I have a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee, no mods, about 193k miles. A few days ago it starting making a creaking noise whenever I turn in either direction. The sound is coming from the front. I can't tell if it's coming from both sides but it for sure is very pronounced from the driver side and again, creaks when I turn in either direction. I've searched throughout many forums and threads and it doesn't appear to have the same symptoms as the "grinding" or "rubbing" noises in other threads. This happens at all speeds and it happened out of the blue. I did no changes and nothing was done to cause anything to rub. I'm not the original owner so I am assuming most of everything is original. Any thoughts on what it could be? Could it be the CV joints (is there a way to check?). The only recent work I've done on it about 2 months ago was replace the front rotors and brake pads.

 

I'm thinking your lower ball joints are shot. Mine did that in the sub-zero cold, creaking every time I turned the wheel.

 

Thanks a lot! I'll inspect them and see. Sounds like a relatively cheap fix...

 

Probably more likely the axel u-joints

 

I'll look into that as well. Thanks!

 

His WJ doesn't have axle u-joints. They are CVs.

 

I'm glad I didn't go on a wild goose chase...yet! Thank you much!

 

So what did you find out?