On my '96 XL, I've noticed a creaking noise when I am parking or steering at low speeds. It sounds like the creak a wood floor would make or an old piece of furniture. What could this be?

 

Just about anything. What part of the truck is it coming from? Front, rear? Creaking is generally associated with springs and bushings. Check for worn rubber bushings especially in the suspension components. Replace with polyutrethane bushings if you want them to last longer. Polyurethane is a little stiffer and consequently gives a little less than the original rubber but tends to outlast its rubber counterparts by leaps and bounds.

 

I had a 95 F-150 XL with a 5 speed transmission, that made that noise at low speeds when turning. It was still new, and was fixed under warranty by shimming the transmission bolts (I'm not exactly sure which bolts, or how they shimmed them, but there was a service note). It fixed the noise while turning at low speeds. If this is not the problem, Fords are notorious for squeaky bushings. I had that problem on the F-150 too, after a couple of years, and went under the truck and soaked every bushing that I could find with WD-40, even the tranny mount, and body mounts, everything, and lubed the front end, and it still did it. Then I sprayed all the rubber with white lithium grease, and it STILL squeaked. I never did find out why it squeaked so much. It was annoying.