Front Suspension Creak - Help Diagnose

[Arsenal741]

I have a 2020 Ford Ranger, I bought new and am the only owner. Truck came from the dealership with the Ford Performance Fox 2.0 Suspension installed. I am currently at 87k miles and have developed a loud creak out of the front suspension that has been present for the past 3 months. The front end feels tight with no wobble, no movement, only the noise. Two different shops, one independent and one a Ford Dealership have looked it over and both suggested different replacements to the tune of $2k+ without even taking a wheel off to troubleshoot or diagnose. Crazy to me that shops are suggesting $2k+ in parts/labor without doing any work to diagnose. I'm picking up my truck tomorrow to take to a friend's to do some troubleshooting ourselves. Looking for any insight or similarities from others experience. First shop quoted all new lower control arm assemblies and the Ford Dealership quoted all new suspension.

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[RangerBill]

You might try spraying the various bushings in the front suspension with silicone spray lubricant to see if that stops the creaking. Also, check the tightness of the suspension nuts and bolts.

 

[Arsenal741]

Hey RangerBill. Appreciate the call-out. I've had a can of fluid film and tried adding at the pivots/joints without luck. I had the wheels off a month ago to check bolts without any luck either but will keep those in mind again here this week.

 

[gryder]

Sounds like the bushings. My truck sounded similar and I tried spraying the upper and lower controls arms with red n tacky spray and the sound kinda went away and then it came back the same day.

I ended up loosening the top control arm bolt and spraying each side of the control arm like the picture below. Then tightened back up and it went away and haven’t heard it since, it’s been about 10k miles. And I didn’t have to take the bolt out, I just loosened it enough to fit the red spray tip in between the parts.

try the top control arm first to see if it goes away. it probably doesn’t hurt to spray the bottom too. If you loosening the bottom bolts make sure to mark the camber bolts for re-tightening.

 

[Arsenal741]

Just to close the loop - Put on all new Fox 2.0 and the noise is gone. That first set rode out to 87k which is well beyond Fox's 50k service recommendation.

 

[canyonslicker]

Just an FYI, Fox suspension is considered high performance, not longevity. Like any high performance mod it probably requires more maintenance and most likely lower life expectancy. High performance stuff is great when working but it also has caveats and costs to maintain. Just saying.. that’s why I stay middle ground..

 

[LawnMM]

Just to close the loop - Put on all new Fox 2.0 and the noise is gone. That first set rode out to 87k which is well beyond Fox's 50k service recommendation.

You should send in the old set and have them rebuilt so when the new set goes you have another set ready to go

They're rebuildable

 

[Arsenal741]

You should send in the old set and have them rebuilt so when the new set goes you have another set ready to go

They're rebuildable

I had the work done at TSW Off-road in Hutto, TX. They specialize in rebuilding Raptor Shocks and told me my old set were in such rough shape they were not suited for a rebuild unfortunately.

 

[LawnMM]

I had the work done at TSW Off-road in Hutto, TX. They specialize in rebuilding Raptor Shocks and told me my old set were in such rough shape they were not suited for a rebuild unfortunately.

That blows, sorry man

 

[Arsenal741]

That blows, sorry man

It's all good! Appreciate that though. I initially asked them if they could refund a "core" charge to keep them and rebuild for the next guy too. But they mentioned the stations were too rough to refinish. I've been all over the US on forest roads so I got my usage out of those shocks and then some.

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