Leaf Squeak Saga - Defective Parts or Normal?

2022 DCSB OR

TRD Lift all around - except removed the rear blocks and had Icon RXT leafs installed - set to option 2.

Currently 1500 miles on the whole truck. 1100 miles with the Icon RXT Leafs on.

After install (by a popular 4x4 garage in the LA area) the leafs were great... for about 300 miles. Then they developed a gnarly squeak. My daughter called it "the bullfrog". You could hear it a block away. People turned their heads. It aggravated the hell out of me - as the truck is brand new and I hadn't even been wheelin.

I brought it back to the garage and they put it up on the lift and pulled and reinstalled the leafs... all while spraying grease onto them and making sure it's all torqued correctly. Unfortunately, I did it on a rare day of rain in LA. And the squeak had completely disappeared while it was wet . So they never heard the squeak, and when they were done they couldn't tell if it was gone or not. Lo and behold LA dried out and the next day the squeak came back.

I drove it as it got louder and louder for a few days - then finally went to autozone and picked up a little something called Seafoam Deep Creep. I figured I would just spray the crap out of the front bushing on the leafs and see if that's where the bullfrog was coming from. Anyone ever tried this stuff? I avoided WD40 of course - as that's no good on rubber bushings. Deep Creep says it's good for rubber. But I dunno.

Anyway, I inspected the bushings and they looked all dried out. So I sprayed the crap out of them. The squeak instantly disappeared. And I'm happy. So, what gives?

Did the 4x4 garage that spent hours reinstalling and greasing the leaf packs forget to grease the bushings? Or is it normal for greased bushings to dry out in a day?

Am I gonna have to grease the Icon RXT bushings every other day for the rest of my life?

Do Icon RXT Bushings suck or did I get defective ones?

Should I buy a grease gun and get actual grease instead of using the Seafoam Deep Creep?

Should I have Icon send me new bushings?

Should I warranty claim them and get a diff brand of leafs?

This is my 5th Taco (in 25 years) and by far the noisiest. And I haven't broken 1500 miles. And it's all because of these darn leafs.

Blah and thanks.

 

My Icons were quiet for thousands of miles. Like 10k? Then, they stared to squeak. Lubing the pads like I did with the stock leafs didn't help much. Then, I used a needle tip on a grease gun to shoot some marine grease between the eye bushings and clevises. All six, both sides. They were quiet for months. After some wheeling and a couple car washers, it came back a bit, but not horrible. Definitely coming from the shackle area that moves the most. One of these days, I'll shoot more grease in there.


The bushing showing cracks is odd. I have no info there. Might be worth reaching out to Icon?

 

My guess they did grease bushings or use the right grease.

 

Running an OME medium duty kit on my 2020 OR... Thing was quiet for a good 4,000 miles... Then I took it on a 400 miles backcountry trip through northern AZ. Rocks, muds, dirt, snow, rain, just about everything you could think of.

LOUD creaking/binding/popping noise starting coming from the passenger rear side. Found it coming from the leaf packs. Went and picked up some plastic friendly grease and shot it between the leaf springs, into the eyelets, just at every joint and crevice of leaf packs. Sound went away.

This noise you're hearing is likely the leaf springs binding and squeaking/popping under lateral load. I first noticed mine turning left and coming into my driveway over the curb.

It's nothing really to be concerned about, just noise.

That said, make sure you are 100% certain where the noise is coming from. You don't want to misdiagnose sounds like that...

 

I figure that since I greased the bushings and the noise went away - it's the bushings.

 

The only right way to stop it is, pull bushings and grease them and bolts.

 

I really figured the shop did that. But I guess not. And am I nuts or is it insane that they would need so much grease immediately... like they are less than 1000 miles old. Icon should be shipping these things heavily greased and not dry as toast.