Hey thank you so much for posting this video. I've been racking my head trying to figure this out. Mine is 14 GC 5.7 with 103k. This just started up last week when our temp really dropped.
Thanks again
Countjoe

 

A little bit of creek has come back on the passenger side after a week.... ...it was cold out when I did this and the sun setting, so I rushed the job a bit....

So I look it over, my torque wrench was set to 120ft-lbs, the actual spec in the FSM Is 129 ft-lbs, so I retorqued the bolts to the proper torque and gave it another 16th of a turn...... ...that improved it, but didn't eliminate it, still a bit of creaking on the passenger side....

There are also posts about the bent up A brackets causing the noise as well.... ...and my passenger side A bracket is bent up, its a perfect spot for placing a jack stand underneath it, but will bend it up, the bending it up will cause contact with the metal parts of the bushing, so slight motion that will cause a creaking noise....

A little pounding with a drift and hammer, again improved it, but didn't totally eliminate it...... ....now I'm looking into replacing the A brackets.....

 

I got brand new A brackets and bolts and installed them. No more noise, what so ever.....

Where these A brackets are located, they are perfect for putting jack stands under them. So as well as water getting into the bolt holes and causing corrosion that creates noise, the A brackets can be bent up from putting jack stands under them and they make contact on parts they're not supposed to, thus a little shifting cause metal to metal rubbing...

 

Thank you for posting this. And especially for the part numbers! I'm going to try this fix on my '14 SRT. It squeaks like an old rocking chair. Thanks again!!!

 

Have the same shit. Do I have to jack the car up?

 

No, I was able to both remove and clean up the bolts, then later completely replace the braces and bolts with the vehicle level on the ground.

But it does take a lot of torque to move the big bolt, and it rusts, so in some cases you might need to put it up on jack stands and remove the tires to get the leverage for stubborn bolts.....

 

@Mongo53 Your post just clarified my issue. I've been beating my head against the driveway trying to figure this creaking out. Thank you. I think I will be replacing these A brackets as well.

Do you have a part number for these A brackets?

 

BRACKET, Crossmember, Left	52124643AB	1​
BRACKET, Crossmember, Right	52124642AB	1​
BOLT AND WASHER, Hex Head, M14X1.50X147.00	06509240AA	2​
BOLT AND WASHER, Hex Head, M8x1.25x20, Cradle Bracket to Body	06104384AA	6​

This is from the 2011 Parts Catalog, you might want to confirm if its changed in later years.

They are not expensive if you order from a Dealer Online, even cheaper if you can find them Ebay, even cheaper since you don't have to pay S&H.

Once you replace them, never rest them on jackstands or jacks again. My old were scalloped, basically bowed, compared to the new. It was touching other metal pieces, because the bracket was bowed up, so the slightest shifting made them scrape and creak.

 

BRACKET, Crossmember, Left	52124643AB	1​
BRACKET, Crossmember, Right	52124642AB	1​
BOLT AND WASHER, Hex Head, M14X1.50X147.00	06509240AA	2​
BOLT AND WASHER, Hex Head, M8x1.25x20, Cradle Bracket to Body	06104384AA	6​

Really appreciate this. I have a 2021 JGC Trailhawk and I just finished painting my calipers - of course I placed the jack stands on these cross members when I was removing the calipers. So, now the passenger front side makes creaking/squeeking noise. I purchased the parts earlier today from my local dealer to make the repair.

The large bolt requires ~130 foot/lbs of torque. Do you know the torq values of the small bolts?

Thanks again for this.

 

The 2nd time around, I didn't bother with a torque wrench. I torqued down the smaller bolts hard and the big bolts for all I was worth. No squeak.

Actually, I used my electric impact wrench. Small bolts let it run down till tight, big bolts let it run for a good 5 secs of it notching the bolts down.

 

The 2nd time around, I didn't bother with a torque wrench.

Thanks for the additional info. I will make the repair this evening. Last night I put my (calibrated) torque wrench on the small bolts and mine were torqued to exactly 30 ft/lbs.

 

I just fixed my thump/squeak a couple of months ago. One of my large bolts was improperly torqued which made a thumping noise when enter small ditches at speed.

