.....what could it be. When I turn the wheel or go over a small bump the creaking sound is very loud. It sounds like a sound from a new truck. It is in the front and seems mostly passenger side. My shocks are tight, the sway bar connecting link is tight......is it a dry ball joint? It seems it started early in the weekend after driving in all the snow in 4wd.

Pat

 

Most likely a dry balljoint. My F-150 started doing the same thing recently and I drilled a hole in each a-arm just above the balljoint, tapped the hole and thread in a grease fitting. I then gave each fitting a couple shots with a greasegun and they no longer squeak. It sure as heck beats spending $300+ for new balljoints!
Before you do that, I would check the tierods. Just crawl under the truck and try to turn the tierod back and forth. If you can make the squeak that way, it could be worn tierod ends.
My guess is that its the lower balljoints, because that sounds like the exact same thing that my F-150 was doing.

 

Thanks, I miss having grease fittings. I'll check the tierods. The truck has only 69k miles so hoping that it is too early for the ball joints.

 

my '93 needed ball joints at 80K. replacements have grease fittings however.

 

I think I had the same creaking noise and it was a bad ball joint. Had to replace the whole upper control arm - did it myself and only cost me 2 hours of work and $90. Its not a tough job, but you will have to get an alignment done.

 

It sure sounds like a Ball Joint. My 2000 Ranger is doing the same thing. I wish they would put grease fittings on the ball joints from the factory. But then the front supension would last to long. I had a quote of $800.00 to $900.00 to replace mine.