Squeaky Suspension

Hi Paul & Beccy,

Its called the "honeymoon spring syndrome". It happened to us & proved to be quite an embarresment in caravan parks, as each move in the van resulted in a squeek. They must have thought we were a pair of randy old buggers.
Our problem on our 20' BT occurred at about 2-3000km.
Contacted BT on our return who advised that it is normal wearing in when the springs make a seat for themselves. The problem went away after about another 1000km.
There are no grease points, but we found a squirt with WD40 kept us quiet in van parks.
Problem has not re-occurred since & were up to about 65000km now.
Enjoy it while you can

Neil

Ditto to us on our last trip, started to squeek and grind and sounded bloody awful but then went away and has not come back.

Cheers
Stewart

This squeak normally comes from the spring ends where they are retained by the "Top Hat" shaped section. The part held on by 2 large bolts at each end.

The squeak can usually be eliminated by squirting some TAC2 high pressure grease around the area, it will eventually work it's way in.
A neater job can be done by jacking the end of the spring up to give clearance and then squirting the grease in.

This also has the advantage of prolonging the life of these parts that usually have to be replaced after about 80,000k.

Regards
Bob

Same to us in Derby - REALLY annoying/embarrassing.
Found that the Hand brakes (NO! Not THE Handbrake of Roothy ilk) had become very slack and when I adjusted them the squeak went away!
Appears that I thought the hand brake was on but the pads were simply not holding firm against the drums.
After adjustment - no more squeaks! Sounds like an Ultra Tune advert eh!
We had just completed our "runner" from Mt Elizabeth to Derby through some really sloppy, wet, deep muddy (and CLOSED) Gibb River Road terrain and I wonder if the mud etc caused any extra brake wear problems. Will find out in next few weeks as I need to service the brakes and wheel bearings again after our 8 week 11700 kilometre stint and before we set to SE Qld for Christmas with our youngest and his family
Now just do NOT make any more of the "Handbrake adjustment" stopping the annoying squeaks in the BT - PLEASE?
Cheers - Ian & Sally

Wow! thanks to all for the FAST info!! our BT has done over 20k now and we had not really noticed the noise because the car is extremely soundproofed, we always thought that people were attracted to the great lines of the BT when we passed! thanks again for your help will try the lubrication thing! Glad that it wasn't a bearing thing, had that happen at Douglas Daly NT a couple of weeks ago and once again didn't hear anything, shattered the port front bearing and destroyed the stub axle with that the entire swing arm assembly!! A new one arrived 10 days later and then there was the fun job of replacement. So to reinforce make sure that you feel your wheel hubs EVERY STOP to check the temps believe me you don't want to learn the hard way!! :-(

All the best

Paul & Beccy

I had the same problem last week in Elvis my 16 ft BT. I was squashed in between two other vans and every time I made the smallest movement in the van it would start to moan / sqeak . In the quiet times at night , this got very embarassing as even if I rolled over in bed , off it would go .

I guess legs at each end would stop the movement , but I would like to keep it as simple as possible at the moment .

I will try the grease too.

Thanks ,

Willie .

Didn't get around to greasing it, just did the NT to Burketown then to Normanton crap road and I guess that the suspension got tired of squeaking seems fine now. Also and add a xantrex 1800w inverter as a casualty, one of the capacitors have snapped off. Anyone fix them in Cairns?? If I was rich I would donate a grader to the poor QLD govt so they can grade some of their rds over here!

Our best to all
Paul and Beccy

just did the NT to Burketown then to Normanton crap road and I guess that the suspension got sick of squeaking seems fine now.

Camped the last couple of nights on the banks of the Normanton river 2 kms off the blacktop on very hard clay surface, at about 0530 VERY HEAVY RAIN!! But it hasn't seen rain here for months!! the hard ground quickly became a quagmire! no time for a neat pack-up!! Very very lucky to escape that one apparently the clay takes weeks and weeks to dry out. No sign of rain all night crystal clear starry sky's no idea where that storm came from!
We were very lucky that:
1. It rained at daybreak (could hardly see the track with a small amount of light because of flooding).
2. Had the car fitted with as it was Cooper STT's not good on asphalt great in mud!
3. The BT's tyres were still at low pressure because of the corrugations from the day before.
4. The 4X4 was a Discovery 3, great in boggy ground as the CPU puts the power to the wheels most deserving.

Lesson: always be ready for anything

Sometimes you get a little bit too relaxed when travelling, nothing kie a burst of adrenaline to get the old ticker pumping!!
All the Best
Kenso