Hi all, this is my first post so please be gentle. Just kidding.

I've got a 98 F150 4x4 XLT with the 5.4 and offroad package. I've got a constant squeak thats driving me nuts. I happens, usually after the truck has warmed up or been driving for awhile. Its tied somehow to wheel speed and not engine speed. Meaning regardless of engine rpm the squeak increases or decreases with truck speed.

It doesnt go away when the brakes are applied either feathered or almost locked. It is sometimes goes away and sometimes continuous. It happens from 0-45 MPH or maybe faster and I just can't hear it. I just did u-joints and rear brakes.

I hope someone has a suggestion. Its getting to the point of just driving with the window up and the radio cranked up. Thanks for the help.

 

i went offroading last weekend and i am also getting a slight squik, that doesnt go away from pressing the brakes and is not tied in to rpm, i plan to track it down this weekend i will keep you posted on the results

 

Hello nova260,

I had a problem with the same symptoms on my 2000 4x4 and it turned out to be a bad front wheel bearing. I had the bearing assembly replaced at the dealer 2 years ago and the squeak has never returned.

 

I was leaning towards a bearing too, but when ever I had one go it was grumbling. I'll give it a try. Cant hurt. Thanks for the tip.

Jeff

 

I had a similar squeek in the front of my truck. I chased it around for a long time but just the other day the wheels happened to be turned right while it was parked in the driveway and I stuck my head under it and found that the dust sheild on the brake was just touching the rotor. It would rattle when it wanted to and not any time for sure. I just tweeked it with a BFH and now no more squeek. It might be worth a look before you start throwing wheel bearings at it.

Good luck,
Mike

 

I had a squeak - more like a chirp - in both my '99 and '02 trucks with ORP and 3.55 LS rear ends. It too was related to ground speed and you could hear it best when driving along side a building or wall where the sound reflected back. What we finally discovered was that the sound occured at 3-4 times wheel speed - like maybe 3.55 times wheel speed. That put it in the drive shaft. We pulled the drive shaft and the front part of the shaft happened to droop over the end of the work bench when we set it down. Guess what? It made the exact same chirp as we'd been hearing. Wiggling it back and forth gave us the exact same chirp.

To fix the problem, we used a needle fitting on the end of a grease gun to shoot some grease in behind the rubber washer / seal on the front joint. Problem solved - on both trucks! Hope that helps.

 

Both great suggestions. I had the wheels off this weekend and the bearings "feel" okay. Meaning there is no whobble from wear. I do have a little drag on one wheel from a warped rotor. But the squeak doesnt change when I step on the brakes do I kind of ruled that one out. I'll check the othe ideas. Thanks guys.

 

Just for grins I dropped the drive shaft. I really greased splines with the spline grease I use on my outdrives for my boat. I cured the squeak and the rear end clunck when I pull away from a stop. Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

okay. so this squeak and rear end clunk from a stand still is related to the u joints on the driveshaft? ..im asking bc i recently purchased a 2wd 98 f150 stepside and it just developed today and is DRIVING me up a wall and have it going into a shop to fix a bumper on tuesday and wanna know what to look at/check to stop this.

 

Finally some information on what sounds like my exact problem. I had the 350 jacked up today, and hand rotating the tires would generate the squeak. Close inspection seemed to indicate that it's coming from the pinion seal area. There is a Service Bulletin on this, check at http://www.alldata.com/TSB/20/032064BZ.html.

I don't know what's in the bulletin, but I'm going to get a copy from my Ford mechanic neighbor.

My squeak started after getting new tires installed, so I'm going to check the brake cover suggestion as well.