Creaking and Rubbing Noises in Front

[Seattle206]

I'm getting a creaking/rubbing noise coming from my front suspension. I hear it especially when driving at parking lot speeds; turning left/right and when I am braking/accelerating at times. Sound is not metal to metal but more like rubber bushings. Noise started when I got an alignment on 3/19/17 to increase caster.

I did install JBA UCA's a week prior to the alignment but there was zero noise. Greased up all the UCA bushings and BJ with Mobil1 Synthetic red grease. JBA UCA's are BJ and use OEM style bushings. I had my truck lifted for over 2 years with a high clearance steel bumper and front skid on oem UCA and Bilstein/OME suspension. Never experienced any previous creaking/rubbing noises.

I sprayed some white lithium grease on the UCA/LCA/Sway bushings and I re-tightened all the bolts in the surrounding areas. Tie rods are good. Creak is still there. Rig is a 2014 with 32k.

I think the culprit are the UCA's. I'm going to unload the suspension, loosen the long bolts and put some more grease on the washer/bushing areas. Then tighten everything back up under load. If this doesn't solve it then I'm at a loss.

Any other ideas? Thanks.

 

[fubar]

I struggles with this for almost two years and multiple trips to dealer and suspension shop. Out of shear frustration in had my wife shake the truck while I lithium grease sprayed everything that moved.

While is was under the truck, the noise seemed to be coming from higher. Popped the hood and the noise stopped. Cleaned and greased the hinges, struts and the latch. Sound gone. Seems it is a mis-aligned latch in my case. Carry the spray with me in case it returns.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[Seattle206]

I wish it was just the hinges. It's coming from the suspension. I can sometimes "feel" the creak as it vibrates to the steering wheel. I'm gonna take my time on Saturday to figure this out.

 

[Ol'Baditude]

Do you have skid plates installed? That's where my mystery creaking noise was coming from. Nothing was loose enough to rattle, but ever so loose enough to give off a god awful creaking sound when ever I did anything to flex the frame(typically pulling in and out of parking spaces or flexing the suspension at low speeds).
Tightened up all the bolts on the underbelly skids as well as the LCA skids and silence.
Slight chance it is coming from the UCA if you have an exposed uniball design. My tech once got some brake cleaner in there by accident and it caused a horrible creaking sound when turning the wheel. A shot of tri-flow in each solved that issue.

 

[weeeee]

I wish it was just the hinges. It's coming from the suspension. I can sometimes "feel" the creak as it vibrates to the steering wheel. I'm gonna take my time on Saturday to figure this out.

I had a mystery squeak coming from my suspension a while back. Had a buddy jump up and down while I tried to pinpoint where it was. Ended up feeling a vibration in the UCAs that coincided with the squeak. Loosened up the bolt and wiped it down, put new grease in and it was gone.

Try not to overlube that bushing. If it has grease zerks you need to loosen the bolt before you lube it so the bushing doesn't retain too much grease and pushes out the excess when you tighten.

 

[WODWorldWide]

I have this same creak that started after my lift (about a year after). I know my lower control arm bushings are pretty much shot. I need to replace them soon and I figure that is where its coming from. Let me know if you find out differently.

Also, for greasing your bushings, are you unbolting anything or just spraying around it all in place?

 

[Seattle206]

I just sprayed all the bushings: UCA, LCA, Sway with some lithium spray. I will unbolt the UCA this weekend, regrease and reinstall. See if that will solve it.

 

[CT_NGO]

Off topic

I'm getting a creaking/rubbing noise coming from my front suspension. I hear it especially when driving at parking lot speeds; turning left/right and when I am braking/accelerating at times. Sound is not metal to metal but more like rubber bushings. Noise started when I got an alignment on 3/19/17 to increase caster.

I did install JBA UCA's a week prior to the alignment but there was zero noise. Greased up all the UCA bushings and BJ with Mobil1 Synthetic red grease. JBA UCA's are BJ and use OEM style bushings. I had my truck lifted for over 2 years with a high clearance steel bumper and front skid on oem UCA and Bilstein/OME suspension. Never experienced any previous creaking/rubbing noises.

I sprayed some white lithium grease on the UCA/LCA/Sway bushings and I re-tightened all the bolts in the surrounding areas. Tie rods are good. Creak is still there. Rig is a 2014 with .

I think the culprit are the UCA's. I'm going to unload the suspension, loosen the long bolts and put some more grease on the washer/bushing areas. Then tighten everything back up under load. If this doesn't solve it then I'm at a loss.

