98 Ranger squeak noise in front when going over bumps

[bodkin1]

My present work truck, a 1998 Ranger Xcab with the coil spring front suspension makes a very annoying squeak noise every time I steer or drive over a bump. I have zeroed in on either the shocks or springs. I am leaning towards the springs, supposedly there is a rubber bushing on them that often goes bad?

 

[falcon7204]

Well...

My present work truck, a 1998 Ranger Xcab with the coil spring front suspension makes a very annoying squeak noise every time I steer or drive over a bump. I have zeroed in on either the shocks or springs. I am leaning towards the springs, supposedly there is a rubber bushing on them that often goes bad?

I had the same problem in the right front of my 99 Ranger (same coil spring front suspension). I always thought it was the control arm bushings. But one day while I was under the truck changing the oil, I grabbed the right front stabilizer link, and - lo and behold - it not only squeaked, but it wiggled, too. You might look at the stabilizer links - the stock Ford design is a 12-14" bolt that passes through a plastic (yes, plastic) sleeve that is fluted on either end, and hollow bushings that fit around the flutes. My right side needed to be retorqued (to 21 ft lbs), but the left side was, in a word, busted. One of the bushings had ruptured, and the bolt had actually backed out about a half-inch. To make matters worse, the plastic sleeve had basically welded itself to the bolt. It took a hacksaw, a can of PB Blaster, and a pair of Vise-Grips, but after about an hour and a half I finally got the old one off. I replaced it with an aftermarket link (galvanized steel bolt, brass sleeve, steel washers and SOLID bushings), and had to jack the side up about three inches to get it on, but once I did and test drove it, the difference was unbelievable. I still have a squeak on the right side, though - good thing I bought a pair of new links. (It also leveled the front end of the truck - at least now the left side is only 1/2" lower than the right.)

So, short story long, check your stabilizer links. They're the easiest thing to replace. The coil springs don't have any kind of bumper on them that would squeak like that. And it's doubtful the shocks would squeak like that. If it's not the links, check the control arm bushings. Hope that helps.

 

[06_FX4]

I have a 1998 XLT with coil springs and it has the same damn squeak. Luckily, I don't hear it all the time, just when I go over big bumps.
Once a mechanic convinced me the front sway bar bushings were causing it, so I replaced all of them with the polyurethane kind that you can lube. Still, the squeak remains....even after replacing the shocks, ball joints, rotors, etc... Mind you, I didn't replace these parts because of the squeak, they just wore out. I suspect it's in the control arm bushings, but spray lubing them doesn't seem to help much either, so, I dunno.....it's a mystery world.

 

[dancron]

My 05 does the same thing with a torsion bar front suspension. I'm pretty sure its the sway bar links, and it happened after I cranked the bars up 1". Me and my buddy put trans fluid on the A arm bushings because we thought that was the problem until we just started bouncing the truck and it was the sway bar links. Just crank your music up

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

that noise could come from worn out ball joints, or the sway bar links.
mine had it, but since i took the sway bar out its fairly quiet.
id did it badly when it had the ball joints shot.

 

[Bronston]

Fixed it

I know the thread is a bit old but it's what comes up at the top on google so I figured I'd share how I fixed the problem.

All I did was install grease zerks in everything, ball joints, tie rod ends, and control arm bushings. Just drill a hole right in the middle and shove a zerk in it. Squirt grease into it until it squirts out the ends, problem solved.

On the bushings I drilled through the center of the tube the bushing goes in from the bottom and through the bushing until I hit the bolt that goes through the arm. Put in the zerk and pumped grease until it came out either side of the bushing.

One note, you probably would have a lot easier time with this if you get a tap and actually tap the holes for the zerks. I just kind of shoved my zerks into the holes, half of them pulled out when I tried to pull the grease gun off, oh well, I'll just shove a new one in there if I ever need to grease them again.