2000 Ford F-150 Lariat, Supercab, Flairside, 4x4, 5.4L.

I have a noise coming from the front end of my truck, it seems to start after driving for 20 to 30 miniutes. It is a squeek, as I speed up the squeek becomes more constant untill I am over 60 mph & then it is just a constant noise. It starts around 10 mph. I have no grease fittings on the truck (still dont understand that). I was thinking that it might be a u-joint but it does'nt make sense that it would start after driving for about 30 miniutes, I had a GMC that had a bad u-joint & it was always squeeking. I dont think it would be the wheel bearings because from what I have heard that would be more of a grinding sound. Also sometimes when I am slowing to a stop I hear a pop from the front end. Not a big noise, just sounds like somebody tapping a piece of metal with a hammer. Usually this pop happens once right before the truck comes to a stop, not every time though. The squeek noise does is not affected by bumps or stearing, its just always there.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

First thing I would check is the brakes. Pull the front wheels and take a look to see if the wear indicators are rubbing on the rotors. They tend to make a squeaking noise similar to what you are referring to. The clunk could also *possibly* be the pads shifting in the claiper bracket, which is something you can also check when you have the wheels off...

 

The brake pads are about 3 months old, I have allready pulled the wheels off recently to check & see if anything was binding & I did'nt see anything.

 

with the truck off the ground wiggle the front wheels... with out the steering wheel locked. if there is any play it could be tie rod ends or ball joints maybe even a wheel berring. if there is any movement its out of specs... if u can tell its moving its toast!

 

I jacked up each front wheel, I only have the jack that came with the truck so I cant jack up the whole front end. I moved each wheel side to side & they both moved. While I was pushing them I was looking in the windshield at the steering whell & it was also moving with the wheel. Is that ok, or is that a sign of a problem.
Also when I had the passenger side front wheel up & spun it I noticed what sounded like metal rubbing against metal. It was not loud, but I was wondering if something in that wheel could be causing the noise.
Thanks for all of your input.