Like I had messaged in chrisfranklin's thread,
After doing my axle upgrade, I have the same type of squeak. Mine seems to happen when the wheels see-saw, like going over curved dips, driveways, etc. Good to hear all the ideas. I'm going to start with pads and work my way out. Last thing to happen to me is I did the axle, then it fell off the jack stands before I was done. Should have looked at the exhaust. Already checked the driveline to ensure it wasn't any u-joints.
The noise originated after I rebuilt my rear axle about a month back;
http://4bangerjp.com/forums/index.php/topic,8582.0.html . I’ve done some steps prior to find and repair the noise and they’re listed below. My thought is (since it’s a suspension type of noise) it has something to do with my jeep falling off those crappy metal jack strands and landing three legged.
While I was replacing my starter the other weekend, I figured I'd make an effort to figure out this dumb noise. I went through and lubricated all of the leaf springs with lithium grease, a putty knife, an old handle-less flathead and a hammer.
I carefully tapped the flathead shank in between each leaf spring and lubricated the pad and even as back as I could at the gathering point near the u-bolts (this seemed to be where 90% of my rust is originating from). I noticed two things: 1. for being only a little over 1 1/2 years old, they're getting pretty rusty; 2. I found a big leaf on the rear passenger side that was cock-eyed. I thought for sure the slanted leaf was my culprit as it looked to be rubbing on the bundle clips that wrap around the pack. I lifted the jeep, loosened the u-bolts, try’d smacking the leaf straight, but finally a clamp and some brute force re-aligned the spring. I finished tightening and lube and put everything back together and tested it out. The noise is still there!!! Grrrr… It’s not as loud and I may have quieted some of the noises. I remember prior that I would hear groaning of my springs, just never ever time I went through a slanted gutter or at this amplitude.
Things I have done:
- Inspect exhaust – Shook, rattled, and pulled; Clearances and parts look good. It doesn’t seem to be making any noise
- Leaf springs – Lubed and re-aligned one leaf; Quitted the noises considerably, but not 100%
- Shocks – Tried running loosen and then tight; It didn’t seem to make any difference
- U-Joints – Right after I did my axle repairs, my father-in-law suspected a u-joint making the noise, so I pulled the rear drive shaft (the only one I messed with) and both u-joints are good. The noise is happening under and under no load, so it seems to be suspension related.
Next things to check and try:
- Front track bar, lube and re-tighten then test
- Shocks, lube the bushings and re-tighten then test
- Original rear leaf spring bushing replacement/upgrade then test
One great positive to all of this, my suspension seems to be way kinder. It’s sucking up the road better than it ever has now that those springs are nice and lubricated
If these steps above don’t work, I’m going to go back through chrisfranklin’s thread to look through all of your suggestions. Thanks!