I have a 96 and for the past few years, I get this very annoying loud squeal which I believe is coming from the dust boot/seal behind my rotors. I found this thread:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/5...ake-rotor.html

which made me figure out what the noise was coming from in the first place.

I initially had this problem when I bought my truck 6 years ago, and no shops could figure it out (went to crappy places back then like fletchers), but after looking at the thread I mentioned previously, I greased the rubber boot behind my rotor and the noise went away. (Greased it w/ caliper grease and by taking off the caliper, using a screwdriver to reach behind the rotor)

However, about after a year, the noise starts to come back and gets worse the dirtier/less grease there is. That isn't much of a problem since I would just grease it up and be on my way.

Within the last few 4 to 5 months, the noise came back again (for like the 4th time in 6 years), so I greased it up again thinking I fixed the problem. Well it only went away for about a day. So I greased it up again a couple days later and the noise didn't change. After much frustration, I thought it may be wheel bearings and seals, so I had a shop replace those. Well, the noise was gone for about a day or two and came back.

Well just for kicks, I decided to grease the rubber seal behind my passenger side rotor this time, and the noise went away for a couple days this time, but still came back.

At this point I am starting to go insane, I hate this noise and can't seem to get rid of it. I am almost positive the noise is coming from those dust seals. I don't know if I should throw on a ridiculous amount of grease on them or if there is something else I should 'grease' them up with.

My question is, can I take these dust boots off? And if so, how hard is it to do that? If I can't, how hard would it be to take the rotor off to better grease them up?

 

The rotor isn't too hard to pull off. It comes off as an assembly with the Hub. Encho did a great write up on removing the rotors and doing those seals.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l#post11243835

 

i feel your pain, mine do the same thing (right now as a matter of fact) been that way for about 9 years. Ive torn my fe down probably 6-7 times just for that stupid seal. first 5 times I just lube the seal with bearing grease. But like yours it only last a few months. Last 2 times i did it i just bought new seals @ napa you can or could buy just the boot last time i did mine and i think it was like 12 dollars for both. all in all its not a bad job to do, but ive had enough practice that i can do both sides in an hour and a half or two. If you want to get just the boot I wouldnt bother going to the irish ppl or a.z. or the likes they and even the ford dealership were clueless about my seals and not only did they not know about the boot they (including the dealer) sold me the wrong seals the first time i went into the hubs. which resulted in 2 extra tear downs. Thats when i learned the value of an old school parts store that keeps a rack of catalogs on hand. Good luck on it, and ill be right behind ya doing mine in a week or so when i get some time for it. Btw im not sure but i think 96 is kind of a (apparently i cant say this word) year with some parts being on just this year such as our seals and the boots, parts store computers just dont have some of the parts logged right.

 

Thanks for the replies. Looking at that tutorial, it may be a little to much for me to take of the rotor to get to that seal. If they are only 12 dollars at nappa that's not too bad at all though, but I'm kinda nervous to take apart any of my bearings/seals to get to that dust boot/seal. I didn't look at that tutorial too much but it looks like I have to take apart my manual hubs somewhat to get the rotor off, and I probably shouldn't mess with that when my trucks my daily driver and I have 17 credits of Mechanical Engineering/AFROTC work this semester.... So I'm pretty busy.

However, this weekend I ended up working on my truck some. I bought new crystal headlights and put those in, spray painted my fiberglass top green with some dupli-color stuff I found at O'riellys (which as of now turned out really well) and decided I would give that dust boot one more good grease. This time I used two screw drivers to really pry at it and shove a lot of grease back there and used a lot of brake clean to clean it initially.

As of now (three days) I haven't heard the squeal come back. I really think (pray) that it went away for a while now. I guess I got lazy and didn't grease it as much as I used to, or it was just being difficult all these months. I can't explain how how relieving it is to be able to drive with the windows rolled down and not hear that noise. I love my truck (besides its fading hood and top paint ) and love driving it but with that noise it was so embarrassing, so hopefully its gone for another year or so!

If it comes back then I'll probably just start crying (okay maybe not) but hopefully it won't! Living on dirt roads probably doesn't help keep the noise away but dorms and apartments are expensive so living at home on the ranch is nice when going to college (except the 40-50min drive to school every day).

 

You're working towards an engineering degree? trust me, don't be afraid to get dirty or to pull stuff apart, experimentation and EXPERIENCE is what it's all about. You could read articles for an eternity and not know half as much as a guy who did the job once!

This is a hard one to screw up. It might be a lot of steps but it will only go back together one way.

I have like 3 cars though, so dont' listen to me. The Bronco takes week-long breaks all the time for jobs like this :P

 

yeah dont let it scare ya. biggest things you might need and not have are the spindle nut and a nice pick set which is not required but makes it easier. And you might need to do it anyways depending on how long its been since the bearings were last done. they may well be ready to be cleaned and repacked or replaced. Especially if you get off road and into any water up to your hubs.