Front suspension creaking sound

scoobysnax · **Posted:** Mon Nov 26, 2007 11:45 am

I have a creaking noise coming from my front suspension. It sounds like an old pick up truck with rusty leaf springs. The only time I hear it when I slowly go over larger bumps/dips and I think it’s only when I do it head on (both shocks at the same time.) So the only times I have heard it are going over speed bumps (5MPH) and off road on sand bumps (the woopdy-doo pattern that sometimes gets formed in deeper sand) and again going around 5MPH.

It tried pushing up and down on the front a rear bumper to see if I could make the noise when it was parked and could not, probably b/c I was only moving it an inch or so up and down. At normal speeds I can’t hear but that might just be b/c of the road noise. The suspension feels fine so I don’t think the shocks are worn out.

My Jeep is an ‘-04 with almost 37,000 miles.

Is it the shocks? Could it just be some dirt or old mud that needs to be cleaned out? I don’t think I have any rust under there but I’ll double check.

RQuarte · **Posted:** Mon Nov 26, 2007 12:12 pm

My front does the same thing and i have OME front shocks, i always thought mine did it because of the cold but i was never sure, maybe someone else knows.

Pote · **Posted:** Mon Nov 26, 2007 12:34 pm

its a jeep thing!

bugnout · **Posted:** Mon Nov 26, 2007 12:35 pm

Probably the torsion bar. take it off and grease the mounts.

scoobysnax · **Posted:** Mon Nov 26, 2007 2:48 pm

Do I need to do anything special to do take that off or can I do it while it's sitting on all 4 wheels?

bugnout · **Posted:** Mon Nov 26, 2007 4:11 pm

Sorry, should have said sway bar. Here is another discussion of the issue

http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=24912&highlight=greasing+sway+bar

USPLibby · **Joined:** Thu Jul 28, 2005 12:29 am **Posts:** 377

It's your two main swaybar bushings. Sounds like a wet tire rubbing on a steel plate. Silicone spray or install your own grease zerts on the bushings.

They look like the ones on the right side but black.

slikjr · **Posted:** Mon Nov 26, 2007 5:09 pm

Yep, sway bar!! NOTORIOUS KJ problem! I'm on my second KJ, both have gone through sway bar bushings like no bodies business!

csukoh78 · **Joined:** Thu Mar 08, 2007 10:34 pm **Posts:** 501

Mine squeeked like crazy until I applied lithium grease (the proper lube for them) and not a sound since....

jason thompson · **Posted:** Mon Nov 26, 2007 8:58 pm

Sway bar 99%
use a SILICONE based lube to stop the noise
spray ,drive ,repeat until it goes away
anything petrol. based will destroy the rubber

also if you have 37K your struts and shocks are probably bad allowing the the front to dip more than it should over these bumps ,ours were bad at only 32K
easy way to tell is push down very hard on the front end to make it bounce
if it bounces more than once or maybe twice then the struts are bad
I would bet they are

Video Guy · **Posted:** Tue Nov 27, 2007 2:35 pm

After 40K miles, my sway bar bushings started groaning over speedbumps at temperatures under 50 degrees F. I got tired of lubing them and read somewhere that lube detracts from the effectiveness of the bar. I bought new OEM bushings ($9 each from my dealership) last spring, just haven't put them on yet. Maybe over winter break if I can borrow a big heater. I hate working in a cold garage. Hand tools become useless when you can't feel your fingertips.

scoobysnax · **Posted:** Mon Dec 24, 2007 1:18 pm

I finally got the chance to sprayed the crap out everything with some silicone. I sprayed the sway bar A LOT and I sprayed the suspension mounts as well just to be safe. But the temp was 58 when I drove it so it wouldn't have made the noise anyway. I'll find out today if it worked or not as the temp is now in the low 40's. I'm hoping for the best.

jsc7002 · **Posted:** Mon Dec 24, 2007 2:00 pm

Video Guy wrote:

I hate working in a cold garage. Hand tools become useless when you can't feel your fingertips.

lol no kidding, I had to change my oil yesterday and it was snowing like crazy and a cool 23* outside

scoobysnax · **Posted:** Wed Dec 26, 2007 1:15 am

It didn't work! It got down to only 42 today and I could still hear it. I'll try spraying some more this weekend, after that it'll have to bring it to the dealer while it's still under warranty.

scoobysnax · **Posted:** Wed Dec 26, 2007 10:03 am

Today the temp was 34 when I left and it’s actually better than it had been before I sprayed everything. So I’ll try it again this weekend and hopefully it will help. The spray bottle I bought didn’t have the straw tube so I might have just gotten the outside edges and need to get the center a little better. I’ll let you know how it works.

sleeve84028 · **Posted:** Wed Dec 26, 2007 11:35 am

You can try to force the tube in there and squirt... I usually do it every fall but by the time January rolls around my swaybar starts squeaking again. This winter, I'm just going to listen to the noises and be happy that my heater still works like a charm after 5 years.

Long live the Liberty!

Front suspension creaking sound

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