Loud creaking when turning
 

Hope someone can help me on this. I just replaced all the upper and lower ball joints, tie rods, springs, and shocks (3" drop) and I'm getting very loud creaking when I turn the wheel. I have pumped them full of grease but still it sounds like binding ball joints. I have noticed that after jacking it up off the ground and setting it back down it seems to get better, but returns after driving. Anybody had this problem?

Re: Loud creaking when turning
 

Yeah, you have a bad balljoint. The best way to isolate this is to knock out the outer tie rod ends and with the front jacked up see witch side is difficult to turn. I just had this on a 06 crew cab Z71. I had my guy put in balljoints and he had trouble with one I told him it was crooked but of course nobody seems to listen at my shop i told him to press it back out and start over but he didn't listen and that one wheel you could almost not even turn the thing. I may be in a little crooked did you have more trouble on any one balljoint getting it in? Check that one first, then the others but one is in a bind. Jim

Re: Loud creaking when turning
 

Thanks, Jim! Had no problems installing the ball joints. I was hoping I might be able to figure it out without pulling things apart, though I know that's not likely. What I found strange was that when the weight is off the wheels, There's no detectable resistance (manual steering, btw), and no noise.

Re: Loud creaking when turning
 

If it is creaking that bad you can have some one put their hand on the joint as you turn the tire to feel the vibration. That way you'll know which one it is.

Re: Loud creaking when turning
 

a quick check for ball joints. is to raise the front and man handle the tire.. put one hand on top and the other on bottom and wiggle. there should not have excessive play. noises. ect. u can also use a pry bar on bottom to wiggle the tire. but sould feel nice a firm no play.check both tires.. and i would also double check my self. on my tie rods where the same length. when I took them off... :mm:

Re: Loud creaking when turning
 

A bound up ball joint won't show any wiggle at all because it is bound up! Hugger6933 has it right, so put weight on wheels, get your friend, your wife, your child to operate the steering while you check the ball joints. The bound one is going to vibrate.

Re: Loud creaking when turning
 

Thanks! Tried that, but the vibration travels throughout the suspension, so I couldn't isolate it to one side or the other (yet).

Re: Loud creaking when turning
 

What about the ole u-joint going bad in the drive line. Has that been ruled out?

I have had that on many trucks.

Re: Loud creaking when turning
 

Yep, creaks when turning wheel with engine off.

Re: Loud creaking when turning
 

u could also use a floor jack on the tire. lift it a bit

Re: Loud creaking when turning
 

Also was the - 3" inch drop how u had it before..... . how has it done?. springs .spindles?

Re: Loud creaking when turning
 

Dropped with springs and shocks (CPP). It was stock before.

Re: Loud creaking when turning
 

ball joints and tie rods from 67 -70 are different in 71'72. im assuming that correct. now did u just buy the springs and shocks. or did u buy the kit with the lower tubular arms? / now springs are tricky. A old sping can sag over time... now 3 inch in front? well im not shure if someones running this set up. but someone can fill in.Any time .because im shure someone has this set up...What I think is if your running stock arms and stock spindle (seeing that they make a 2 1/2 drop spindle witch is used for proper ailment) is that u mite be binding on your stock spindel or tierod .it mite not take the drop......IN short I would swap springs back to stock hight and see if that cures the problem.. witch that involves disassembly... :smoke:

Re: Loud creaking when turning
 

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions! Been busy with other things, so I haven't been able to do much troubleshooting yet, but so far, it seems that the problem is with tie rod ends or steering gear. The vibration is strongest at the tie rods (feeling the tie rod ends and ball joints while a helper turns the wheel). Tonight I am going to disconnect tie rods and try turning the wheels by hand both loaded and unloaded.

I would love to hear from anyone who has installed the CPP 3" front drop using only the springs and shocks to be sure this is not purely a geometry issue.

Had ccp 3 inch drop springs and shocks on my truck when I got it and everything worked fine.
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Re: Loud creaking when turning
 

Thanks! Everything else (ball joints, control arms, etc.) stock?

Yes everything else was stock. It's on a c20 but I doubt that changes much. I did have some groaning when steering (not me) even after greasing what I thought was everything. But it turns out I missed the inner tierod ends. After I got those it was gone. It sounds as though you've got that covered though.
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Re: Loud creaking when turning
 

I have ,, no squeaks , but shocks were no good out of the box ,, dont see how that would relate to the issue you are having ,, I did replace the spindles at the time to mccallys ,, for disc brakes

Thanks again! This is great info. Gonna get into it again tonight.
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Re: Loud creaking when turning
 

Thanks!

Re: Loud creaking when turning
 

For the record, I got it fixed by replacing all the ball joints and control arm shafts/bushings with Moog parts. No more creaking, smooth as silk. All I can figure is bad part or parts the first time around. It pays to use the good stuff.