Squeaking?

Just started learning more about 4x4 trucks. Short story: I went offroading and I had sand all over my undercarriage and cleaned it out. Now I have a squeaking truck. I believe I washed out the lithium grease in the leaf packs but the front recently started squeaking. Any advice? Thought it might be some grease fittings, I really don't know tbh.

 

Most likely its the rear leafs. It happens when dirt/sand get between the leafs. My stock leafs would squeak bad, my dakars are better but still squeak some times.

 

Yeah I think I need to re-grease them but any reason why/where it'll squeak in the front?

 

Could be dirt/sand on your front springs. I usually just pressure wash the IFS and springs clean and any squeaking I get from the front goes away. Theres a bunch of things people recommend to use for the leafs but I've never tried any of them and they only tend to be temporary solutions.

 

With the full weight of the vehicle on the ground, I would loosen all spring fasteners (U-bolts & spring pivot bolts) bounce vehicle up & down and re-torque all fasteners to specs.

I believe the extended suspension and offroad wheel/suspension articulation travel maybe at the root here, no biggie.

Cheers!

 

Have you ever submersed the lower control arms?
Have an alignment done recently?

 

Look at the front bushings on the leaf springs as well. These typically need replacement/regressing. Baffling at why Toyota can not get this right here in North America. Any hilux or landcruiser ute I drove for work and was abused(mining sites) never squeaked like the tacoma and tundras.

Anyways, not much we can do, they’re now building trucks for cruising to the mall, I guess

 

Alignment is fine and I have submerged my control arms in deep water.

 

Yeah I think I might need some lubricant on the front. When I fluid filmed my truck the rear seemed to stop making noise but came back after a couple weeks

 

Fluid film is a horrible idea. It will only work temporarily. It’s tacky and attracts dirt to it, that being said it works amazing as an undercoating. I suspect a lot of people’s issues are oiling the springs which attracts dirt which then migrates btw the leafs and causes the anti squeak coating (whatever the coating is) on the leafs to wear off, which promotes more squeaking.

I’ve yet to find a Tacoma that doesn’t squeak, unless it is never driven off-road and hasn't seen a winter, usually those are so low mileage that their basically new.

 

May be the lower control arm bushing starting to seize.
If it's a squeak and grown sound, I'd consider it.

 

That's it! Any products you guys would recommend to spray/put on the bushings?

 

It's not that easy...

The cam bolts/sleeve and bushing's metal sleeve corrode and seize up.

If it's just slightly corroded...
You need to remove the cam bolt/sleeve, clean the corrosion from the inside of the bushing sleeve and outside of the cam bolts/sleeve.
Then apply grease or anti-seize compound.

If they're totally seized...
You have to cut the cam bolts/sleeve out and replace everything.
It also makes alignment impossible.

 

I checked the cam bolts and got it aligned like 2 weeks ago at firestone. Watched them do it too because I'll be installing new coilover shocks soon. I think it's the bushings for sure at this point

 

That's why I asked if you had it recently aligned; they might not have tightened the cam bolts properly.
I'd still remove and lube them; especially if you have a habit of submersion.
I edited my above post for clarification of parts.
Here's a pic of what I'm talking about.

 

Thanks for the advice, I'm going to take them off today, lubricate, and take it back to firestone. Got the unlimited alignment with firestone anyways. Thanks man

 

You'll need to take the suspension apart enough to relieve tension for removal.
Torque is 135 ft/lbs for the front and 139 ft/lbs for the rear.

 

I have the same issue going on with my second gen. SAME EXACT NOISE and its driving me crazy...

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/squeaky-lower-ball-joint-driving-me-crazy.543426/#post-17595786

I could've sworn it was the ball joint but this is making me reconsider

 

Any update on this squeak fix? I have the same issue. Snagged a deal on some OEM LCAs. I figure after 190k miles, it is probably time. (already replaced the UCA, shocks, etc) I'll definitely lube the lower shock mount and cam bolts during the install.