Hey guys!

I've had an issue with figuring out where this squealing is coming from when I turn my wheel left and right. I've attached a video to it. This noise only happens during the summer when temperatures are over 90 and happens more when temps are 100+. I've greased my lower ball joints and upper control arms and cant pinpoint where the noise is coming from.

2000 Toyota 4Runner squealing noise when turning - YouTube

Any input is appreciated!

Sounds like the outer tie rods to me. I had a similar noise and that’s what it turned out to be

This is a video I took at the time. Sounds pretty similar to me

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It probably won't fix your noise but I'd get some new rack bushings asap.

Yeah lol I’ll second that. Lots of movement from the rack in the video


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Try using a mechanic's stethoscope to pinpoint where the noise is loudest from.

And your steering rack boots are loose and sliding all over the place. Looks like the whole steering system needs some work.

Apologies, you thought it was just one thing needing fixing and now you've got three. Outer tie rods ends are not a hard job at all. Sway bar bushings though, they are a fight. The bolts don't like to come out but your 4Runner looks pretty rust free so you might get lucky. Also, some aftermarket rack bushings won't press back in so you may have to trim and taper the leading edge to get them started. Ran into that with a friend's 4Runner earlier in the year.

Oh and you'll need an alignment after doing the OTREs, if that is indeed the cause of the squeal.

Something making that much noise seems like you would be able to feel where that squeal is from if you had someone turning your wheel while you layed under there holding on to different points.
Is it happening on both sides?

literal first thing I noticed!

Got a stethoscope and gonna try to pinpoint it in the morning. It sounds like its just from the drivers side. The passenger side has an aftermarket Outer tie rod and i greased it, but the drivers side looks to have an OEM and the boot looks good but flabby when i wiggle it around. Got some energy suspension steering rack bushings on order.

What do y'all recommend I do about the inner tie rod boots?

Have you freshened up the fluid in the power steering reservoir? It may not be related, but cheap and easy if you do the turkey baster suction technique. It certainly cannot hurt and could give you a clue. There is good advice on line how to purge any trapped air from the system. Trapped air can cause noise like you describe.
Good luck.

Ok, so the noise is coming from both sides it seems but loudest on the driers side, and the stethoscope is loudest when i would put the end on the spindle and equally as loud when it was on the metal dust shield behind the brakes. The outer tie rod did vibrate a little bit when the steering wheel was turning, should they?

Also, when I got both hands on the sway bar (near the drivers side) and pushed and pulled i could hear the squeal ever so slightly. I have energy suspension poly bushings and end link bushings that are in good shape and i greased them and the sound seemed to go down just a tad. This noise has been happening for 3 years and only makes an appearance when temps are above 95 (in the summer).

Greased them as in removed the brackets and put grease on the surface that touches the bar? Or just smeared a little on the edges? If greasing them reduced the noise, then maybe more grease is needed?

The OTRE shouldn't vibrate when moving but you might be feeling the rack or steering pump vibrations coming all the way through the steering system. Can't say I've held one with the engine on.

Unfortunately the only way to do the tie rods/rack and pinion boots is to remove the outer tie rods ends from the lower ball joints. You might be able to finangle them off with the OTRE still attached without separating them from the inner tie rod ends. Either way, loosen the lock nut between the OTRE and ITRE first before you disconnect the OTRE from the ball joints as once off, you'll never get that lock nut loose and have to put it all back together again just to loosen it. If you can get the boots off then just remember to tighten it up real good before you are finished. If you can avoid having to take the OTREs off you can get away with doing this job without an alignment but once you take them off you'll have to get the vehicle aligned.

While you have the OTREs disconnected check that the studs moves with some effort in the ball joint. If it just flops around with almost no effort the joint has play and will need replacing. If it's extremely tight and almost impossible to move by hand then the grease has dried up and also needs to be replaced. Same goes with your INTEs. If after disconnecting the OTREs and you let go and the tie rods just flop straight down very loosely then the INTE needs to be replaced. There's videos out there that will demonstrate this well as it's hard to describe by writing about it.

Ok so after everything it turned out to just be the upper control arms (camburg uniballs) were dry and needed lube. I had been using a dry PFTE lube in a can ($15 a can) as the company suggests and I just switched to tri-flow dry lube (liquid in a bottle) and that fixed the ear shrieking groan when turning immediately. Hope this helps someone down the road. Thanks for all the suggestions otherwise, ive purchased some new rack bushings thanks to yall.