Lifted truck problems

So i have a 21 platinum 4x4 that has a 3 in king coilover lift with a 1 in lift shackle in the rear. I also have spc upper control arms.my teuck squeaks and creaks like crazy. At first i greased the ball joints on the uca and that solved about 90 percent of the squeaking. But now it doesnt help as much. I also get terrible creaking noise when turning and there is slight body roll like when going up or down a parking garage. Or turning at slow speeds. I also get a rattle on cold starts and when driving (i couldnt find a loose heat shield). Sometimes i hear a metal grinding/crounching noise coming from the passenger side. Unfortunately im not mechanically inclined but i figured i got to start somewhere, i should be getting my jack stands and floor jack next weekned, so i can lift the truck and i spect the tie rods and uca balljoints. Any suggestions? The truck has 13.8k miles and the suspension and tires(35x12.5) were put on at 1500 miles. The squeaking started about 4.5 to 5 months after the lift, and the creaking about 5 to six months after the lift.

 

The Kings might be making noise, but the first thing to check would be all the bolts and make sure they're torqued properly. SPC ball joints and bushings shouldn't make any noise when in good condition and properly torqued down. I imagine if they're loose, they could develop some noise.

A way to potentially isolate the noise you're hearing is to spray some lubricant on one item at a time, then drive it and see if it's still there. It could be the joints at the bottom or top of the coilovers.

Loose lower control arm bolts don't normally creak, but can make a thump/thud on takeoff or decel.

Are the rear shackles using the rubber bushings, or poly? Poly can creak like mad if not greased in the right spots. Rubber takes no greasing.

 

Do you have a skid plate by chance? It could be the skid plate making noise when the frame flexes. If so drop the skid plate and put some rubber in between it and the frame.

 

I'll pick up some lithium grease to spry the bushing on the shackle, not to sure what it uses as it was the shops in house shackle. I took the truck back in February or march (had the lif done last july) and asked them to make sure everything was still properly torqued down. They said everything was .

 

I have a regular skid plate not the TRD, it seems to be nice and tight as i didnt see any play when i tried move it last night. I'll try taking it off next weekend and see if that fixes anything.

 

Are the upper control arms greaseable at the frame mount on spc?

 

Not sure as far as i know there are only zerk fittings above the ball joint. I contacted spc and they said the can send me new ball joints for 165.00 and if they find something wro g with them they will refund the money. But if its the bushing and not the ball joint ill be out that money so i'm hoping to confirm what the issue is before hand.

 

Edit: The bushings on those are to be greased when installed. They also come with new washers. https://www.spcalignment.com/instructions/25490-INS_WEB.pdf

 

Are you talking about this?

 

That's right. It's a bit blurry but it looks correct.

Correction from earlier, they come with new washers that are to be used, #6 in the instructions do say to grease them.
https://www.spcalignment.com/instructions/25490-INS_WEB.pdf

 

Were these just installed, or have you had them on for awhile- never mind just re read your post. The metal crunching/grinding noises from passenger side seem alarming. Did a shop do the install?, I would take it back to them if you trust them.

 

Also, you try and grab your front sway bar and see if there is any play. Sway bar bushings can creak like a mo fo.

 

Okay. Yeah that pic was from the day it was installed.

 

It was installed last july. The shop was 88rotors, they have a youtube channel if you want to check out their work. I did take it back and they checked everything to make sure it was still torqued to spec

 

Thanks ill be sure to check that

 

Okay so i likted the truck up and (surprisingly) my upper control arm ball joints seemed fine. I did find loose bolts that were causing a rattle with the exahust so thats fixed. The swaybar seemed fine, but there was a bolt missing from my skid plate. So i left it off and took it for a test drive, but the problem was still there. I tried to check the tie rods and maybe there was a little play? Noise was not present wen i turned the wheel and the tires were off the ground. So i took it to the dealership. They almost werent going to look at it because i have aftermarket tires(35x12.5 and thire limit for working around tires is 33 in tires) and after market suspension/lift. But they eventually said they would look at it to see what the problem is. I have to pay out of pocket though since its not covered under warranty (my truck is 1yr old). Ill check back in once my truck is back(might be on tuesday since they are short staffed and the mechanic that works on those types of issues is off on sundays and mondays)

 

Best bet for this is to even remove components and inspect.

Then again, you say you're not mechanically inclined, but a weekend and a couple beers with some buddies should make it easier.

There are also a bunch of California members, maybe reach out to some and see if they'd be willing to assist you with checking out the problem?

 

Leaf springs on these trucks are notorious for squeaking. If you plan to use any type of lubricant between the leaves, you should use something that won't trap dirt. Dry lube like graphite spray.

 

That would be great but most of my friends have left the state and none of them were i to cars, so a bunch of guys drinking beers working on a truck not knowing what we were doing would probably do more damage than good lol

 

So i got my truck back from the dealer and according to them its the joints on the upper portion of the struts. They dont have any fitting to grease so they sprayed grease on the out side which did help. But it doesnt solve the problem. Any ideas?

 

Better control arms

 

Are you under warranty? See if they'll replace them. Bandaids to limp it past the warranty are a common thing with dirt bag dealerships.

 

The lift voided the warranty.

 

Yeah i was thinking about ditiching the spc contol arms and going with icon delta joint ones

 

Get yourself some total chaos arms and never look back

 

I heard uniball joints require more maintenance and don't give as smooth of a ride.

 

Maintenance is spraying with ptfe lube and lubing the bushings. They ride great not sure where you heard that.

 

I've had uni uppers pretty much since my truck was new. Whoever told you that was blowing smoke out their ass.

 

So i thought i would give an update. So after saving a small fortune to get total chaos upper control arms all the noises went away and it rides gret. Idk maybe my SPC's were lemons but i will never use them again. I also got my truck regeared to 4.88. It rides great but i might need to get a tune because the speedometer is way off from 0-30mph. Once i get to the 40 mph range its only off by 3ish mph

 

Either get the hypertech speedo calibrator (Rough Country has one too) or drive around with GPS on to give you an accurate speed reading. I use both lol.