Could this be the cause of my unidentified squeak?

[aarobyn]

So I've had an unidentified squeak since February. It's at it's worst when the loader is full, when bouncing around, and when making hard turns. It seems to come from the right side of the tractor.

Sometimes it sounds more rubbery, and other times more metallic.

While poking around under the tractor today, I noticed that there are some rubber and metal somethings (I don't know their name) at the end of the rods that connect from the front of the tractor to the wheels. The rubber is degrading, and what appears to be a metal ring inside the rubber is split (not sure it by design or not) such that I can move it back and forth by hand.

Could this be the cause of the mysterious squeak? Is it hard to fix?

Thanks for the input!

 

[aarobyn]

The picture is upside down - the right one is pictured on the left and from below.

 

[Utopia Texas]

Those rubber boots are there to keep dirt out of the ball joints and to hold grease. Are there grease zerks on the other side of the joints not seen in the picture?

 

[skyhook]

Those aren"t ball joints, looks like tie rod ends.

 

[Mysfyt]

I really doubt they are the source of your squeak. I would try greasing every zerk fitting on your tractor and paying attention to the ones that won't take grease. I'm guessing here, but I suspect it's your front axle pivot point that is the culprit. Sometimes those fittings are hard to find.

 

[k0ua]

The most likely source of your squeak is loose wheel lug nuts/bolts. They are busy "egging out" your wheels... Tighten to spec in your manual with a torque wrench... The spec is way higher than a typical car or truck by the way.

 

[franklinute]

While poking around under the tractor today, I noticed that there are some rubber and metal somethings (I don't know their name) at the end of the rods that connect from the front of the tractor to the wheels. The rubber is degrading, and what appears to be a metal ring inside the rubber is split (not sure it by design or not) such that I can move it back and forth by hand.

Those are tierod ends. You can replace the rubber boots that keep dirt out. The tapered stud that has the castle nut on it should not be
moving. If it is it needs tightening or the slop will egg shape the hole where the tierod connects to the pitman arm which is not good.
There should be a grease fitting on a pivot pin in the center of your tractors front axle. You should be able to grease it.

 

[SPYDERLK]

The most likely source of your squeak is loose wheel lug nuts/bolts. They are busy "egging out" your wheels... Tighten to spec in your manual with a torque wrench... The spec is way higher than a typical car or truck by the way.

^^#1^^

I really doubt they [tie rod ends] are the source of your squeak. I would try greasing every zerk fitting on your tractor and paying attention to the ones that won't take grease. I'm guessing here, but I suspect it's your front axle pivot point that is the culprit. Sometimes those fittings are hard to find.

^^Yes! Have you been greasing all the metal somethings?^^

 

[Baby Grand]

^^ As James and Larry have suggested, wheel lug nuts can make that noise.
Also, check your FEL mounting bolts - where the FEL sub-frame bolts to the tractor.
This should be part of your regular walk-around with a wrench, before you start working the tractor, on some kind of regular basis.

To follow up on Larry's comment about the Zerks that don't take grease - sometimes you need to force old, hardened grease out, and sometimes you need to reorient the pivot that the Zerk feeds.

For the first case you can get a tool that is made to force the grease through the Zerk.

For the second case - and I know I'm not explaining this second part well, but I'll give it a try - sometimes the position of the load will cause the opening the grease passes thru to get blocked. Basically, there's a pin that rotates in a bore. The grease enters the space between the pin and bore thru a cross-drilled hole. If the load is such that the pin is contacting the bore right where the cross-drilled hole is, it can block the flow of grease. So reorienting the load can free up the hole, allowing the grease to flow into the joint.
-Jim
-Jim

 

[PILOON]

Most Zerk problems are dried hard caked grease.
Often a light tap on the tiny ball valve clears the problem and if that fails heat from a plumber torch most often frees things up.
If all that fails change the Zerk as they are cheap.