic insert that the radius arm bushing goes in.

You could just jack up the front suspension and check the wheel bearing play (and ball joints) without planning to do any work on it right then. It's not that hard to adjust the wheel bearings once you have a torque wrench and the correct 2-3/8 socket for the retaining nut on the auto hubs. You'll also want a small magnetic pick-up tool and maybe a scratch awl or some kind of sharp pick to remove the "key" that holds the retaining nut on.

The wheel bearings on these are pretty tough, and unless they are scuffed or scored or visually damaged, you can usually just re-pack them with grease, replace the inner seal on the rotor, and re-install. The bearing race inside the drum should be checked as well. Timken and SKF make good bearings. Cheap bearings can cause issues and noise.

 

[The Snowman]

I'm about to order both Sway bar/link bushings as wells as the Radius Arm bushings. Does anyone have the part numbers for this, I could find them with the search tool. I went to Energy Suspension and there were a ton of options.

While talking about the Radius Arm bushings, I've read two methods, one- grind off the rivets for the RA bracket and another by removing the tire/shock/spring ect...

Is one methods much easier than the other?

Thanks again

 

[Anime]

The part number for the entire Energy Suspension Polyurethane bushing kit is 4.18102.

You can get it in BLACK (4.18102G) or RED (4.18102R). Black is generally better since the black bushings are impregnated with graphite to prevent squeaks. It also looks factory. Poly bushings squeak a little anyway, but the kit includes bushing lube to prevent squeaks too.

http://www.amazon.com/Energy-Suspen...e=UTF8&qid=1424392510&sr=1-2&keywords=4.18102

http://www.amazon.com/Energy-Suspen...e=UTF8&qid=1424392510&sr=1-4&keywords=4.18102

You can buy the radius arm and sway bar bushings seperately in smaller sets, but you will spend more than the kit and still not get all the bushings. The kit is the best deal, even if you don't replace all the bushings at the same time.


As for the radius arm bushings, it depends on the tools you have and what seems easier to you. For some, lifting up the front end and pulling the springs will be easier than cutting and drilling rivets. For some, cutting and drilling the bracket off may be easier or something that needs to be done anyway if the brackets are damaged and need to be replaced.

If you're planning to work on the vehicle during good weather, it may be worth it to get a ball joint press and gather the parts to replace the ball joints and do any other service (brakes, wheel bearings) at the same time the front suspension is apart for the bushings.

 

[The Snowman]

Perfect, ordering up one of these kits, makes sense. Thanks for digging this up for me, very appreciated