So for the longest time I've had a squeak when going over bumps, most people wouldn't care; I am not most people. In fact to call it a squeak is far too benign, it's the kind of insanity inducing screech that infects your brain with its banshee like shrill. Speed bumps become bastions of embarrassment as you garner the neighborhood's scornful glare indicating displeasure with your ability to ruin the bustling monotony of their daily lives with your infernal squeaking. I'm sure even the 4Runner is having its own laugh at my expense, as if to say "so much for being a good mechanic you can't even find a simple squeak!" Its been a haunting experience that makes you feel like your driving you're great granddad's beat up old Chevy that sounds like its going to fall apart should it hit even a pebble rather than a powerful, stout, and capable 4WD 4Runner. Of course, I might be blowing this slightly out of proportion, and/or lost the last shred of sanity that kept me grounded in reality as a result of this squeaking...

In all seriousness though, its a pretty loud squeaking noise that is heard from the front suspension mainly going over speed bumps, ditches, and/or potholes; driving over the reflectors in the road and driveways doesn't seem to be a big deal. It seems to occur on both upward and downward travel of the front suspension when you compress them a decent amount. I've narrowed it down to the driver's side (we have a those split-up speed bumps so I can have only one wheel get suspension travel to help isolate the noise further), but I can't see anything that seems out of place.

The 4Runner has a ShrockWorks Bumper, Overland Warehouse 2.5" Radflo Suspension Lift, 33" Nitto Terra Grapplers on Stock Sport Edition Rims. I have 1/4" spacers to drop the factory skid plate down (it makes a knocking noise otherwise because of the swaybar relocation brackets drop the swaybar lower) and I tried running without the front skid plates with no relief from the noise. The lower ball joints look pretty good and I don't see any reason to suspect them, tie rod ends also look similarly good; I really can't see any evidence of the metal on metal squeaking noise I keep hearing.

Here's a list of what I have done already:

-Old SPC Upper Control Arms & upper ball joints just replaced due to premature bushing failure (brand new Delrin bushings in this version and they were greased properly when I installed them)
-Brand new Moog Swaybar links, both driver's and passenger's side
-Not the skid plate (as mentioned earlier)
-Sprayed Teflon on the Sway Bar Bushing, no change in noise
-Sprayed Teflon on the Upper & Lower Heim Joints of the Radflo shocks with no change in pitch

So I was hoping maybe someone ran into this before or something?

My OW 2.0 squeaked pretty badly and led to me swapping it for the old 5100 & bilstein setup. No more squeaks. First I ditched the LR UCAs but that didn't help at all, next went the COs and it was gone.

I've seen some threads here and there about how a lot of adjustable COs with heims instead of poly bushings are just gonna do that. I talked to other members who complained of clunking rather than squeaking with the OW/Radflo setup, but I think both noises boil down to there being metal on metal rubbing constantly.

I tried hitting the upper and lower heim joints on the Driver's Side CoilOver assembly with Teflon Spray, but the noise didn't even change in pitch or quiet down. I'm not saying it couldn't be the coilovers (in fact I do actually suspect them a little as heim joints tend to be noisy like this as they age) but the Teflon spray should have at least quieted it somewhat.

I wonder if I can replace just the heim joints with greasable ones, I know you can get some that have hollow bolts with grooves machined for zerk fittings.

I know what you mean, I tried spraying mine with a few things... Nothing silenced it but pulling the COs, I also installed new greasable sway bar links before removing them.

I suppose it's like a banjo bolt? That would be cool if it's durable enough, I've never heard of those for this type of application.

This may sound somewhat extreme, but here it goes: I had a similar problem on my old mountaineer. Kept squealing for weeks, but rain lessened the noise (at first). My old mechanic couldn't figure it out and told me that as long as nothing was broken, there wasn't a problem (that's why he's my old mechanic). I finally had enough and removed the passenger wheel to find a thin line, about 4 inches long, of chipped paint running along the outside of that spring with exposed rust on the coil. It was a hairline fracture in the coil which rubbed when compressed. Sorry for the long story, but I would have never thought of that if it hadn't happened to me

Thanks for the opening paragraph! I have a squeak that's come back and I'm sure some people will say it's the poly SPC bushings but I don't agree. I'm going to attack it again soon but here's what I did in the past. Since it goes away when the under carriage is wet I took a water spray bottle and hit a suspect area, test drove, tried a new suspect area, test drove,over and over again to locate where it is. Last time I eliminated all of the front suspension which was frustrating. Then, out of frustration more than anything else, I sprayed the hinge side of the driver's door, test drove again and much to my surprise the squeak was gone, a small metal on metal of the body panels was the cause.

