Squeaks of summer - I would prefere silence

[Timmy]

Ahh, the squeaks of summer. Seriously, it's 2014, and we can't seem to find material to make bushings that don't squeak? My 2014 has a whopping 7000 miles on it, and it squeaks SOOOOOOOO BAD. I've noticed that it squeaks most when starting from a stop. Oddly enough, it doesn't squeak as much going over speed bumps. There seems to be something about the forward movement that causes more squeaks.

So, long story short, please, please, please tell me, what is the solution to all the squeaks. Don't even start with the "where are they coming from." Answer... Everywhere! Then the "have you tried lithium grease." Answer. YES, CONSTANTLY, EVERYWHERE, EVERY BUSHING I COULD FIND. The only thing that remains constant is sub-70 degree weather typically is no squeaks. Get above 80 and it is a squeaking symphony of fun.

Things I haven't tried yet (some I just won't because I know it is not a permanent fix and thus not worth the time.)

1) Adding zerks to bushings - might try, I'm reading about limited success with this, grease only seems to provide maybe a few months relief.

2) Removing bushings, greasing bushings, re-installing - Won't do, this seems temporary at best for way too much work.

3) Loosening lower/upper control arm bolts, rocking the jeep around a bit, re-tightening. Supposedly the bushings on the control arms can be twisted during initial install and then get torqued tight and stay that way, and squeak forever. Worth trying, seems like it wouldn't take to long.

4) Someone mentioned they had squeaks when the springs were not seated correctly. I know for a fact that my right front is not seated correctly as it got moved when I was havin' fun and the suspension dropped a ton over a mild jump (probably the same jump that tore the front drive shaft boot.) Anyway, need to prop up suspension and re-seat this, see if it helps at all, BUT, my squeaks are coming from every corner, so I doubt this will make much difference.

Also, does anyone else's Jeep make a squeak distinctly from the brakes when backing up after sitting for a little while? Mine always makes two sets of squeaks, then I don't hear it until I park for a while again and have to reverse out.

For what it's worth, I have a Pro Comp Stage 2 lift. I have no idea what bushings they typically use. I know AEV keeps OEM bushings, but I read about people with OEM bushing complaining right and left about squeaks as well, so I'm not so sure OEM is better than any other.

I guess the other thing that has made this difficult is that jumping on the corners just doesn't have it squeaking as much as when I start off from a full stop. There is just something flat out going on during acceleration that causes more squeaks, that's why I'm thinking maybe the control arms are the culprits of most of it.

Ideas!?!?!

[JeepLab]

For what it's worth, I have a Pro Comp Stage 2 lift. I have no idea what bushings they typically use. I know AEV keeps OEM bushings, but I read about people with OEM bushing complaining right and left about squeaks as well, so I'm not so sure OEM is better than any other.

I guess the other thing that has made this difficult is that jumping on the corners just doesn't have it squeaking as much as when I start off from a full stop. There is just something flat out going on during acceleration that causes more squeaks, that's why I'm thinking maybe the control arms are the culprits of most of it.

Ideas!?!?!

1. WD 40. Lay on a creeper and spray everything down. use the whole can.
2. Check your shocks, new? beat up? brand?
3. do you have a crate of mice in the back seat?
4. I dont know anything about pro comps stuff. but here is a pic, what are the flat things on the top left corner?

806

How long do you let it sit when you leave it? a week? long enough for a glaze of rust to grow on the rotors? thats what would make a squeek immediately, then stop.

[WhiteRavenRR]

Upper left stuff is Pro Comps control arms. I've read lots of bad reviews on those, especially the bushings. I agree on the rotors after sitting for a while. That's the only part that squeaks on my '07.

[Timmy]

1. WD 40. Lay on a creeper and spray everything down. use the whole can.
2. Check your shocks, new? beat up? brand?
3. do you have a crate of mice in the back seat?
4. I dont know anything about pro comps stuff. but here is a pic, what are the flat things on the top left corner?

806

How long do you let it sit when you leave it? a week? long enough for a glaze of rust to grow on the rotors? thats what would make a squeek immediately, then stop.

1. Already done - used lithium grease as everyone says WD-40 doesn't work, doesn't last, or attracts more junk.
2. Shocks - Bilstein 5160's with remote reservoir, brand new (again, Jeep only has 7000 miles on it.)
3. No crate of mice, good thought though.
4. Pic shows lower control arms in the upper left of the pic.

It can sit for 30 minutes and then the brakes will squeak when reversing.

[Timmy]

Upper left stuff is Pro Comps control arms. I've read lots of bad reviews on those, especially the bushings. I agree on the rotors after sitting for a while. That's the only part that squeaks on my '07.

