New noise or new to me...?

I've had my 2008 Tacoma DC Prerunner since I purchased it new. I had it for 6 months before I lifted it. I also added a Borla cutback exhaust when I lifted it back in 2008. Well, I changed the lift from Toytec coilovers to MaxTrac spindles and Bilstein 5100's set at 1.75 with stock springs and spacer up front and in the rear I have the TSB leafs and a 4" block with a 3/4" driveshaft spacer. Love the ride. Couldn't be happier. Here's my issue though. I removed the Borla exhaust, getting old I guess, because I got tired of hearing it. Now there's a noise. I don't know if its always been there or if I'm just now hearing it because the Borla exhaust tone is gone. The sound seems to happen anytime the suspension flexes. hitting the brakes in traffic causes the nose to dip slightly, CREEK. Pulling into a parking spot, CREEK. Speed bumps, CREEK. Backing out of my smooth, flat, driveway on the road, CREEK. It is highly annoying. It makes my well maintained Tacoma, with basically an all new suspension, sound like an old '86 Cutlass. WTF. Man, it's bad. Never put the truck in water or mud ever. I've triple checked and all components are tight. I even broke down and gave up and took it to a mechanic. Sad part is, I called him and described my issue and he said, "You must a have Toyota", before I even told him the vehicle. Is this just a common Toyota thing or is there a fix? Any feedback is appreciated.

 

Get a stethoscope with a metal tip, crawl under the truck, have a buddy bounce up and down on the suspension (hopefully that will be enough to recreate the noise) and listen at various places with the stethoscope. Place the metal tip close to all the balljoints and bushings. The closer you are to the noise the louder you'll hear it..

 

Have you checked your u-joints? PreRunners came from the factory with non greasable u-joints. When mine went they started to squeak and creek at slow speeds especially when I would back out of my garage.

 

2 or 3 months ago when I was installing the driveshaft spacer I checked for play in the u-joints and saw none so I assumed they were fine. Think that's my issue? Got 120k miles on them now.

 

Got a link to a stethoscope you'd recommend?

 

It's hard to say for sure but if you have 120K on the original non greasable u-joints it might not be a bad idea to look into replacing them.

 

I found some on Amazon when I was adding spacer. They were greasable and $2-$30 a joint. Looks like the install wasn't too bad either.

 

My lower ball joint creaks like a late 90s f150. Start spraying components with lube. You can replace the non factory greasable ball joints with greasable ones

 

its your leaf springs. mine does that from time to time. sometimes putting these rubber pads in between the leafs help. when it gets wet she starts to squeak like a hoe

 

I installed new LCA with new bushings and lower ball joints. Also replaced sway bar end links and outer tie rods. All when I redid the suspension.

 

Mine squeak all the time, weather be damned. I was wondering about them. Are yours the new replacement tsb leafs? What rubber pads?

 

Steelman makes electronic sound isolator tools. I have one and it works pretty good. It comes in a lot of 4 and you put them on parts that you think might be squeaking and you can listen to it from inside the cab going down the road

 

Wow. Got a link?

 

Here's a screenshot

 

Probably find one at a parts store. Looks like this

 

they had a recall for them, i never replaced it, but i heard even the replacements squeak. i went with the OLD MAN EMU leafs and they are awesome. well worth the money. and the rubber pads you can buy online. they come in round or square pieces. you pretty much take apart the leafs and place these rubber pads inbetween at the ends. it worked for a lot of people. the old man emu leaf springs squeaked at first but it has been a a year now i havent heard them squeak.