Squeaking noise when turning

It's the lower ball joint.

 

I bought a lower ball joint / outer tie rod end at autozone. Rockauto would've probably been better, but it needs to be done asap, I don't want it to fail on me, been having issues for months with it.

I'll be doing it as soon as I can and post results.
Thanks everyone for the help.

 

you shouldn't go with autozone. even though they offer lifetime warranties, you will literally be coming back to replace that part for a lifetime......... go with napa or carquest/advance auto parts or the dealer.

 

I'll be getting a newer (well another, with less miles) Tacoma in a few months anyways. I already bought it so that's what's going in for now. Worst comes to worst I'll do it again. I really appreciate the advice though, in future that's what I'll do.

When replacing these parts (lower ball joint and outer tie rod) is there any way to somewhat mark alignment?

 

yes, when doing the outer tie rod, count how many times you turn it to get it out. and put the new one back on the same amount of turns. did it on my girlfriends civic while replacing a rack boot. worked out perfectly.

 

Last question here, how long do you reckon a lower ball joint from autozone will last anyways?(no off road, learned my lesson with that, lol)

Thanks a ton. I think you've helped me on every or almost every question I've posted here, whether they're dumb questions or not.

 

no problem. the thing about autozone is that you don't know how long they will last. and while this may apply to any manufacturer from any parts store, you can expect an autozone brand to go bad quicker than the others. you may get years out of it, you may get months.

also depends on how rough you are on the vehicle. if youre offroading a lot, don't get autozone. ever. the cheap parts aren't meant to handle abuse. they may be fine for a daily driver with smooth roads, but not if you plan to be rough with it.

 

I plan to be smooth. Went off road once and caused way too many issues, oh and the cleaning was terrible, and it's still not as clean as before..



The brand is duralast (autozone I believe), fairly cheap I suppose. But whatever, if it needs to be replaced again in the time I have it I'll do so.

 

Replacing lower ball joint and outer tie rid end fixed this. Ball joint was bad, tie rod was ok but replaced anyways. When I first lifted it up and turned wheel it made a popping creaking noise. Yuck. All fixed now.

Thanks everyone for the help!

 

see I was right.

 

I was right first.

 

Other side making noise now.

Is this the culprit? Both the ball joint and tie rod seems old / worn out to me.
(And obviously leaking grease)

 

only way to find out of they're "worn" is if you lift the truck by the control arm and move the tire to check for play. watch to the end. mainly after half way.

 

also, its difficult to see the lower balljoint. best way to check this is by lifting the tire while it's jacked up at the control arm.

and your tie rods look fine, honestly. little leaky, so replace them relatively soon. just not that important.

 

It's identical to the noise before just on opposite side, which was fixed by replacing the two parts. I'm assuming that's the issue. They are in fact worn.

 

How did those duralast ball joints hold up?

 

I'm getting the same sound from my passenger side... at first I thought it was my CV boot or axle but now I'm pretty sure it's the lower ball joints. They look pretty bad. Lol.

 

Just got finished replacing my lower ball joint on the passenger side. It was making the exact same noise. Almost sounds like someone dragging fingernails on a chalk board. All good now. I had everything else inspected. I thought it would be my Wheel Bearings and I was in error.