My front suspension squeeks...

For the last month or so I have had a bad squeak coming from the front of the floor pan. Remember I have the Streetbeast with the fiberglass floor pan sitting in the tubular steel frame. So I thought maybe that pan was moving around a liitle and rubbing the frame. So I squirted some of that expandable crap in a can in between the pan and frame where I could reach. That cut the squeek by more than half and now I hear it coming from the front suspension. Last night while the car was up on jack stands I squrted everything rubber with some WD40.

If the rain stops I'll see if that helped.

Any ideas?

Jerome

Jerome,

Conider this.

Place the front wheels on "Ramps".

Get under the car and have someone modulate the front suspension.

You maybe able to isolate the noise that you are fighting.

Make sure the car is in gear and won't roll off the ramps before you crawl under it.

Good Luck,

Jack Blake

The beam is supposed to be greased every now and then. Might be the problem. There are 4 nipples, one at each end of the beam.

Maybe a mouse that has now been driven into hiding by a saturation attack of WD-40.........

BTW: There was a post exchange on WD-40 here a while back (from Gary Clark, I believe) extolling the non-virtues of that stuff - great marketing department, poor lubricant (it evaporates quickly). I've found it good for cleaning tools, but have moved to CRC and aerosol Mystery Oil in it's place for lubricating.

Second that "non-lube" statement for WD-40. It's a great product, I have a gallon in the garage. It really ain't a lubricant. It's a water dispersant. Works great on boat trailer springs and for cleaning many things. It will temporarily lube almost anything, then it sort of dries up and attracts dirt I guess. If it sits long enough, (months we are talking here)it actually gets a bit sticky to the touch. Not good for long term lubrication. Good for freeing up old bolts and such where you only need momentary lubrication. It also makes a half way decent cutting fluid on the drill press. Again, a momentary lubricant. Use another product on suspension rubberunless you like doing it weekly.

Jerome,
Since you have a recent build , I wonder if you have the newer red urethane bushings in the axle beam that replaces the old style needle bearings. The urethane has less give than the hard rubber ones and should be well greased at the time of inserting them into the axle beam. The grease that is added through the 4 nipples won't get to the sides of the urethane bushings.
I hope I am wrong and this is not the source of the squeaking, the fix would be to pull it apart grease the side of the bushings and reinstall everything ....not a fun job....
Alan

Alan,

The bearings are stock needle bearings. As far as I can tell the squeek is coming from the passenger side top of the shock or upper arm.

Jerome

AH-HA!

Grease the heck out of the torsion tube fittings (like 10 - 12 strokes each fitting) and then try Marvel Mystery Oil on the trailing arm seal (Lots of it) to see if it stops squeaking. Try pulling the top of the shock out of the mount, grease it up with white lithium grease and putting it back. It could be as simple as the shock rubber mount squeaking - doubtful that penetrating oil will get in there between the two rubber donuts.

Then, when you put it all back together, make sure it's centered (the rubber donuts, that is) and tightened all the way to prevent it from moving around again and see if that fixes it.

At least it keeps you out of trouble........

gn

I looked for a squeak in the rear of my car for way too long. Turned out to be the shock absorbers. Replaced the shocks, got rid of the squeak. Good luck.

Gordons got the right idea pull the top of the shock off and grease the rubber and replace.....