So last night I did find that the lower control arms that attach at the body have zerks in them. Problem is, they are difficult to get to. The zerks in the rear control arms are pretty well a non-starter, there is just no way to get to them as they are at a 90 degree angle and only a small access hole. The fronts might be possible.

After pushing and pulling as much as I could from under the Jeep last night, I do think the majority of my sounds are coming from the control arms.

[Timmy]

The plot thickens. After lots of research, I believe it is the control arm bushings, and that they are poly bushings which just squeak really bad. So far, the best advice I've read that seems easy to use teflon tape. The jeep came with the lift, I didn't put it on, so now I've got to research and figure out how to take the control arms off and then figure out how to apply teflon to them to see if this fixes it.

It really is crazy in researching this just how many cars have squeaks related to poly bushings, and even rubber ones. Again, year 2014, you'd think we'd come up with some different technology that eliminated this all together.

[JeepLab]

The plot thickens. After lots of research, I believe it is the control arm bushings, and that they are poly bushings which just squeak really bad. So far, the best advice I've read that seems easy to use teflon tape. The jeep came with the lift, I didn't put it on, so now I've got to research and figure out how to take the control arms off and then figure out how to apply teflon to them to see if this fixes it.

It really is crazy in researching this just how many cars have squeaks related to poly bushings, and even rubber ones. Again, year 2014, you'd think we'd come up with some different technology that eliminated this all together.

Do you still have your stock LCAs?

[Snarf77]

RJR Offroad has bushing that are "Guaranteed not to squeak" (for older jeeps) and they are poly. Personally..I'm not sure there is a real solution, just band-aids.

The control arms aren't hard to take loose. Youtube has several videos. The Teflon tape might just do the trick and do keep us in the loop!

[Timmy]

Do you still have your stock LCAs?

Nope, the Pro Comp Stage 2 replaces upper and lower control arms. It's not like an AEV lift that simply relocates and keeps as much stock as possible. This is a complete replacement.

[Timmy]

RJR Offroad has bushing that are "Guaranteed not to squeak" (for older jeeps) and they are poly. Personally..I'm not sure there is a real solution, just band-aids.

The control arms aren't hard to take loose. Youtube has several videos. The Teflon tape might just do the trick and do keep us in the loop!

Yeah, I'm guessing you just jack up the body to current height, unbolt the control arm and pull it out? Even then, I *might* only need to put the teflon on the body side of the control arm, as it seems like that is the part that is squeaking. Of course, if I'm going through all the trouble, might as well do both sides, right?

I'll have to check out RJR Offroad. I'm curious if they might have bushings that fit the Pro Comp arms? I'm guessing that every arm has a different bushing size requirement?

Either way, you guys can be certain that if I try the teflon tape and it works, that you'll be the first to know.

[Timmy]

RJR Offroad has bushing that are "Guaranteed not to squeak" (for older jeeps) and they are poly. Personally..I'm not sure there is a real solution, just band-aids.

The control arms aren't hard to take loose. Youtube has several videos. The Teflon tape might just do the trick and do keep us in the loop!

Grin... Taking your advice, I youtube'd about uninstalling/re-installing control arms. Ran across this video. I'm not sure why, but this guys attitude and selectively colorful words he uses all throughout the video just seem to really add to the instructions. Make special note of "Engineer Johnny" in the video, as I've had these same type of thoughts allllll the time when driving/working on vehicles. I bet if Pickle had this guy at his side when installing the Prodigy turbo, that 27 hour install would have been cut in half, and been fun to boot.

[WARNING - ADULT LANGUAGE - REMOVE CHILDREN FROM ROOM PRIOR TO VIEWING]

Enjoy ;-)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME3tFq1oI7Q

[Snarf77]

That may be the greatest install video for a control arm, ever.

[Timmy]

Update... The control arms have grease points at the body side. I'm not sure if it was the install shop, or if they came from the factory with zerks, but either way, they have them at the body side mounts. Unfortunately, Engineer Johnny (see a fore mentioned video) didn't put the zerks in so they point down at the front, and put in 90 degrees zerks at the rear so you can't access them through the access holes!!! Stupid Johnny....

I unbolted one of the front lower control arms at the body and examined it. It sure seemed like this was the part making all the noise. It had an inner shaft on a ball that could move all around, surround by a poly bushing, and then the control arm. It was obvious it needed grease. So, given that I'm looking for a long term solution, and Engineer Johnny had the right idea but poor implementation of access, I just decided to drill new 7/32" holes, tap them with a 1/4" tap, and insert new zerks. Greased away until it was oozing out the sides, did the same for the other three lower control arms at the body, and then jumped on the jeep restlessly. No major squeaks!!! Took for a test drive, and so far, fairly quiet. I've never installed zerk grease points before. If I had known how easy it was after you bought the correct tap and zerk sizes, I would have done it long ago. Watch out squeaks, or you might get zerk'd!!!

