Hello

[kathy]

Just joined. I have a 65 futura. I call her squeekie right now! At least I have an advanced warning system for dogs and kids to get out of the way!
I have had my falcon for a few years now! She needs paint and that squeek fixed but she is a good ol girl!
Any tips on how to get rid of the squeek would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks
Kathy

[redfalken]

Hi Kathy and welcome! Can you tell what area of the car the squeak is coming from? And when does it occur? When you hit a bump in the road? Sometimes the front coils will squeak where they rub against the perches they sit on. I think they're supposed to have some sort of isolator strips between the two. Also, has it been lubed in awhile? There are a dozen or so points in the suspension that should be lubed at least once or more times a year. Also, I don't think original front control arms has grease zerks where they pivot but it's usually on newer replacements.

Also, someone may have installed polyurethane bushings somewhere in the suspension. They can be squeakier than rubber bushings.

Maybe you can have a friend bounce the car up and down by pushing on the bumpers and walk around to see if you can pinpoint it?? Or...install a nice stereo and you'll never notice the squeaks!

Anyhow, give us as many details as you can and maybe someone will have a good solution.

[Jeff W]

My upper control arms have been squeaking for 15 years. I think you can install a kit that adds grease zerks to quiet those down. I just haven't gotten around to that yet.

Apparently this kit only cures the "annoying" squeak.

This paste below is from the California Mustang site but almost all the Falcon parts houses sell these for around $20.00/kit.


UPPER CONTROL ARM GREASE FITTING KIT
Eliminate those annoying upper control arm squeaks. Kit includes 4 grease fittings and an installation tool so you can keep the control arm bushings properly greased.

[amasterj]

Yea, the upper control arms are usually the problem, even after I had mine redone in my Mustang which included the zerk fittings the squeak came back. I would get down there and dowse them with WD-40 and that would help a little, it is just hard to get at them and it does not penetrate all the way in. But it was better after the zerk fittings were installed.

[redfalken]

Apparently this kit only cures the "annoying" squeak.

Yes, you don't want to get rid of the charming squeaks. They give our cars character!

[kathy]

The squeek comes from the left front. It was ok, but now it is so annoying! I have taken her in to get greased. I guess I should go again. I have gone through some puddles on rainy days and the noise will go away for a while. Then I Love my car! I have used WD 40 and some silicon spray but I just can't get to the exact spot. I can just get into the car and it squeeks. No Iam not fat! I can turn the steering wheel and make her squeek. I get asked at least once a week if I want to sell her. Is it the shock, the front springs, bushings.
Help

[Jeff W]

Look at the attached photo. I would recommend some WD-40 into these two spots. Don't be stingy with the spray and be careful not to get splash-back in your face or on your brake hub.

If the noise goes mostly away for a few days, you know you are looking at the right spot.

Unfortunately as amasterj indicated, this is a temporary fix.

I am disappointed that amasterj's installation of the "kit" didn't cure it 100%. Maybe we could look at the kit installation and some higher performance synthetic grease like Ams/Oil or Locktite Viper Lube.

[redfalken]

I'm betting it's the spring saddle. If you look up in the fender well at the coil spring, it sits on a perch that has a shaft where the perch can pivot as the spring compresses and expands. Earlier `60-62 Falcons has brass bushings that wore well as long as they were kept lubricated. After that they switched to rubber and they would not last as long. Then it's metal rubbing on metal and SQUEAK! When water splashes up on that area it temporarily lubes and things quiet down.

If you're not into working on suspension (that would be me) I wouldn't spend anymore money getting it lubed unless you brought it to a specialist. There's a place on Boren Ave. S. called Tru-Line and I think they do a great job. Bring it in and see what they say. http://www.trulineseattle.com/

Any more lube will just be a temporary fix until the bushings are fixed. They'll also do a front end alignment, tighten up the steering and you'll be in love with your Falcon once again!

