Whats the best way to check them? and is it ok to have just a tiny bit of play?
Thanks, Ed

 

i have the exact same problem, i am at 51,000 miles and have 2 inch leveling kit with 35' tires. The guy at the oil changing place told me its the bushings or ball joints. One or more is cracked and i took it in to the shop today to get them replaced. I'll let you know how it rides when I get it back. Hope this helps

 

my truck made a horrible squeek it would constantly squeek if there was ANY tiny little bump.. so basically all the time. i found two causes. ( and my truck only has 15k on it) the main one at first was the tail gate, the "claws" or the latches that grab the pin to hold on the tail gate closed were rubbing together.. i have to lube these every now and again or it comes back. and it transmits thorugh the body and sounds as if its in the pass rear door! the second noise is my leaf spring clamps. its the clamps that clamp the leafs together between the body mount and the axle. they have a small ruber isolator on them and were rubbing on the leafs. spray those two points down and see what happens.. i like a spray called triflow myself. it works almost instaly but it doesnt last long.. so its good to find noises with and if you spray the wrong thing it wont look all greasy for ever!


i only have on more noise left and i think its my dirtlogic shocks.. but its hard to pinpoint cause driving without shocks kinda sucks...

 

Did you mistake your truck for a Cadillac when you bought it?

But seriously, when mine started it irked me too. But now? Meh. Leaf springs with sand, and a little rust in there...no point in worrying too much.

 

well my noises were right after i lifted it.. so i wanted to make sure i didn't leave anything loose or missing or forgotten about. and some noises just pierce right through music and everything and just need to be fixed!

 

Don't bring it to the dealer. They will just brush you away and tell you it's normal...

I have a popping noise coming from the rear and they showed me how the back axle can be pulled in and out by pulling on the tire while truck is on jacks and that is what I am hearing and it's normal. I think they are full of s***.

 

i just put on skyjacker rears and the bushings are giving me a terrible creaking noise. SJ is sending me out two news ones, of which should be the right size this time.... ugh.

nevertheless, my leafs are creaking too. cranking them down should work, lol

 

I had this thing up in the air supported by a jack stand from under the frame, and using a 2" deep wall pipe, and with a 4x4 laying on the floor I could not get any kind of movement from the ball joint. May be there is a better way.

 

Did you get your bushings replaced? Did it take care of your noise?

 

No, the shop wanted to charge me $1,100 to replace the bushings and said that the lower control arm had to be replaced too. So i took it to a different place and he said it was the shocks, so i got new shocks and i just got it back today. I dont think the shocks were the problem. I am not to happy about the situation but i will let you know what I do from here.

 

OK: I may have found something. I used a spray lub Arecroil to lube my stabilizer bushings and for the last 2 days so creaking noise. I am waiting for it to come back and I'll spray them again. I did spend a little time and made sure I sprayed them very good by inserting the spray tube in every small spot I that I could. I'll keep you posted.

 

It turned out that it was my shocks, or shock bolts. So i got both of my front shocks replaced and i havent had any problems since. It rides a hell of a lot better too.

 

I am glad you figured out your noise: I hate to think of changing out the shocks again but I will check mine to see if it is possibly my issue. I did replace them about 29,000 just because I was adding the 2" rise kit. Its not a half hour job but I will continue to post for those who are having the same issue...

 

I finally broke down and took the truck to a shop that I have done business with in the past and they confirmed that my lower ball joint is bad. I have all ready ordered 2 Moog lowers and will be replacing my Monroe Reflex shocks next week. I'll post again on the outcome...

 

My efforts have finally paid off and I am free of the agonizing noise that plagued me from the front end of my F150. My 4X4 has the strut (coil over) suspension up front and from what I have not seen any post on is the top part of the strut mount called a strut bearing. This part is where the shock mounts and it had worn an oblong hole in it causing a small rattle. Now the creaking and or grinding noise may very well been caused by this or the lower ball joint I am not really sure. But not only were the lower ball joint replaced, I installed new shocks and these bearing plates. I installed Moog lower ball joints and strut bearing plates from Napa, part # 261-3510. These set me back a hundred and fifty plus for the pair of them over and above the ball joints. The struts (coil over) shocks were Monroe Reflex, which were warranted and cost me nothing to replace. I have no creaking or binding noise anymore when turning to the left and I feel the difference in the ride as well with the new struts. I originally installed the struts myself about 3 years ago but this time I had a local garage do the work so with labor and parts my repair set me back a shade over $500. I should be good for a while!