Sound that I would describe as “grunting” from the front end, I’m not sure if it’s specific to turning, or if one wheel is raised and lowered by going

[william wixon]

Sound that I would describe as “grunting”, it’s not a squeak, I can never tell if this occurs because of turning or because the one of the front tires has gone over a bump, or maybe a combination of both. I can’t tell if it’s a rubber-on-steel sound, or if it could be… I have no idea… ball joints!? This has been going on for quite a while, and I really would love to understand what it is and fix it.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Sound that I would describe as “grunting”, it’s not a squeak, I can never tell if this occurs because of turning or because the one of the front tires has gone over a bump, or maybe a combination of both. I can’t tell if it’s a rubber-on-steel sound, or if it could be… I have no idea… ball joints!? This has been going on for quite a while, and I really would love to understand what it is and fix it.

Jack it up and get the weight off the wheels, start grabbing stuff and see if anything loose or binding.

Sometimes a low tire will make that noise to if your turning stopped or slowly on pavement.

What year is the truck? 2 or4wd?

 

[william wixon]

Thanks, sorry, it’s a 2005 ranger edge, 2 Wheel drive

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Thanks, sorry, it’s a 2005 ranger edge, 2 Wheel drive

Check what i mentioned and report back

 

[sgtsandman]

The last time I had that, it was an outer tie rod end on one side and a lower ball joint on the other. You basically have 6 different ball joints that could be making the noise (Left and right upper, left and right lower, and left and right outer tie rod ends) and if none of them are worn enough to give any when working the suspension, troubleshooting what is bad can be difficult.

Look for holes or tears in the boots. That will give you an indicator. Sometimes the boot will separate from the joint as well.

 

[ekrampitzjr]

This used to be a common Ford trait. It's probably the ball joints drying out and making noise. Some mechanics, after making sure the joints were still sealed, would pierce the boot with something like an awl and inject grease to quiet the noise for a while. It worked on my Escort and I never did have to replace the ball joints on that car.