Squeaky Dakars : Any advice from others with the Dakars ?

So after trying all the methods listed in this thread and still not getting results, I isolated the issue. I had tried the whole loosen the bolts and cycle the suspension and tighten them back up again thing and that didn't work but this time I loosened the bolts and then went back under the truck to see if the noise went away. Turns out it was my passenger side front bolt that was making the noise. Torque it down, noise. Loosen it, no noise. You can see in the picture how it is sort of pushed over to one side (the photo is after I moved it). I went under there and jammed a flathead in between the spring and the right side of the bracket and started to try and pull it back over. Wasn't able to get it to move much but it did a little. Shot some dry moly lube in between the gap I had created and tightened the bolt back down. Seems to have fixed it for now. I will report back after a while to see if it's a lasting fix.

 

Just got my springs back from a local spring place. 6 "pucks" installed. $88.

 

Good call, seems about par for what I paid. Maybe this will give some baseline that other owners can refer to when getting a quote from spring shops when requesting isolator installs.

 

The plastic was the cheapest part - $.48 each.
Small environmental charge, probably for the oil used.

 

Those shackle mounts are known to splay outwards according to some older posts I've read

 

Somebody take some decent pics of the added leaf isolators in a Dakar pack and I'll add it to the OP

 

Post #843

 

Ignores the member

 

Reporting back, the moly lube did not work out. I went to home depot and got some neoprene washers. I took the nut off the shackle bolt and I didn't want to get fully into taking off the U bolts and all that so all I did was put the neoprene washer underneath the washer and nut for the shackle bolt and voila. Over the past few days it seems to be working pretty well.

 

I had squeaks when I installed them two years ago, even with pond liner. Swapped out the OEM bushing with poly. No more squeaking. Pond liner has long since fallen out due to flexing.

I used pond liner on wife's tacoma two years ago. Still no sqeaks. (Still running OEM bushings)

Must be a case by case thing.

 

Nooooooo!!! 1,250 miles in and they squeak even after pond liner prophylaxis.

 

I'll prolly order the extra spring and do a permanent fix- for those who installed the drilled spacers - any reason I can't drill it myself at home?

 

You could, will take a good drill bit and oil (and the anti-squeak pucks). Not speaking from experience of course, I paid a spring place to do mine.

 

@crazy joker any tips for this gentleman?

 

I would recommend getting a decent drill bit set, a couple extra bits that are the final needed diameter, and some cutting oil. Start with small bits working your way up in size and drill at a slow speed using lots of oil to avoid heat.

 

Tagged

 

So I tried the zip ties.....front of the leafs don't squeak. However, the back bushing on both sides is squeaking. When I had the leafs installed the shop used two bushings from oem leafs....I'm thinking it is why the back two still squeak?......any suggestions?

 

Could be.
Maybe try:
- tightening everything up.
- hose it down with Fluid Film.

I noticed that after I cleaned everything up underneath to prep for a dose of POR15, my newly installed bushings started to squeak. I whacked them with Fluid Film - squeaks gone.

 

Mine have never squeaked in 20000+ miles. When I installed them I paid carefully attention to bushing installation and using Mobil1 Synthetic grease on specific parts. The torque values were checked carefully. I raced motocross for many years so I have some experience with the importance of assembly and grease.

In my opinion the problems most are having is associated with alignment of the springs, torque, and bushing, not the leaf itself.

 

The noise this thread was started about comes from leaf to leaf contact at the front of the pack where there is no isolator