I've got an annoying squeak in the front suspension of my 2003 FX4. What do you guys suppose this is? Swaybar bushings? Shock mount bushings? It is really annoying driving around with my truck that only has 30,000 on it sounding like a hotel bed on wedding night. Also I was talking to a guy that said he has a little needle for his grease gun to penetrate the dust boot on his ball joints to lube them. For some reason I'm thinking this isn't a great idea because of the possiblity of grease leaking out and crap/water getting in. What do you guys think?

Ryan

 

when does it happen...

 

i had the same problem on my old truck. It was the bushings in the aftermarket UCA's. They needed grease bad. I don't know if you have the aftermarket uca's though.

 

might be the ball joints wearing out...

 

Mine squeaks and creaks because the ball joints and tie rod ends are going out. Have you looked at the front suspension? Are the ball joint boots cracked?

 

I had the wedding bed sound about 20,000 miles after I replaced my tie rods. It was the tie rods and a shot of grease takes care of it for about 10,000 miles.

 

yup,lca ball joints for me too.

 

my rear end wouldnt stop squeking before until i used white lithium grease which worked great

 

What was Ford thinkin by not puttin grease fittins on ball joints, shackles, ect!?

 

Well I am tired of the squeaking and am just going to go ahead and tear apart the front end. I figure while I am in there I might as well use some decent parts. Any suggestions for ball joints and tie rod ends? Anything else you guys would replace?

 

man i feel you on this one....my truck has the noises and i cant stand it....i took a look under the truck and the ball joints look fine....but im thinking of tearing it down and putting new ones on

 

mine squeeks too, but mine has 145,000 miles on it. lol I can't stand the squeeks either.....im kinda thinkin its the sway bar bushings.

 

Yeah the bad thing about ball joints on newer model Rangers, the lower ones have to be pressed out and the new ones pressed in. The upper ones (for my 99 at least) the whole upper control arm has to be replaced. If any of yall have to take it to a shop to get the lower ones replaced dont let them rip you a new one. Most shops will tell you that the lower control arm has to come off. The best thing to do is find a shop with a press that they use on the vehicle, it costs 1/2 what other shops would charge just b/c the lower control arm does not have to come off.

 

for the bottom you dont need a press really, well kinda

what i did on my 99 was take a 2 jaw puller, put the arms around the LCA and pressed onto the ball joint.. make sure you put a thick piece of metal between then or you will just make a hole in the ball joint

then with the 'puller' still still pushingon the ball joint, i just took a big punch and a BFH and it came right out..


i think shops do that 1) bc i know atleast All Data says the whole LCA has to be replaced, and 2 because ford decided not to leave enough room to get the ball joint press between the ball joint and LCA

 

BFH...I love it!!! HAHA!!! Yeah I am familiar with All Data. The thing is that most experienced shops have a on-the-vehicle type press. I would try it your way Matt but I just dont have the tools to do it...

 

-go to autozone and rent a 2-3 jaw 5 Ton puller
-rent the ball joint press (to get it back in, and because it has the chunk of metal i was talking about)
-get a friend with an impact, electic or air (or a breaker bar... but thats no fun)
-im sure u have a BFH laying around...

and bam your done, no shops to pay

 

Hmmm...easier said than done. Lucky for me a family member has one of those nifty on the vehicle presses. I could do it myself but I dont have the time or patience, well really just patience. He's only chargin me a 36 pack of Budweiser, and I can git Moog ball joints for $12. Just one of the perks of workin for an auto parts store. ;-)

 

My 2003 2WD Edge has a creaking noise coming from the front which is more apparent when moving at low speeds like through parking lots while turning (like in/out of a parking space). Other than that everything else is fine. Mine has 79K on it at this point. Is it safe to say the ball joints on mine are giving up the ghost? If so, what OEM aftermarket brand of ball joints have the zirk (or is it ZERK ?) grease fitting on them?