2005 4x4 Quad Cab 135k miles.

About 10 days ago I noticed a *very* annoying squeak. It resides in the front driver's side wheel well area, control arm bushings or the shock area.

I have deemed it the baby maker squeak. This noise sounds like horrid bed (home bed, not truck bed :P ) squeaks when going over any minor bumps in the road.

The only thing I can think of doing prior to this happening was when I attempted to burn off the glazing on my breaks by doing 5-6 sudden stops from 45-15mph each time in a series. This of course causes all the weight to nosedive with the truck and it seems that is the only harsh treatment the truck has had to cause something to go wrong.

The sound to me and others seems to be metal on rubber?

It sounds like it is around the control arm bushings or shock. I can make it squeak by heaving up and down on the bumper or by standing on the drivers side inside the door, and rocking it up and down. The travel of going UP and DOWN seems to make the noise. The wheel does not have much if any travel when I jacked it up and rocked it to check bearings.

I've gone to the local car parts shop and they had a few ideas. I'm at a loss because I don't want to start blowing money on the wrong parts.

I did buy Fluid Film and lube all bushing and points I could see. I did this multiple times and the sound did not go away at all. I was hoping I could squirt some on each bushing and determine which one was bad by making the noise go away or quiet some, and that has not been the case.

Any ideas, hopefully someone could offer advice or possibly had this type of issue before that could not be silenced with lube? The noise is so loud that I am unable to pinpoint it by putting my ear up in the general area.

 

Ball joints make a terrible racket when they are bad. Check them first. Followed by sway bar bushings, end links and control arm bushings.

 

Ahh...I guess a list of parts is probably my only option. But I was wondering...would ball joints make a squeak when going over bumps or when just rocking the truck? The truck sounds fine when rolling on a smooth surface.

 

Anything that flexes the joint or causes the joint to move will make it squeek. My neighbors Crown Vic has a bad front ball joint and it sounds like rusty bed springs when he turns into his driveway.

 

Yes, a bed squeak or rusty bed frame squeak would be the best comparison I have.

Just curious, what sort of brand would you recommend, if any? I was going to purchase Ranchos shocks while I'm working on the front end, though it means more work because I'd need to change the passenger shock too. I'm the least bit familiar with 3rd Gen Dakota parts and resources.

Edit : I just found a youtube video that has a very similar squeak noise. I'd almost say spot on. Link :
If it is of any help, I can record my own video. I do not think it is a ball bearing, there is little to no play for me and when I move up and down on the bumper, it makes the prominent squeak more like suspension areas.

 

Hmm. I also found this video...the noise is a different pitch, but the way the guy pushes down causing the noise is the same way that I can create the noise and that was a ball joint issue in that video, guess I'm just ignorant. I will try to start with those...I found Moog, I assume they make some good ball bearings and it has a grease fitting. There is also 'Raybestos' on RockAuto that are higher priced but is there a difference?

 

don't forget to look at the Sway Bar bushings. Not the ones on the end link, but the ones on the bracket on the frame. They can cause the same sort of noise when they move when it's in the need of grease or when something gets stuck in them (rocks, sand, etc..). The stock ones are not greasable, but if you loosen them, you can then get some grease into them. Not sure if there are any greasable ones for our trucks though. Maybe there are some universal ones that we can adapt. Cheaper to check that then to start swapping ball joints, at lease when you are in the troubleshooting faze anyways.

 

When I get a chance to get dirty I will check those first, I am hoping it is that simple because I have sprayed everything accessible to me from the wheel, but those bushings you speak of of more centered and I wouldn't be able to get spray lube inside them anyway without removing them. The reason I ddin't think it was those was because the noise seemed to reside much closer to the end of the tire rather than further inside the wheel well area. I'll let you know when I find out, though.

 

Moog. Replace everything you can while you are in there. Using Moog will last. Using OEM will just fail again.

 

As far as replacing the ball bearing, is it better to buy a moog control arm with bearing or just a moog bearing and replace that? I'd like the easier method to save time but don't know if it'd be a pita to remove the bearing anyway?