jim111281

Alright guys and gals, I need some help with this one. I have a squeak coming from the front end whenever I turn the wheels at a stop or at very slow speeds. It's the kind of squeak you get when two things are rubbing together. I greased everything under there last weekend and it's still doing it. Does anyone have any ideas before I go under there and start haphazardly spraying everything with WD-40!? lol!

Jamie57

When you are at a stop or going very slow the power steering pump has to work much harder. I've heard that squeal when I've turned the wheel at a stop. Might just be that.

fantic238

If it's a metal squeak like mine, it's the lower knuckle *****, the ones without the greaser.

jim111281

It's definitely a metal squeak. Any idea how to fix that?

strikechords

I have the same exact problem right now actually.

jim111281

It is SO FRIGGIN ANNOYING! My wife is having a girls weekend and I have several things to fix on Alice already, I would really like to take care of this also!

fantic238

I am figuring out how to deal with it. I was thinking of drilling two little holes on the bottom surface of the ball joint and screw in a greaser. I have another dana30 i am fixing and might experiment the drilling on that first. I have noticed that wd40 will work for a couple of days only.
But before u guys do anything be sure that u have my same issue. Try steering with the engine off so u will be sure it's not something hydraulic.

Carl48

Sounds like a ball joint is going bad...probably the lower. Try listening with a mechanic's stethescope to isolate the noise source just to be sure. The only cure unfortunately is replacement.

jim111281

It's louder with the engine off...since the engine noise can't drown it out, lol. I guess I'm gonna have to find somebody to turn the steering wheel while I try to listen. This should be interesting.

Any idea what it takes to replace the ball joint?

Jamie57

A BFH! Just Kidding.... sorta.
From what this feeble mind remembers, assuming you've already put it on a jack stand and removed the wheel, brakes, axle and bearing hub, and tie rod end you then loosen the nuts holding the lower and upper ball joint to the steering knuckle. Don't take them completly off! Then comes the fun part. If your lucky a couple of well placed hammer blows will dislodge the knuckle from the ball joints. Now you'll find out why you left the nuts on. If you didn't the knuckle would have probably landed on your foot and broken something. Don't ask me how I know that!
If those hammer blows didn't work you may have to get a tool that looks something like a tuning fork to place between the knuckle and ball joint. I think it's called a tierod removing tool. beat on that for awhile and once you have the knuckle off, you then remove the ball joints. I think there is a clip on them to stop them from passing through the axle yoke. Not sure but the veterans on this site will correct me if I'm wrong. More hammer blows or a tool that presses them out.

I would replace both! you've gone this far don't cheap out! Experience talking here. While your at it change the axle ujoints, if they haven't been done before. Maybe even install a new hub bearing too.
Sounds like a lot but if you do all that now it'll probably outlast you.
Make sure you get parts that have grease fittings. couple dollars more but you now get to grease them and they WILL last longer. If you can't get them with grease fittings see if you can install them yourself. I'm going to do that to my new hub and lower ball joint when I replace mine. A PITA now will save you later! I did that to a Ranger pkup I had to replace ball joints on. Really messes up the guys that did my oil changes!

muddeprived

My friend said my gf's car does this...only when the fluid is very low. It leaks PS fluid so needs filled every now and then. Just a thought....

jim111281

Thanks to everyone so far. I have a feeling that this will officially be the most mechanical work I have ever had to do on a vehicle, but I am pumped to tackle it. I also have a feeling that if it is the ball joints then they are probably all bad. I think I noticed a little bit of an inward camber on me passenger side the other day. This may explain that.

fantic238

that's the PS pump pumping air, it makes more a rattling/drilling noise, but the others should check, u'r right.

Carl48

Get someone to turn the wheel while you listen as you suggested in order to verify that it is the ball joint(s). Pinpoint the problem before tearing things apart. Sounds like a bad ball joint but even a bad axle u-joint can make a squeek while turning. Jack up the vehicle to get the weight off of the ball joints. If the noise goes away with the weight off, it is almost certainly a bad ball joint. Replace both upper and lower even if only one is bad. Install greaseable type new ball joints. btw...some repair manuals call them ball studs.

fantic238

Ok, i pulled the ball joints from one side of my spare d30 this afternoon, as u can see in the pic the one i am holding is the lower one without the greaser. The upper one came out quite easily but hte lower was a PITA, it has a clip holding it and required a BFH, i used a chisel to separate it where the upper lip meets the knuckle housing. Another curious thing is that the upper isn't really a spherical joint, it's more a cilindrical joint, no sideways moving only rotation allowed. The lower is a normal ball joint. Before i did this i checked for play. On my d30 under the jeep i have noticed an up-down play of the knuckle using a crowbar, i don't know if this is normal or not, the spare d30 does this too but less.
I don't get any clunking noise from the front when i drive the jeep, just the squeak, so what i will do next is drill a hole in the lower ball joint and squeeze some grease in it to see what happens.