Tinks, Squeeks and Rattles..Annoying

[jorgensensc]

Hey guys and gals. I've got a few questions for y'all about some tinks and squeeks occuring on my truck. In order to keep this short I will abbreviate explanations.

(1) There is a squeek in the front passenger side suspension. I've greased every fitting I can Find. It only squeeks on compression and decompression (up and down). I don't think it's the tie rods, and I just replaced all body bushings with new energy suspension. Could it be the ball joints? If so, upper or lower?

(2) I've got a strange tink tink noise that occurs when I put the truck in drive, reverse, etc. I crawled underneath while someone else shifted and it's not te shift linkage. It totally sounds like it is comeing from inside the middle of the driveshaft. any ideas, maybe strange acoustics. By the way it only happens when the truck is running. By the way it is a 350 tranny.

(3) There is a lot of gear noise that sounds like it is comeing from the tranny. The tranny works great, shifts between gears fine, and I have plenty of clean fluid. Any ideas.

(4) And the last thing is the steering column. I have the bracket that goes under the column on the dash bezel, but there is a 1/2" gap showing through. I can lower the column to where it looks right without the gap, but I don't know what to use as a spacer between the column and the top brace it bolts up against. Also the automatic column shifter is EXTREMELY hard to shift between park and drive and reverse etc. any ideas??

I know this post is long, but these things are driveing me nuts!!! Thanks for any ideas!!!!

[O'l Buck]

As far as the suspension, could be missing or deteriorated rubber pads on the coil springs (assuming it's a 2wd). The click you're getting from the driveshaft could be either U- joints, carrier bearing, or backlash in the ring and pinion. The gear noise is most likely from the rear differential and is carrying up the driveshaft. The hard shift in your column is probably due to misalignment, or may just need cleaned and oiled. It's been quite a while since I pulled a column from one of these trucks, but I don't remember any spacers in the mounting plates, or a 1/2" gap. you might take the bolts out of the bracket and see if someone shimmed it down because they were short or something.

[jorgensensc]

Thanks O'l Buck, funny you should mention the rear differential. I pulled the rear cover off and got all of about 1/2 cup of gear oil out of it. I cleaned it up, resealed it and added fluid. No leaks now. Everything inside looked good, with no metal flakes or chipped teeth. I can't seem to find any misalignment of the linkage, but none of my other trucks ave ever shifted this hard. I will check on the coil spring bushings, I didn't think of that. Do ball joints make noise when they go bad? How can you tell if they go bad? Thanks again for all of your knowledge and help.

[O'l Buck]

I suppose a ball joint could squeak, but usually they clunk when you make a corner. On the linkage thing, what I should have put was if the column is 1/2" lower than it is supposed to be, it is probably binding the linkage.

[JayDubBlazer]

For number 2 drop the drive shaft and and see if it is still making the sound. if not it is the drive shift and you could take it to a driveshaft shop to have is checked out. I know how the creaks and noise can drive you crazy. Every time I hear anything in my truck I get apprehensive and start to check everything. Problem is everything in it makes noise.

[J.Lance]

You said you replaced all the bushings with Energy? If they are polyurethane bushings, they will squeak. Going back to rubber might help or drill in some grease zerks. I've been able to fix hard shifting columns in about 15 seconds. Put a towel on the floor and spray in some WD40 where the shift handle comes out. Saturate it while moving the lever back and forth through the gears. I've had 100% success doing this with no linkage adjustments of any kind.

[SWEET7T]

#2
The first place I would go is for the u-joints.

#3
For your gear noise... Is this a "whirring" sound? Is it constant with your engine speed or your driveshaft speed? Does it do it in every gear, or just one?
I had a whirring sound on mine, which turned out to be my center support bearing on my drive shaft.

#4
You said that your linkage isn't binding. Try disconnecting the linkage from the tranny; is it still hard to shift? Hopefully that will help narrow down the cause.

[jorgensensc]

Thanks for all of the input! The energy suspension parts are not squeaking, I was very careful not to over torque them. I also greased them all thouroghly with chassis grease and I also found out the black bushings are impregnated with graphite (so they say). Yes the noise is a whirring noise. Sounds almost like loud tires, but is more consistant with pressing and releasing of the throttle. The drive shaft appears to have a lot of vertical play in the center support bearing, but the u-joints and the rest of the driveshaft don't have any play in them at all. How much play should be in the center support. It looks like it is only rubber, Is there a piece missingin the middle?
J.Lance I will definately try the WD-40, I will also didsengage the linkage and let you know about that too sweet7t. Any more ideas would be appreciated. I will let you know what I figure out tonight!! Thanks again.

[mtdave2]

you poor guy! those kinds of things can make a guy sell his truck!~

[jorgensensc]

mtdave2, are you trying to give me a subtle message??

[john]

Also squirt WD-40 around the lever on the bottom of the column.

[O'l Buck]

There should be very little play in the carrier bearing. Don't plan on changing it in 15 minutes........the last one I changed, I had to take the driveshaft to work with me and press the bearing off.