So, for today, with sub 80 degree weather, my squeaks are mostly gone. I say mostly as the reality is you'll always have some from all the different bushings and articulation that goes on. But at least when I start of from a full stop, or come to a complete stop, my Jeep no longer announces itself to the entire world that I'm a brand new 2014 Jeep (sarc.) Hope this holds. If not, I'll just grease the sucker up again until the mount points are dripping grease.

Hope this thread has maybe helped others with their noise Jeeps.

[Snarf77]

I've never installed zerk grease points before. If I had known how easy it was after you bought the correct tap and zerk sizes, I would have done it long ago. Watch out squeaks, or you might get zerk'd!!!



Hope this thread has maybe helped others with their noise Jeeps.

Excellent. I'd like to see a brief how-to with pictures of how you did the zerk fitting. I've never done one myself. I've pulled bolts and installed fittings, but never drilled and tapped a joint to add one where one didn't exist. Drill press or just a hand drill? Sounds really effective.

[Timmy]

Excellent. I'd like to see a brief how-to with pictures of how you did the zerk fitting. I've never done one myself. I've pulled bolts and installed fittings, but never drilled and tapped a joint to add one where one didn't exist. Drill press or just a hand drill? Sounds really effective.

Because they are simple enough, I didn't think to do a write-up. If I do another one, I'll take pics.

Process is:

1) Drill with 7/16" drill bit.
2) Tap with 1/4" x 28 thread tap bit (since it's only for a zerk, I just put it on my cordless drill and went really slow.)
3) Screw in 1/4" x28 thread zerk (straight, 45deg, or 90deg angle.)

In my case, since I tapped it using my drill, I'm sure the threads were not _perfect_ so I also put some teflon tape on the zerk to make sure it was in tight. Who knows if this is good practice or not. The reality is, they were for greasing the rubber bushings on my lower control arms, so it's not like I was really concerned if this was best practice or not.

They do make zerk's in different sizes. I ran across metric versions of 6mm, 8mm and 10mm. The problem is, the auto store didn't have taps that matched the thread count. Seems like 1/4" is the standard US size (when, oh when will we get off this stupid english measuring system. I truly hate it.) One thing I couldn't figure out is they had 1/8" zerk's, and they are bigger than the 1/4". How does a smaller measurement equate to a larger threaded fitting?

808

After posting this, I did run across this site that shows a bunch of different zerk's, and I read on another forum that if you're going to put one in, put in the larger size (not sure why they said this, they just said, if you're going to do it, do it right by installing a 1/8")

I see on the following site that there are tapered zerk's, straight zerks, zerks called PTF. They seem to give a nice write-up of each and why you'd use one over the other.

http://www.saeproducts.com/grease-fittings.html

[Pznivy]

crate of mice is funny... Squeeks are not.

Im glad you solved this. Others will be able to use the info. If I hear a squeak in my jeep, i have to investigate until I find it. Sometimes it takes a long time.

[Yoinkers]

so whats the prognosis on the pro comp lift?

has this squeak problem turned you off them?

Would you do it the same again? or go with synergy or RK?

[Timmy]

so whats the prognosis on the pro comp lift?

has this squeak problem turned you off them?

Would you do it the same again? or go with synergy or RK?

Squeaks are 100% gone now that I'm greasing the right spots. Jeep is silent over bumps and other stuff. I have to admit, I think that Pro Comp gets a bad wrap. I watched a video recently of all the testing that they do to make sure that their product meets various standards. In the video below, they show passing the FMVSS 126 test (appears to be a stability control test.) I've also seen videos about their design and fabrication processes that appear pretty solid. I don't know enough about the other lift manufactures, but I'm curious if the other lift manufactures go through the same sort of stuff as I've seen Pro Comp go through? I'm also not so sure I understand what people don't like about Pro Comp. At this point in my experience, I'd buy a Pro Comp Stage 2 lift again unless I had compelling reason to buy something else.

http://www.fourwheeler.com/features/1405-new-suspension-requirements-fmvss-126-decoded/


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEtJmGpKMI0

As for me, I'm not hard core into off-roading. I go enough to know that the suspension hasn't let me down so far, I've been happy with the flex I'm getting out of it, and I've been happy with the ride quality thus far. Unfortunately, I haven't driven any other lift kit, so I have no comparison.

Not the best pic, but here's my rig at the top on some rocks after a Jeepin trip.

818

[JeepLab]

video bump!