Any other ideas? Thanks.

How do you like the Bilstein and Ome spring setup? What spring rate did you do? How much lift did you get?

 

[Seattle206]

-All bolts are torqued to factory spec
-No contact with sway bar hitting the coils
-All skids are tight and snug
-No visible signs of any parts contacting each other


So I decided to empty out my entire can of CRC White Lithium spray onto every bushing and joint in the front end. Did a few hard acceleration/brake in Drive and Reverse. Noticed the "creaking" noise reduce each time. I'm suspecting the creaking was coming from my rearward LCA bushings.

I'd always ran 1.9-2.5 caster with my OEM UCAs for over 2 years but since I installed aftermarket High Caster UCAs last week I had the shop do an alignment getting me 4.3/4.4 caster. I am curious if such a dramatic increase of caster and forward movement of the LCA made had bushings making this noise.

 

[Lightenup_bro]

-All bolts are torqued to factory spec
-No contact with sway bar hitting the coils
-All skids are tight and snug
-No visible signs of any parts contacting each other....

Have you checked the splash guards in the wheel well? I had squeaking, creaking from there and a little two sided foam tape on the clips and all is well now.

Easy thing to check just move it with you hand and you should be able to recreate the noise if it is the culprit.

 

[Seattle206]

Yeah, I had that annoying squeak from the splash guard back when the rig was new. Solved it with a zip tie.

Since I sprayed the crap out of my LCA bushings the noise did go away. Will see how long this will last. When I was getting this creak I could feel the vibrations in the steering wheel at times.

Edit* Creak is still there but not as evident. Will take a grease needle to put heavier duty multi-purpose grease in those bushings.

 

[Seattle206]

Upon further inspection. LCA bolts are loose. I can turn them with an open face wrench without too much force.

 

[Roborunner888]

[MENTION=117117]Seattle206[/MENTION], so it was the loose LCA bolt that was the source of your creaking noise?

i am having front left creaking noise also after icon stage 2 lift. Thanks.

 

[JReynolds311]

Front left squeak

I'm so glad I found this thread. My OEM setup had been squeaking at low speeds with lateral motion, like pulling into driveway. Dealer spent 2 separate days trying to find it before giving up and telling me is the struts. So instead of their OEM parts, I went to 4 Wheel Parts and got adjustable Bilsteins and new TRD rims with 275 KO2s to boot...
Anyway, squeak still there. I'm ready to rip my hair out trying to find this

 

[JReynolds311]

Upon further inspection. LCA bolts are loose. I can turn them with an open face wrench without too much force.

Hoping you can verify the LCA bolts fixed your problem

 

[Seattle206]

Yes, it was the loose LCA bolts. I may sure they are torques to 129ft/lbs every time i visit an alignment shop. I re-torque them when I get home.

 

[CptAwesome]

Yes, it was the loose LCA bolts. I may sure they are torques to 129ft/lbs every time i visit an alignment shop. I re-torque them when I get home.

Your symptoms are exactly like mine, so I am assuming I have the same issue. Did the creaking come back, or is it still gone?

Can I tighten the bolts under load, or does the vehicle need to be off the ground?

And to confirm, the LCA bolts are the ones in this diagram that are indicated by the 129 ft/lbs torque spec?

Thank you so much for the help.

 

[lukeskywalker]

Are you sure?

Are you SURE it's not the hood latch?

I think this problem has been going around the forum forever. It's almost always ending up to be the hood latch.

Try pressing up and down the driver side front corner (head light) to get the 4runner to bounce up and down to recreate the sound.

I'd say 8/10 times, most people find out that it's the latch all along.


***** NVM...just read the last posts...but to others reading this, if you have a similar issue...check out the hood latch.

 

[mc813]

Recently my 2015 has developed a creaking sound in the driver's front when going over parking garage ramp transitions and the like (not straight on, but at an angle). Rocking the car doesn't recreate the sound, not does pushing down on the driver's front fender. Got underneath and sprayed connection points with WD40, but still seems to be there, maybe a little less pronounced. The dealer wants $150 to even take a look at it but recommended spraying some silicone lubricant on the spring top hats. Will report back once I've tried that.

 

[phx4rnr]

Mine has been squeaking really bad lately. Took it in and
It’s coming from the lca bushings. They’re being replaced hopefully next week. I also had the noise from the hood latch for a looooong time. Didn’t realie what it was till doing some research on the lca bushings. I sprayed some triflo on the latch and rotated the bump stops for the hood up a couple turns and that sound went away.