One solution to a squeky front end
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Joined: Apr 2002
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From: Columbus, Ohio
One solution to a squeky front end
For sometime now my front end would squek pretty bad whenever I would go striaght over a bump, such as a speed bump. It sounded to me like it was metal rubbing. I thought my front shocks were dead.
Turns out it was the front sway bar bushings that were squeking when they rubbed against the bar itself.
Simple cheap fix. Doing one side at a time, take off the (2) 13 mm bolts that hold the metal tight to the frame. The bracket slips off. Then try to get some leverage and pull the sway bar down a little. This is needed so that you can slip the rubber fitting off of the frame mounted positioning pad (which has small little "wings" to hold the pad in place). Then just wipe all the pieces off with a rag, apply grease to everything (except the bolts obviously) and reinstall. Then repeat for the other side.
Took me maybe 30 minutes to do it all.
And for those of you that are ****, I think the torque for the bolts was ~25 ft*lb.
The improvement is immediate. Please keep in mind, I never had noise when turning the wheel, so this is not related to the pitman arm problem that so many owners seem to have.
Just to ramble on a little, one thought that I had had while doing this was that it wouldn't be hard to add a grease zerk to each side while you had them off. If you have a drill, dremal, a tap set and couple spare zerks you can do it. Dremel out half-moon "grease channels" around the inside of the bushing. They wouldn't need to be really deep at all. Then, while still unassembled, place the rubber fitting into the metal bracket that you removed, such that the orientation is how it will be when installed back on the truck. Drill a hole through the metal bracket and the rubber fitting, making sure the hole is aligned. I would do the drilling on the front side of the bracket, not only because it would be easier to get at to grease on a regular basis, but it would be on the opposite side of the split in the rubber bushing. Then just "tap" in appropriate threads for the zerk. Mount all of the "truck" hardware back on first, then screw in the zerk and grease.
I hope this was able to help someone rid themselves of an annoying squeak.
Turns out it was the front sway bar bushings that were squeking when they rubbed against the bar itself.
Simple cheap fix. Doing one side at a time, take off the (2) 13 mm bolts that hold the metal tight to the frame. The bracket slips off. Then try to get some leverage and pull the sway bar down a little. This is needed so that you can slip the rubber fitting off of the frame mounted positioning pad (which has small little "wings" to hold the pad in place). Then just wipe all the pieces off with a rag, apply grease to everything (except the bolts obviously) and reinstall. Then repeat for the other side.
Took me maybe 30 minutes to do it all.
And for those of you that are ****, I think the torque for the bolts was ~25 ft*lb.
The improvement is immediate. Please keep in mind, I never had noise when turning the wheel, so this is not related to the pitman arm problem that so many owners seem to have.
Just to ramble on a little, one thought that I had had while doing this was that it wouldn't be hard to add a grease zerk to each side while you had them off. If you have a drill, dremal, a tap set and couple spare zerks you can do it. Dremel out half-moon "grease channels" around the inside of the bushing. They wouldn't need to be really deep at all. Then, while still unassembled, place the rubber fitting into the metal bracket that you removed, such that the orientation is how it will be when installed back on the truck. Drill a hole through the metal bracket and the rubber fitting, making sure the hole is aligned. I would do the drilling on the front side of the bracket, not only because it would be easier to get at to grease on a regular basis, but it would be on the opposite side of the split in the rubber bushing. Then just "tap" in appropriate threads for the zerk. Mount all of the "truck" hardware back on first, then screw in the zerk and grease.
I hope this was able to help someone rid themselves of an annoying squeak.