Creaky bushings driving me crazy

[df909]

Hey Guys- I have a 2002 Dodge Dakota Quadcab and there's a creaking sound every time I go over a bump or dip. I'm assuming it's the bushings.

What can I do to shut them up? Can I spray some sort of lubricant on them? If so, what type?

Thanks very much.

 

[rbh]

Re: Creaky bushings driving me crazy

Try some silicon spray, or graphite.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Creaky bushings driving me crazy

Have you found out where the noise is coming from? have someone bounce on the bumper corners while you are under the truck listening.

Have the ball joints in the front suspension ever been replaced? There was a recall for certain Dakota's/Durango's because of bad balljoints, though I don't think they would squeek, it's usually a popping noise.

Oh yeah, if it's bushings, silicone grease will shut them up,,, but you will need to take things apart to grease the bushings.

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Creaky bushings driving me crazy

It might sound crazy, but I used brake fluid on the front suspension bushings of my 90 Cavalier for this purpose. Hey it was cheap, and my dad had plenty of it. I little squirt per bushing (lower contral arm and sway bar) was all it required.

 

[mommicked]

Re: Creaky bushings driving me crazy

brake fluid will damage paint and some plastics i believe.it may have melted some of the bushing as it cleaned it.causeing the melted stuff to act like a lubricant,i think silicone would be better.silicone grease came w a polyurethane? bushing set for my leaf springs and swaybar bushings.it was thick as heck and must be put on before installing the bushings.

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Creaky bushings driving me crazy

No paint on the lower control arms of many vehicles, nor much (any) plastic down there to be eaten. Worked fine for 5 years, no ill effects. If I had actually had silicone or something like that, I may have used it.

 

[dlindeblad]

Re: Creaky bushings driving me crazy

oddly enough I had a similar problem with my Mazda CX-9 creaking in the front when going over un-even surfaces or pulling up into a raised driveway. After investigating the noise I narrowed it down to the struts. I put the car up on jack stands to let the strut expand, lifted up the dust boot, and noticed a white bump stop that stides up and down the strut shaft. I squirted some white lithium grease on the top of the stop and slide it up and down on the shaft. I did this 5 months ago and am still squeak/groan free.

 

[CN Spots]

Re: Creaky bushings driving me crazy

My old '79 Capri did this. I always used PB Blaster. It seemed to creep better that the silicone.

My step-father went one further on his cars and drilled and tapped the suspect bushing and installed zerk fittings so that he could grease them.

 

[dolluper]

Re: Creaky bushings driving me crazy

Lower ball joints can creek or rusty spring seats

 

[df909]

Re: Creaky bushings driving me crazy

Thanks for all the advice. I sprayed a bit of WD40 on anything that looked like a bushing and the noise is almost gone.

 

[Kaplooi]

Re: Creaky bushings driving me crazy

If your front suspension and drivetrain setup is similar to 4WD Blazers you might have something similar to what I had on my Bravada. It was a bad bushing squeak from the upper and lower control arm bushings, so I started with the silicone spray, which didn't work and eventually replaced them but it still squeaked. This annoyed me to say the least but it didn't go away until I replaced the upper and lower ball joints (which themselves were not making any noise). All I can figure is that the extra give from those failing joints put enough stress on the bushings to make them extra tight and squeak. In retrospect I'd say that just because you can get the noise to go away with lubricant doesn't mean you don't have other components that could be on their way out. You might want to at least give your ball joints a look, especially if there was a ball joint related recall. Always a good thing when the wheels stay connected to the vehicle.