Creeking sound

[Zing]

When I turn the steering wheel right or left driving a slow speeds, such as getting in an out of parking spots, I have a loud creeking sound. Feels like it's somewhere in the steering mechanism because I can almost cause it to happen when I turn the wheel. Is there a joint I need to grease somewhere?

I've had the H2 exactly a year with 10K miles and haven't greased any joints yet.

[Zing]

When I turn the steering wheel right or left driving a slow speeds, such as getting in an out of parking spots, I have a loud creeking sound. Feels like it's somewhere in the steering mechanism because I can almost cause it to happen when I turn the wheel. Is there a joint I need to grease somewhere?

I've had the H2 exactly a year with 10K miles and haven't greased any joints yet.

[Zing]

When I turn the steering wheel right or left driving a slow speeds, such as getting in an out of parking spots, I have a loud creeking sound. Feels like it's somewhere in the steering mechanism because I can almost cause it to happen when I turn the wheel. Is there a joint I need to grease somewhere?

I've had the H2 exactly a year with 10K miles and haven't greased any joints yet.

[Dan]

Mine has been creaking on the driver's front since Paragon. Its that damn black mud. Is it the same creak we heard in PA? Mine seems to do it most when turning to the right.

I've greased the front end and it didn't help. I think its the a-arm bushing area.

One of the techs here suggested to see if the lower a-arm bolt has loosened. Have to look at that this weekend...

[Arizona Hummerboy]

I got the same problem, I thought the front end was going out, or the steering wheel was going out. I took it into the dealer ship, they could not find anything wrong with it. I am buying a grease gun today, and I taking off the skid plate and I am going to grease everything I can find that has a grease fitting. That creaking sound is driving me nuts. I am ready to take it out and 4 wheel in it to see if I and get ride of the noise.

[PewterPower]

I have had two different repairs to fix first the creaking and then a clunking-feel when turning to the left while moving. The first repair they took something in the steering shaft apart and lubricated and re-installed. This last time they replaced the mid-steering shaft.....it seems to have fixed the problem. I have 36K miles.

[alecs wife]

Before going futher, remove the skid plat and try to simulate the creeking again. If the creeking is gone you found your problem.

Mine use to do the same thing all the time. It also drove me crazy. Once I removed the skid plate it stoped. To keep the noise away use rubber bushings with the bolts between the plat and the frame.

[Zing]

Dan, yeah it's that creeking sound that I showed you in Paragon...so you seem to have it too.

I'll try the skid plate suggestion and poke around underneath. If not then I'll try the dealer, but I'm trying to avoid that.

[alecs wife]

Zing, was it the skid plate?

R2

[TMKHUM]

I've got the creaking and a popping sound.

there is a TSB for the popping sound...elongate the cross member bolt holes on the driver's side. I thought this was odd until I removed the cross member...the passenger side bolt holes are elongated from the factory. Anyways, I did the work, and I was creak/pop free for 2 weeks...it started again tonight. I think GM has a bit of design problem with the cross member...it looks to me that the bolting securing the cross member is not sufficient to keep the cross member and frame tied together without movement.

Any suggestions on this one are appreciated!

Also, if you do isolate the skid plate with rubber washers, on the back mounting points, you'll probably need two washers...cross member/washer/front bracket for 'tube protection'/washer/skid plate. The front bracket of the 'tube protection' is sandwiched betwen the frame and skid plate.

[Hummertech]

I know of the bulletin telling you to elongate the holes for the crossmember. Now, do you want to know how to really take care of that problem? Get an 18mm socket with a ratchet, and an 18mm wrench. Then tighten the hell out of it. You'll either need a breaker bar, or a cheater pipe. Tighten it probaly about 3/4 of a turn for each 4 bolts. Don't overdue it or you'll snap the bolts. Tighten them like this, and your noise will be gone.
One more thing, check the torque on the lf front lower control arm rear bolt.

[TroysH2]

Check to see if your front tires are rubbing on the front sway bar (there will be a wear/polished mark on the sway bar, most common on the passenger side when making hard/full left hand/ u-turns).

This would happen when pulling out of a parking space or making a left u-turn and if rubbing occurs, the pressure of the tire rubbing on the bar and the related stress may be making your creeking sound.
good luck

[RIC-H0]

I actually have mine in the shop for the second time in 2 weeks for a creaking/popping sound. The 1st time, the said it was improperly isolated body mounts. They re-isolated them, torqued them to spec and no more creaking was found. It went away for about a day. It then started doing it on both side(1st time was just driver side). So it's in the shop again, and lets see what they figure out this time.

Ric-H2

[Zing]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Hummertech:
I know of the bulletin telling you to elongate the holes for the crossmember. Now, do you want to know how to really take care of that problem? Get an 18mm socket with a ratchet, and an 18mm wrench. Then tighten the hell out of it. You'll either need a breaker bar, or a cheater pipe. Tighten it probaly about 3/4 of a turn for each 4 bolts. Don't overdue it or you'll snap the bolts. Tighten them like this, and your noise will be gone.
One more thing, check the torque on the lf front lower control arm rear bolt. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hummertech, could you be more specific about what bolt to tighten? Do you think that's all I need to do?

R2, I haven't tried the skid plate yet. But interestingly this creaking began right about when I but a huge dent in my skid plate???

[intimidator]

pull the skid plate down the steering linkage is hitting the plate. put the plate on the ground and pound it out. it's only 9 bolts

[Klaus]

Now might be a good time to get a Rubber Duck UCP. Here's a pic of the latest design.

[Hummertech]

If you look under your truck, you will see 2 crossmembers. A crossmember is a part of the frame that bolts from one frame rail to the other. Ther rear one, is at the rear of the transmission. The front one is under the rear of the engine. It is partially covered by the skid plates, but you can see the bolts for it without pulling the skid plates. Check those bolts. if you hear them pop as you're tightening them, then they weren't tight enough.

[rifle]

I had the creaking sound too. I think it is in the parking brake cable. The dealer added extra insulating/padding to the cable where it rubs on the frame. It went away for awhile but came back after off-roading. I think it is the sound transmitting through the parking brake cable. Drives me nuts too- now I just turn up the radio. If there is a permanent fix, please post it.

[Zing]

Hummertech, I tried tightening the crossmember bolts, they were fully tightened. The skid plate bolts, however, all needed another 1/2 turn, but it didn't fix the problem.

The more the listen to it, the more it seems something on the frame not tight. As opposed to the steering linkages needing grease. But I can't find it.

If anyone has success with this let me know.

[alecs wife]

Did you try to replicate without the skid plate?