[kathy]

Thank You all for your suggestions. I will try the WD 40 on those 2 spots this weekend and let you know what happens. If that doesn't work I will try the place on Boran.
And I do see that I spelled Squeek wrong. Should have done the spell check thing.
Kathy

[redfalken]

Yis! Thnc gawd fore spel chek!

Good luck and keep us posted. Write back when you find out what the problem was so this thread can help anyone reading it in the future.

And post a photo of your Falcon if you have one...

[silverbird]

I had that problem about 6 years ago. I tried all sorts of lubes. I never tried the zert kit, I did not know it existed. I ended up replacing my upper control arms and that did the trick. It was no easy task but a good learning experience. I bought the parts from Bel-Kirk mustang. I would have to find the receipt, but I think I paid around 250$ for the pair. My squeek was waking my neighbors at night and was the source of several nicknames at the time. Good luck to you Kathy

PS

Kenny, just curious as to what "Inline" charges for an allignment. I have had a hard time finding a shop to do that for me. thanks

[redfalken]

Keep in mind these prices were 7 years ago so they may have went up some. Adjusting the steering box was $67 and aligning the front suspension was $85. I also spent another $920 on parts and installation for a control arm, upper ball joints, upper inners, strut bushings, and a lube job.

This was kind of interesting too. They list all the before and after measurements.

Before:
Camber - (L) -1.89, (R) -0.47
Caster - (L) -0.48, (R) 0.63
Toe In - (L) 5.8m, (R) -7.9m

After:
Camber - (L) -0.16, (R) -0.10
Caster - (L) 0.78, (R) 0.82
Toe In - (L) 0.8m, (R) 0.8m

It sure drove nice after that. I should go back in to have it aligned and adjust the steering box again plus get the lower ball joints and inners replaced. It's hard to believe it's been 7 years!

[kathy]

Hi I did try the WD 40. Not a whole lot of luck with it. It's raining so I will try the puddles.
I had to replace my regulator this weekend and found that the mustang club buys alot of their parts a Bowen and Scarff here in Kent. They were cheaper than Schucks.
I had my friend do the wd 40. I think I will try it some time soon for my self. I don't think he used as much as I will.
I don't have a lot or $$ to do alot of arm replacement and the such. So if I can't spray away the squeak I will live with it. It is my early warning system

[redfalken]

I understand about the $$ but be safe too. Besides annoying stuff like squeaks, wearing out tires, and sloppy steering the suspension needs to be in good, safe condition. I had the above mentioned work done because a friend (thanks Thor!) was under the car and noticed the upper ball joints were almost rusted loose from the control arms and could of broke off at any moment. Imagine going down the highway... and one of your front wheels suddenly breaks loose and flops over..

Not fun! Also, someone going to the Falcon Nations a couple of years ago had a tie rod (??) come loose and lost her ability to steer. Luckily she had the knowledge to only pull the "emergency" brake so the rear brakes would slow her down and she got the car stopped safely.

A lot of places do free inspections so at least you'll know if there's something that needs immediate attention. This is assuming the shop is honest and doesn't try to sell you something you don't need.

[MacDee]

My car squeeked like crazy when I got it. It had had all the Zerks fittings installed, but must not have been lubed in a very long time!
I took it to JiffyLube, and the receipt said they lubed it, but it still squeeked like crazy. I finally bought a cheapy grease gun from Schucks and lubed it myself. Whoever put the Zerks on the upper control arms actually cut a hole in the shock tower on one side with a cutting torch so you could get at it from inside the engine bay. On the other side, there's no hole but they put in a right-angle Zerk. It's so close to the shock tower, however, that I had to file a chamfer into my grease gun to get it to engage on to the Zerk.
When I lubed it the first time I had to pump in a HUGE amount of grease. You need to pump grease in until you see the rubber boot on the bulge, or until you see grease ooze out if there isn't a boot. Once I got sufficient grease into the fittings, no more squeek! (Still clunks pretty loud over bumps, though.)
Yeah, WD-40 won't help much if the squeek it due to a lack of grease!