Well my 2001 Navigator has a pronounced squeak in the front end during suspension travel and steering. Any ideas, I was thinking bushings?

 

I am chasing the same problem on my Expedition. It could be sway bar bushings, control arm bushings, idler arm or as suggested elswhere on this site lower ball joints. I have replaced my sway bar bushings and sprayed everything down with silicone lube and still have the squeeeeek! So it is looking like lower ball joints, hope this helps and if you figure yours out please post what you find.

 

thanks for the info Craig, I was hoping it would be something simple, oh well. I will investigate further and let ya know what I find. Thanks again and cool truck ya got there!
Jon

 

lower ball joints is your problem very common on all fords they dont know how to use grease fittings on anything

 

This is so funny, I was just about to post this question and I found that someone has beaten me to it. My Wifes 2000 Expedition just started to do this squeak. It only happens when she turns the wheel or hits a bump. All other times it is quiet do you think this is still a ball joint issue?

Are they a bear to replace?

 

98 Expy, 90K, exact same problem. Checked the lowers, had a little play, but didn't seem awful. Had a mechanic friend of mine check them, and he said on this vehicle it is hard to tell how bad they are, not if they are bad, when they are all together. After breaking them loose, they were destroyed, like the pass. side could almost be pulled out by hand. Took about 2 hours to replace the entire lower control arm. Not hard, just make sure you can see where the bolts go on the frame side, and don't completely take the nut off the ball joint before smacking it with a hammer and chisel to brake it loose. I think I paid $90 a side from NAPA.


And if you don't have the camber bolts in yet, now is the time to stick them in.

 

If you think it is the lower ball joints, which it probably is, you could use the injector needle on your grease gun; pierce the boot, and shoot some grease in the joint. See if the squeak goes away. It worked on my Mark VIII.

Tommy

 

Thank you for the great suggestions and I will try the Needle grease gun trick this weekend since this seems alot easier than knocking the Ball joint out. But as we all know...I'll end up doing the Ball Joint the weekend after this one...

 

Just an update, my sqeek is gone once I replaced the lower ball joint. It was not a bad job as I had used never sieze on the brake rotor when I changed them and I have the C-clamp press tool to change them. Good luck to anyone else chasing this problem.