I start with the obviously worn out stuff that glares at me and work from there... the stuff you HAVE to do. The end links slapped me across the face. There were BAD. LOL

 

Yah. And the end links don't call for an alignment.

However, my take is that alignments are expensive enough that it's better to NOT keep paying for them too often, so just get it all at one time.

This is of course a personal choice thing - and the first round on my Cougar, I didn't do but what was broken each cycle, so I was ALWAYS under there. Last bout, I just did it all at one time - MUCH more solid under it! The Dakota is also much more solid - it's amazing how well it rides and steers now! *grins*

RwP

 

Yeah, same here. When I rock the steering on the highway, I don't feel any play in this 255K truck. I'm lucky that the endlinks were all that was wrong. I pulled off some good upper ball joints from a junkyard but ended not using them. Instead, I shot grease into the current riveted ones with a grease needle and sealed the little hole with black gasket maker.

 

Thanks for the replies so far.

One last thing I should mention that could help diagnose the issue...

The squeaking happens the entire time the truck is moving, but I just noticed today that when I make a turn the squeaking stops. As soon as I straighten back out, there it is again. I noticed it on a couple left turns.

 

Does it go away on left turns but not right turns, or on turns both ways?

Could be bad wheel bearings, too.

RwP

 

I noticed the squeak going away completely when turning left. Right turn it seemed to go away too, but not entirely from what I could tell.