I Have a Ford Explorer '99 and there's a squeaking sound coming from the front suspension. Anyone knows how to deal with this?

Asked by Gian Sep 02, 2009 at 11:00 PM about the 1999 Ford Explorer

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

The squeak is made whenever i take a speed bump, a turn or just a hole on the street. It's pretty annoying.

18 Answers

155

My 98 Explorer does the same thing. Not so much when I turn but def when i go over speed bumps, cracks in the street and holes. But I def agree with you, it is pretty annoying. My X told me that I need new shocks, and that that would fix the problem.

11 people found this helpful.
95

its probably either your upper ball joint or your sway bar bushings im a ford tech and the bushings go all the time

9 people found this helpful.
65

Hello I drive a explorer 04 and I recently had that same problem but mine was in the rear suspension, it is indeed the suspension the only problem is that I dont know the name of the part in english... it's called rotula in spanish i changed this part and the problem was solved you should take to a mechanic its really no big deal I hope this info is useful because it was the same thing that happened to me

4 people found this helpful.
155

i had my lower ball joints fixed towards the end of 08. so its my upper ball joints? hmmm sounds good sway bar bushings? hmmm whats the easiest way to fix a bent torsion bar?

1 people found this helpful.
45

Its always the swaybar bushings unless you have lifted the torsion bars too much which will cause binding.

3 people found this helpful.
90

I sell fords and my wife drives a 99 explorer with 92,000 on it, we just had the same problem and it was the torsion bars and upper and lower ball joints, on the 99 model you can't replace just the ball joints, you have to buy the suspension arm but all the parts for mine was only $109.00 from O,reilly and they all have warranty for one year

5 people found this helpful.
25

you have a dry ball joint thats going to wear out soon. what ever side its comming from it will be either an upper or lower ball joint. jack it up an listen with a peice of hose to let the jack down to hear what 1 it is. it may take a few times to get the sqeek happening.

2 people found this helpful.
74,290

Recycled by 96 and 99 to my two children when I purchased new vehicles. Same problem occurred with both as the front suspension is torsion bar and the same. Problem is the upper ball joints lube cups deteroriate somewhere around 70K and the ball wears out. Since the torsion bar has to come out to fix the joint I suggest doing the entire front end (upper and lower control arm with balls on both sides. I did the work myself and the total cost was about 600 bucks for parts plus a front end alignment.

1 people found this helpful.
40

I had the same problem with my 99 expediton. I changed the upper control arms but I still hear squeaking over bumps. So annoying

4 people found this helpful.
270

I have a 02 explorer 2wd I changed upper control arm. They say it's pre- greased but it's really not. Anytime you change suspension look for grease fittings. Looked on there no fitting or hole for fitting. Get a nipple tip for a grease gun. The reason why your upper ball joint still squeaks after you Change it is because it's dry it's like it was before. My ball joint before I changed It didn't have a boot to put the grease in it. So it's gonna sound the same. Put about 2-4 pumps or just go by how the boot looks and keep it greased

3 people found this helpful.
270

Also put the nipple tip in the boot. If it leaks out from the bottom you can try and zip tie it or get a thin wire and wrap it around the bottom.

1 people found this helpful.
270

Where the rubber part connects over the ball joint itself. Where the control arm meets the knuckle there is a rubber piece that is over the ball joint itself put grease directly into it. Only do this if you don't have a grease fitting. Once you put it in don't drive it right away. Leave it be for probably a day just to be safe to let the grease sit and fill the hole you put it in.... Mine still made noices but I found it out it was my sway bar link bushings. Had a small amout of radiator fluid leaking in between the sway bar and bushing for those. So if it still squeaks then look for sway bar links and bushings.(bushing are the c shaped things keeping your sway bars connected to your a frame.(mine aren't that bad so I'm just gonna wait)

1 people found this helpful.
40

Jsellers25 Thanks!! We are working on it once again tomorrow so I will try that. I will let you know :-)

10

i have a 97 ford explorer sport 2door and for along time its squeaked and i went to buy new ball joints but the man told me to call ford because there was a note on there, well we called ford and the guy told us that if the control arms are factory they will have to be replaced bc they changed the design and that new ball joints wouldn't mount up if we don't change them...my brother ordered me new arms and ball joints and it came with new upper arms ball joints tie rods but only lower ball joints instead of arms? can anyone tell me if it will work before we tear her down?

1 people found this helpful.

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