Front End creaks after offroading

Here's why I'm asking - I work 12 hour days so the only real time I have to look at my truck are on my days off.

With that being said, I want to order any recommended 'dry lubricants' and the sort and go by your guys suggestions.

I took the truck across 20 miles of dirt roads, all while climbing and descending some steep grades; nothing a Prerunner with a locker can't handle.

Anyway, after driving an hour and a half back, I parked it and ended my day. The entire drive back felt the exact same as it did on the way there; alignment was straight, handling was better than an 18 year old truck, you get it.

Today, while backing up slowly out of my parking, I noticed a loud creaking. Almost sounded like a dry bushing rubbing against metal (I've heard the sound, so it's the best thing I can come up with). On my day off, I'm going to pressure wash the entire underside to remove all the dust and dirt. Afterward, I'm going to check my skid plate and bolts, as well as my sway bar and sway bar bushings.

What other items should I check out up front, and after I have everything washed off with simple green and a pressure washer, what items should I keep lubricated up front?

Keep in mind, the LCA bushings, LBJ's, and shocks are new as of 3 months ago.
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That does not mean a lot. Make sure you double check LBJ. All bolts are tight, ball is tight boot is not torn.

 

My UCA bushings are shot and very creaky. Easy to pinpoint with the coilovers taken out; just move the UCA

 

Yeah I'll be checking those bolts as well.

From a quick look underneath, no grease at all and the boots are intact.

That's next on the list of items to replace.

I'll check to see if it's the UCA's that are creaking.

The creaking doesn't happen going over speed bumps or anything, only once in awhile when turning sharply at low speeds.

 

Removed both skid plates, noise still there

Removed sway bar, noise still there

Sprayed lube on the front body mounts, noise still there

Tightened the one bolt that got loose that holds the radiator, noise still there

Think if I replace the upper control arm bushings, that should do it? I was really thinking I should just throw on aftermarket UCA's.

 

This is probably stupid but what about the crossmembers underneath the engine/trans? Just banging another thought here thinking about what lateral torque stuff may have happened.

 

WHEN does it creek? When steering? when the suspension moves?

Front or back?

What equipment do you have? Stock or aftermarket UCAs?

Leaf springs like to creek a lot...

As far as what to keep lubed: anything with a zirk fitting. But that's not the kind of thing you should have to do after every 20 miles of dirt road. The only thing that may need semi-consistent lubing is if you have uniball style UCAs. Those are open to the environment, so they will tend to squeak if not lubed (dry type lube) fairly often.

 

He's already answered all of those questions...

"Front end creaks after offroading..."

"... only once in awhile when turning sharply at low speeds"

"I was really thinking I should just throw on aftermarket UCA's"

 

My front end creaks bad on the driver's side, especially offroading but also if I hit dips of bumps in the road a little too hard. It's like this deep "UUUURK EEEK" barn door sound.

It's definitely my front driver LCA bushing(s)...when I was under there doing my LBJs I could recreate it. I think you mentioned you had done yours though recently yeah?

I recommend the WD40 Specialst PTFE Dry Lubricant....it's sold any most any hardware store, I get mine for cheap at Wally World. It works great for pretty much every other noise I have the on the truck, and the WD40 brand comes with the straw attached to the can so you don't lose it.

If you know it isn't your LCA bushing I would look at the UCAs like you said.

 

I've had plenty of noises that I SWORE were coming from the opposite end of the truck they were actually coming from. Hdell, I've had creeks that ended up being the air filter, not even suspension related, lol.

This still doesn't really quite answer what I was meaning to ask. I meant while turning the steering wheel. 90% of the time you're negotiating a turn, your steering wheel is pretty stationary.

I'll give you this one, I missed that.

 

I didn't check the cross member, though I did stare at it for a bit while underneath and think "I wonder if this needs to get torqued down"

I'll check on my next days off this Wednesday/Thursday

As @Minimag95 quoted, I did my best to answer this already.

I have stock UCA's.

Fox 2.5 front's, without reservoir.

No spacer's or anything weird.

Stock LCA's with new white line bushings in them as of 2 months ago.

OME Dakar's in the rear, and yes I do have a squeak there. The rear noise has been there before I went off-roading and remains after I went off-roading; I've grown accustomed to it and it's easy to differentiate the noise coming from the front from that of the rear.

If I step on my front bumper, or work my suspension up/down, I do not get the weird loud creak I'm experiencing.

Thanks for quoting me in case other's missed what I said above.

I did replace my LCA bushings just 2 months ago, as well as my LBJ's and it's really tightened up the front end. After having gone off-roading, I checked my LBJ bolts to ensure they did not loosen up or back out and I still have the noise.

I did buy a dry film lubricant with Teflon, but have yet to use it anywhere other than the front body mounts.

The noise is pretty loud, as it's louder than my rear leaf springs. The duration of the noise is kept short though, whereas the rear will continue to squeak as I go over dips.

I noticed the noise happens more often when I'm turning and going down a small slope, causing the weight to slightly shift on the truck.

 

I've tried dousing my noisy bushings with the PTFE dry lube but unfortunately it doesn't work very well on those...if it is a bushing issue with the UCA's it'll probably just come down to getting them replaced.

 

I know it’s more a common occurrence on 2nd gens, but it may be the core support.
They are pretty thin metal to allow for crunching in an accident, and any sort of moderate fast or roughy offroad driving will make the core support creak and groan. This is due to the wimpy front support bushings and also just small tears or cracks in the support that develop.
Over bumps, dips, turns, cracks in the pavement, even a leave will make my trucks core support noisy.

 

Which spray lube do you get the best results from for quieting down the poly bushings? I know l you've tried a few different ones

 

I just grease them occasionally... You're not likely to be able to get lube into the bushing area where the motion actually occurs without disassembling them anyway.

But if you feel the need, that PTFE stuff @eon_blue mentioned is probably your best bet.

 

It works on my squeaky poly bushings for the leaf springs, at least a bit...but for my OEM LCA bushings it doesn't quiet those down, but I think they are past the point of quieting and just need replaced

The WD40 Specialist Dry Lube works best for most noises on the truck, since it's dirt/dust resistant...all the others like white lithium, silicone spray, etc attract dirt like crazy

 

pressure wash your leafs.

 

The problem with using any sort of lube on OEM rubber bushings, is that there isn't really anything that should be rubbing against itself. The rubber flexes and twists, the outer steel sleeve is press-fit into the control arm, and the inner steel sleeve is mounted firmly to the frame (or should be, lol)

Poly bushings are known to squeak because there is motion between the inner sleeve and the bushing.

 

Get a can of Tri-flow and spray it into your upper control arm bushings?

 

yeah I think my LCA bushings are just plain ol' shot, no amount of lube or grease is going to make them quiet.

My poly bushings on the leaf springs drive me nuts. I have the greaseable bolts and no amount of grease makes them quiet, and the ones on the passenger side front hangar "pop" and "clunk" unless I spray them with the PTFE spray a couple times a week. No idea how the PTFE spray gets in there and quiets those down but it does, for a few days anyway.

One of these days I'm just going to take the poly bushings out and go back to normal OEM rubber leaf spring bushings and normal bolts. I never had half the noises with those that I do with these poly ones.