What is this

[Ironman707]

I got my 4tunner this week and it's awesome but I can't seem to figure out what this noise is. It's the front left and it's squeaking, a lot, the truck rides smooth no shaking or anything. Here's a video to show you guys what I'm talking about. I'm not too familiar with suspensions so any help would be appreciated, thanks


http://youtu.be/QundEv9oLIE

 

[2014 Warthog]

My guess is upper and/or lower ball joint in the upper and/or lower control arms. Look at the boots at the top and bottom of the spindle if they are torn in any way, it's likely they may be dried out and worn. need to replace.

I base this on:
1) Squeaks exactly in line with up/down travel of arms/spindle
2) Squeaks when you turn the wheel even when not moving
3) Sounds like a worn ball joint

 

[Ironman707]

My guess is upper and/or lower ball joint in the upper and/or lower control arms. Look at the boots at the top and bottom of the spindle if they are torn in any way, it's likely they may be dried out and worn. need to replace.

I base this on:
1) Squeaks exactly in line with up/down travel of arms/spindle
2) Squeaks when you turn the wheel even when not moving
3) Sounds like a worn ball joint

Sounds expensive lol

 

[Wingsuit]

Shoot, I was all primed to look at a picture of some obscure part ...

 

[2014 Warthog]

Sounds expensive lol

Well it depends... lowers are generally easy, you can buy replacements yourself and have a mechanic install. not too bad at all. Uppers... I think you have to replace the entire upper A arm? Again you could buy yourself from like Camelback Toyota or other near wholesale parts dealer, would be more expensive to have installed. And in either case, an alignment might be in order when done as well.

A full dealer replacement of both parts might be stupidly expensive, but shopping around you can probably get it done surprisingly cheaply. It's not really a super hard thing to fix.

You SHOULD get it fixed though if one of the joints truly fails, it can be a disaster! (Though have a real mechanic verify what is actually wrong of course)

 

[Tooltime19]

Thats definitely u a combination of upper ball joints, lower ball joints and outer tie rod ends. I replaced mine at 115k miles of hot hard dry desert southwest fast off roading. My truck sounds and drives like new. I used all MOOG products. The upper ball joints can be pressed out and new units installed. You do not have to replace the whole arm. Plus the new ball joints from Moog are greasable.

 

[KidVermicious]

That looks like a 3rd gen. Don't even think of putting anything other than OEM ball joints on there, and do it soon. Like, tomorrow, because yours are shot. Google "4Runner LBJ failure" for motivation.

 

[trovergraywilson]

Follow-up: Just replaced shocks/struts on my 2002 and continue to hear a real quiet creaking when coming to/accelerating from a stop. As well, left front strut clicks a lot going over rougher pavement. LBJs and OTREs? Mechanic said everything looked tight, got underneath with him and checked but don't know enough to really confirm LBJs. First LBJ replacement was via recall on my girl back in... 2008, around 75K. OP, thanks, glad I read this.

 

[Ironman707]

Quick update:

I looked at the ball joints and they're all in good shape, outer tie rod was replaced by the previous owner and now that I look at it. The same side sags a bit so I measured it. The left side of the car is about 1.5" lower. My guess would be that the shocks are done. I was going to replace the ball joints with oem ones but they don't have any damage to it

Anyone know of some good shocks that won't break the bank, I'm not looking for a lift just the same oem look