I’ve had a creaking noise coming from my bus for quite awhile but I’ve just kinda put up with it . Took it out Sunday for a spin and seems as though it’s got worse. It’s more notable at slower speeds , ie speed bumps and alike . It’s hard to locate the origin. It doesn’t do it when it’s stationary while physically rocking the van but when it’s going along , any bumps in the road and it sounds like I’ve got a donkey on board. Any ideas ? Thanks folks
Lower rubber bush on front shock unbonded from the steel tube the bolt runs through due to rust is very common. If you take the shock off and it leaves that tube behind you'll know.
Basically creaking is rubber or dry plastic under pressure "sticking" to metal then releasing with shearing force applied, springing back and sticking again. @Zed 's shock absorber bushes are rubber moving like that, which should be bonded. Creaking newish front suspension ball joints. They have nylon inserts as bearing surfaces that creak when dry.. I had to jack up the front corner, poke the rubber boots to push grease up into the joints then use a second jack to move the wheel up and down repeatedly to get the ball to be covered in grease. @lhu1281 doughnuts :Rear suspension donuts at the end of the torsion bars can creak especially if somebody tried to lubricate them to get them in place. They are meant to be crushed so hard the rubber "sticks" to the metal so they should be silent.
Shocks/shock bushes down the back. Or the torsion bar "donuts". Front: shocks/shock bushes, main balljoints or ungreased front beam.
Yes .. another of those ones where the parts are cheap but the effort is high to get to them. If you have any difference in ride height either side to side or front to back, you can tweak it if you replace the doughnuts.. read up on how to do fine height adjustments.. you pull out and turn the torsion bar not just go round one spline on one end.
I had an odd noise in my van when on the move and never when stopped and that turned out to be a slightly loose rear wheel castle nut. Might be worth checking.
If all the ideas above ^^^ provide little relief from your squeakedy squeak squeak and you’d like an unusual one that occurs occasionally. Have a little look at the inside of your wheel rims especially if anything non stock or custom is fitted near the wheels. I chased after a noise for a couple of years only to find out it was a slight bump in my rim on the inside of the nearside front , this combined with a ball joint slowly disintegrating allowed the rim to just touch on the ball joint but initially ‘twas only with the weight on the wheels. Just happened to be under the van one time and spotted the shiny bit then investigated and it all fell into place. This was with dropspindles on the front. Ozziedog,,,,,,,,hence I’m now raised and not lowered
