dagentooboy

I have an annoying squeak coming from the rear left (I think) of my GL320.

I recently replaced the shock (With an Arnott Shock) and there is a scrape mark toward the wheel and front of the car. It looks like the mark is located about where the shock would ride when the tire is on and the car is on the ground.

The squeak it's self happens almost continuously with small vibrations from the road. It doesn't happen when I go over a big bump in the road. If I raise the air suspension it goes away entirely.

My main question is.... Is there any way to install the shock wrong that could cause this? does anyone have any idea what the shock is scraping on? Has anyone else had this problem and found a fix?

alx

you overtorqued the lower bushing bolt where the shock connects to the control arm.

use some silicone spray lubricant there and hope it gets in and quiets the bushing. if not- the bolt would need to be removed, bushing lubed and torqued a bit less

dagentooboy

I will give that a shot. Thanks!!

Any idea why that would make marks on the side of the shock?

alx

I have no idea. You can't install the shock in a wrong way. Nothing should be touching it though. It is far from the wheel when the truck is at proper height both normal and raised. If after the repair the suspension on that end was collapsed but pumped right up I can see the tire rubbing the shock. But at stock height the tire shouldn't be anywhere near the shock of all your bushings are in good order.

dagentooboy

I got a replacement bushing on order. I took it apart last night and covered the bolt in grease and backed off the torque. The spec is 265Nm or 195ft lbs for the torque. It still squeaks.

DennisG01

Could the scrape mark have been there (you're talking about "on" the shock, right?) the whole time. And for some reason you didn't notice it till after the install?

I'm not sure on the squeak - but I would have someone bounce the car while I tried to look/listen to where it's coming from to get a better idea. It's not clear from your posts if you've already done this and are just "guessing" at this point. Although what ALX said certainly makes the most "logical" sense.

On a side note... If the bushings are rubber, don't use anything petroleum-based on them as it can attack rubber. Use the silicone that ALX mentioned.

dagentooboy

It was a brand new shock when I put it in a few months ago. I think I would have noticed the scrape before now but maybe not. I will put the new bushing in and get some silicone spray and let you guys know what happens.

DennisG01

I would imagine it should be easy enough to tell if there's currently interference between the shock and tire, or anything else for that matter. So, ruling that out, maybe a stone got kicked up into the shock?

mike278

These GLs are good about having the lower ball joint start squeaking when they get some age on them. You can check it by injecting some grease into the boot with a needle type grease gun (most parts stores have an adapter for your grease gun). It should quiet it down, but it won't fix it. It just confirms the location of the squeak.

alx

yes, absolutely. with the cold weather setting in all the gl trucks of some age on their lca bushings start sounding like dolphins having sex... lol... silicone grease quiets them down for a while though...