Truck Thread: Squeaky front end.

Did you put the grease in the zerk? Looks like you either just slobbed it on or the boot is ripped.

Jack up truck wheel off of the ground. Put your hands at 12 and 6 and wiggle. If it moves, one of both of your ball joints is bad.

Then, spin the wheel around and listen for any noises. Grinding or small squealing could be your bearings.

While it is still up,see how much play your CV has in it. Look for rips in the boots also.


Car noises are extremely hard to diagnose over the internet. The way people describe noises also varies. That said, from what you describe, it sounds like CVs to me. Ball joints would just be rattling and clunking. When you turn, it puts different stresses on different points in much larger amounts.


Eta: Is it constant, intermittent, or just when you hit a bump while turning?

Is there slack in your steering wheel?

I figured you go fix it for him

That thing with boots on both sides that connects your axle to the hub is a CV

What I meant is does it squeak constantly when you turn, or is it just when you hit bumps and turn.

That sounds like it is gonna be further up there in the steering components. If you video it with your phone, post it on YouTube so we can hear it

It is a squeak and not a squeel, right? Like I said, noises are hard to explain, and harder to diagnose

Meauxjeaux2 would know what it was off of the top of his head, but as of now, I am just using the process of elimination. Eventually that one little piece of info will come through and it'll be obvious.

A video where you put your phone on the ground and turn it would be best. It ONLY happens when you are moving?

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if you just slapped some grease

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Thats what it looks like to me.

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Squeaky

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Silverado

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Typical

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Jack up truck wheel off of the ground. Put your hands at 12 and 6 and wiggle. If it moves, one of both of your ball joints is bad.

Then, spin the wheel around and listen for any noises. Grinding or small squealing could be your bearings.

While it is still up,see how much play your CV has in it. Look for rips in the boots also.

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Best piece of advice here. You have to find where the play is.

Or even better, you can jack up the entire front of your truck (use jack stands) and spin your steering wheel. The wheel will be much freer and you won't have extra noise from your tire grinding pavement. This may help you find the noise. Having a partner there to listen for the exact location of the noise would also help.

If the sound is there every time you turn the wheel, it shouldn't be hard to spot if you follow this process.

Um, might wanna wipe that off. It is just gonna be a mess when you try doing anything with it. Unless the boot is ripped, you can't get grease in there without a gun. I think they are only like $10 and a tube of grease is like $4. You probably have a bunch of greaseable joints, so it might not be a bad investment.

If it squeaks like that, it seems like it would be your pump. Check the fluid. Not common, but I am guessing you have bigger tires, and that would wear on them more.

Get down there and wiggle each and every ball joint. If there is play, replacement is in your near future. Having someone listen, even if it is your old lady helps because they can just point to what it is. It isn't your CV joints. A ball joint could just have a hole in a and be dried out. Who knows.

I am trying to think of something else that I know squeaks, but can't right now. I can hear it, but just can't think of what it is. It is a common thing on GM trucks that run in dusty conditions, but I can't remember


Eta: Looking back at that picture, it seems like your bushings are dry. Those could be what is squeaking. If that is the case, you can probably get new parts, or get a polyurethane bushing kit. It would sound like rubber if that was the case

Remembered what it was. Sometimes it comes from inside the steering column up by the firewall. I have noticed it on more than one GM truck/SUV. It sounds like it comes from under the gauge cluster

You would be able to hear it and it sounds like it is in the cab

Buy a ford