Friend of mine had a similar squeak from the front of her Tacoma, turned out it was the LBJ that was squeaking.

Good luck on your quest!

I had a terrible front end squeak and it also turned out to be LBJ's... It happened going over speedbumps and potholes, but not on the smaller stuff.

OP, sending full sympathies and moral support your way. I too get driven up a wall with interior noises and rattles and squeaks. Hope you hunt down this squeak and destroy it without mercy, even as it begs forgiveness. Shoot it in the head.

I feel your pain in both the noise itself and the fact that it drives you crazy. I'm having the exact same issue. Mine too is isolated to the driver's side and under moderate compression.

While my truck was lifted higher, I never noticed a squeek and i'm guessing it was due to the increased force required to make it compress the right amount to squeek given the preloaded coilovers. However, now that i've since lowered it, the softer and more easily compressed ride squeeks all the time.

I have LR UCAs as well and haven't updated the bushings to the latest version so I just assumed it was that. However, my coilovers are older as well so it could be the heims themselves..or even my LBJs as my drivers side always has a nice layer of squished grease coming out (albeit very little but still). Fun stuff....

I agree with it being the radflo set up. My OW 2.0 kit makes same noise. I can especially hear it when going slow and when the weather has been cold (a lot this winter). I am also going 5100s soon as I think the suspension is overkill for anything I would do with my 4r. Its a really wonderful suspension but I just dont need this much and I would love a quieter ride when I change it out.

I was also wondering if it had anything to do with mine being set lower. I didn't notice it when I first set it up but had since lowered it and the winter set in. I also swapped out the OW rear coils for some FJ ones so I am sure the rears are also not getting their just exercise and result in some squeaky breathing as well.

Can anyone else chime in? DO i just need to raise it up and my sounds will quit.

Yeah, I tried looking for body panels and stuff that may be scraping my bumper or loose panels... All I found so far is that my headlamps are slightly loose since removed the bottom bolt on the headlamps (but nothing worth worrying about.)

Can you reproduce the sound yourself by moving it up and down?

Fellow members of the Forum, rejoice! For today is a monumental day in the history of automotive excellence, never before today has a feat of such magnitude and sheer awe inspiring gravitas been achieved! The Black Beast no longer squeaks like the meek chihuahua being punted for a field goal in your living room! No my friends, the hellish banshee screech no longer haunts me as I conquer the towering asphalt obstacles foolishly placed in my path in a misguided attempt to thwart my desire to not crawl along like an arthritic grandmother. No longer is the awesome sight of my metallic juggernaut leaping over the soaring heights of the sidewalk curb accompanied by the pitiful mewling of a kitten. Nay my friends! each bump, each sidewalk curb, and each driveway ramp silently succumbs to the awesome sound of eight pistons thundering away as this hulking mechanical magnificence lays waste to the asphalt nation's pitiful attempts to hinder my progress with nary a peep from its stalwart suspension!

~

So I had some time after work today and took out the Radflos, threw them in my part wash machine and scrubbed them down really well. Went ahead and cleaned out the Heim Joints really well, dried them out, and then used some Teflon spray to lube them up. Wiped up the excess and put it all back together and went for a test drive, lo and behold the noise is gone! Granted this is only temporary until the Heims get severely contaminated again, at which point I think I will just find a new set and press the old ones out, followed by installing a Heim Joint boot. But for now, the 4Runner is relatively quiet when going over bumps.

So in if anyone ends up having a similar issue with their aftermarket suspension that uses Heim Joints for the lower Shock mount, I suggest removing the whole coil-over and cleaning it really well and hitting it up with some graphite or Teflon spray as a temporary measure. As a permanent fix I would go with new Heims and a boot as I will most likely go when the times comes.