james1

I have recently developed a squeak on my front passenger side. It occurs only while moving (at any speed) with any minor or major vibration, bump, etc. I can replicate the noise by grabbing the front bumper on the passenger side and moving the truck up and down.

I sprayed the front leaves thoroughly with chain lube and I am religious about greasing every Zerk fitting at every oil change. Nothing so far has helped. Could this be the shock absorber squeaking? Would a cracked cowl squeak with very minor movement?

It's quite annoying to say the least.

Thanks in advance.

james1

Has anyone ever experienced a squeaky shock?

TIA

GIT-R-DONE

I would take the shock off and see if you can do it by hand, and try and move the truck as you stated before. see what happens. At least you could eliminate it if it still makes the noise

bannerd

Could be the bushings in the springs as well.. or the leafs are rubbing. There is a section in the how to on installing poly inserts.

james1

Thanks. If shock absorber squeak is indeed a possibility then I should definitely try your suggestion. Unfortunately, I am running mono-tube shocks that are quite stiff; getting the shock off the mounting bolt is not too bad but recompressing it to get it back in place is a bear.

Has anyone ever experienced a squeaky shock?


Thank you. I greased both front leaf springs completely (including the shackles) with chain lubricant. Surely if the squeaking were from the springs I would have noticed some diminution in the noise level?



Thanks to all. I remain curious if a cracked cowl could cause squeaking from tiny movements in the truck body?

james1

Okay; I'll give this query one more try before I abandon. If you have any relevant experience, please weigh in -- it will be appreciated.

1. Has anyone ever experienced a squeaking shock absorber?
2. Will a cracked cowl squeak upon very minor truck movement?
3. Could my Kelderman airbag be squeaking?

TIA

Oldblue813

Well I am not sure if this is considered the "cowl" or not, BUT I had a squeak that drove me nuts like that. It would squeak when I got in the truck, driving, just about anything would make it squeak. I found mine on the inside of my drivers side fender, In that section of the sheet metal where the firewall is exposed. It looks like its where the sheet metal is folded over to make the corner right below the cowl. Either way it had actually split and and was rubbing together as the suspension and body was moving.

james1

That sounds like my problem. Thanks much.

What did you do to fix it?

Oldblue813

Well luckly my Dad and I both a First Gen's fellows, and we're big DIY'ers too, took a die grinder (something small enough to get inside that small area) and grind the slit the best we could. Then I took a wire welder and was able to lay a decent bead on the split, so far its held. But if you don't have access to these the easy thing to do would be to be sure the split was rubbing against the opposite side. Bending one of the tabs to ensure that it's not rubbing the other side. But the best fix of course is the welding... hope it fixes your problem.

james1

The squeak disappeared as quickly as it had started -- without me doing a thing to the truck other than a normal lube. Go figure.