"Squeaky" '01 Tundra following new shock replacement

I have a 2001 Tundra that just turned 80K on the clock and it needed new tires and shocks recently. I had the tires installed at a local tire dealer but they did not have access to anything but OEM shocks. I went to my freindly neighborhood parts shop (independently owned, not a chain) and within 24 hours he had four new Monroe shocks for the truck.

He recommended an independent shop to install them which they did that morning. While pulling through my parking garage at work the next day, I noticed that the truck was squeaking from every quadrant, making it sound years older that it really is.

I figured it was the new rubber gaskets and patiently waited for some rain to drive through, thinking that after the rubber got wet it may 'set' and the squeaks would be gone.

SInce we are in a moderate drought here in North Georgia, there has been no rain in weeks so I stopped back by the shop who installed the shocks to see what they would recommend.

"Just give each rubber grommet a quick squirt of WD-40 and that should take care of it" was the answer.

5 minutes with a can of WD seemed to fix the squeaks, but my question is two fold. 1) Why would brand new shocks with new rubber mountings squeak in the first place? and 2) I cannot imagine this fix being permanent so am I destined to be crawling below the truck every few months to add a spritz of WD to the noisy mounts?

TIA for any information or suggestions.

pr

PS-the shocks have made the truck return to its former Interstate form...it rides beautifully and handles so much better. The Goodyear Fortera tires make one fourth the noise of the former Toyo tires and I have gained 2 mpg to boot!

Reply to
BozoDClown
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Used wrong e-mail addy on original post....

pr

Reply to
BozoDclown

I have never encountered a shock squeak that couldn't be solved by just tightening the bottom bolt or the top nuts down. I think that the Monroe shocks that you have may not be a good fit. A squeak is an indication that parts are moving relative to each other which shouldn't happen with shock mounting points.

I encountered a similar problem with my 84 Nissan 4x4. Monroe claimed to have aftermarket OEM replacement front shocks for it, but they kept wearing out. Every time I went to buy a new pair, they had a different part number and/or a different design. Eventually, I had to go to Rancho offroad shocks after three sets of Monroe wore out (no one else made shocks for that truck)

My 92 Toyota 4x4 had a similar problem, but not as bad. I went back to Toyota front shocks, and the wear has improved as well as the ride. I think they often try to fit "similar" shocks into as many vehicles as possible and sometimes get poor fits on a few vehicles.

Reply to
crashq

Crash...

Thank you for the quick reply. I guess I should have come here first for some advice before doing the shocks but if the squeaking is due to a 'bad' fit I'll just keep dousing it with lube to keep it quiet until they wear out and by the sound of it, Monroes wear out pretty quickly. Oh well.....

pr

Reply to
pr

Just a note to say that Monroe and Rancho are the same company...Tenneco.

Ken

Reply to
Ken Shelton

That doesn't mean that they are the same product, however.

Reply to
Brad Taylor

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