Front End Creak?

[boy&hisdogs]

When driving and braking at low speeds, in both foreword and reverse (pulling out of a driveway, into a parking spot, stop and go traffic, etc) something in my front end is creaking. Not "sqeaking" like worn out brakes but more like an old spring mattress, old wood floors, or the beginning of bad ball joints.

Here's what I suspect it might be:

1) I recently did a 1 ton caliper swap, guide pins were very tight in the caliper and were dragging until I took them out and put extra grease on them. They might be dragging a touch still, but I don't know how much resistance there is actually supposed to be when the truck is off the ground and I turn a tire by hand so I'm not sure.

2) The lower ball joints are no-name junk and older than everything else. I replaced everything else recently with moog because the lowers weren't bad YET but they might be on their way out now.


Any other ideas of what it might be? I can check the guide pins and replace ball joints easy enough, but I'd prefer to diagnose rather than just throw parts at it.

Also... semi related brake question. I hear a quick squeak from my back brakes when I first step on them. Not a pad squeak but more like a squeaky hinge, like something is squeaking on its pivot point as it engages. Brakes were recently rebuilt around the same time as the fronts.

 

[Schurkey]

I'd be looking at various rubber bushings--control arm and sway-bar bushings in front, leaf-spring bushings in back.

Common for any of those to creak, squeek, or click with suspension movement.

The bonus is, the almost certainly need replacement even if they're not your noise problem. So you pretty-much can't lose by replacing them.

Verify that the rear brakes are adjusted properly, and the brake cables are appropriately secured.

Make sure the shocks are OK, including the rubber bushings at each end. If the shocks are good, but the rubber bushings are wiped, you can replace the bushings with Polyurethane--if you're clever enough to match-up the style and ID--OD with something commercially available from one of the Poly bushing suppliers such as Energy Suspension. I'm in the process of doing that myself.