Quick PSA: that creaking might be your aftermarket skids

So I’ve been chasing a creaking sound for a week now. I thought at first it was my leaf springs, then I figured out it was actually coming from the front end.

Searching TW I convinced myself it was either my UCA bushings, or my front body mounts, or my lower strut mounts, or a failing steering rack, or a blown CV, or cracks in the sheet metal around the radiator, or a stuck driveshaft yoke. It was none of these.

In the end, it was a rock stuck between my aftermarket transmission skidplate, and the front cross member. A grape-sized pebble found it’s way into the perfect spot and would creak, at insane volumes, every time the truck flexed. The skid plate was amplifying the noise.

Anyways……..I am relieved that’s all it was, though it took some finding, and I needed my wife to drive the truck back and forth over a single Jack-stand ramp to flex the frame while I tried to pinpoint the noise.

If you catch yourself chasing some creaking, remove your skids first before you go on the wild goose-chase I’ve been on for many days.

Have a nice weekend everyone. I hope it finds you with some time off to enjoy your tacos.