 

Does anyone have an updated video/audio of the symptoms here to share? The OP video no longer works. TYIA

 

I’ll get one for you later, I’m gonna attempt to bang mine back into normal position with a hammer. It’s like an old creaky floorboard when braking at low speed or taking turns slowly.

 

So I think I have it, but minor version. Which is why I'm wondering what it sounds like. Only happens when I'm going slow through a parking lot, or pulling out of a stop sign, etc. Does that sound right?

 

yeah that’s the only time it happens to me, at low speed. I took a video for you, but how do I even post a video in here? I can’t figure it out

 

Yep! Able to see video and hear the noise. Thank you so much!!

If that's a 10/10, mine is like 2 or 3/10. Are these only on the front or on all 4 corners because it's been seemingly impossible for me to isolate the noise (feel like it's on one corner then hear it on another corner and feel like I'm going mad).

 

There’s brackets in the back, but not in a place where’d you jack it up. As far as I know this should really only happen in the front

 

A couple of points I forgot.....
Soaking Undercarraige bolts with WD-40 or any penetrating oil everyday for several days before you remove them goes a long a way in allowing bolts to break free easier if they have corroded from road chemicals and water.

There is also speculation that the bolt hole traps water and gets in the threads, causing it to corrode and the corrosion can cause the noise as well as the bracket being bent up. Other accounts, and mine as well, when I first pulled that large bolt that goes through the rear poins of the sub-frame a good cup of water drained out of the bolt hole and the bolt threads were very rusty. So your brackets could not be bent at all and its simple corrosion on the bolt causing the noise.

 

Did your car make a splish/splash noise like water was trapped in the frame somewhere when you are parked and just rocking the body?

 

Thank you I'll continue on my search

 

Yep, concur with lcg42, that is not the sound, you're recording sounds like a squeek... ....the bent brackets is a definitive creak....

 

Replacing Drivers and Passenger side crossmember brackets

Planning on replacing the cross member brackets on my 2012 Overland as I am trying to get rid of the creaking that seems to be caused by bent brackets. Planning on getting these parts 52124642AB, 52124643AB My question is what is the procedure of removing the brackets? Not sure if the Jeep...

www.jeepgarage.org

Oh I just found this thread to be helpful. If anyone has any other directions or photos/videos, please link them!

 

Great shot of exactly what causes the problems, those little rub marks. There are metal tabs sticking out of the back of the cradle, I'm guessing they are for assembly to lift the cradle up into the body to bolt it up, that are only a fraction of inch from the brace. You put something on the brace to support the vehicle, since its in such a convenient spot to put a jack stand, the light metal brace will bend and then touch that tab. The cradle is mounted with big rubber bushings to isolate vibrations and allow some shifting of the cradle with forces. So as the cradle shifts the tiniest bit with the rubber bushings, its rubbing metal to metal on that bent brace and makes a creaking noise. The rub marks are what were making your creaking noise. A new straight brace returns that fraction of an inch clearance from the metal tab on the cradle.

I bet you saw what we talking about with only removing one bolt to the "cradle" at a time. When you pulled that big bolt that goes through both the brace and cradle, you saw despite the strong welded metal tube sub-frame, there was so much weight on it, it sagged down a good half-inch from the weight on it.... ....so you can imagine what might happen if you left the big bolt out on the one side and go and pull the big bolt on the other side, the whole cradle/sub-frame might bend a lot and maybe even permanently with all the bolts on the rear of it out.

 

Is this the same sound? Couldn't watch the other videos or iCloud link. It's coming from the front passenger side.

 

I wish I recorded a video of it. Mine sounded much louder and more intrusive than that. Almost sounds like stepping on loose floorboards. Very noticeable at “creaking” sound on start/stop acceleration/deceleration and not as noisy at speed.

 

Great thread and thank you for the thread. You can see the damage I did by jacking up the vehicle in the wrong place. I first thought it was do to the spacers and it was driving me insane trying to figure it out. I replaced both cross member braces without even having to jack up the vehicle. Back to a quiet squeak/creak-less ride.

 

Had my mechanic follow the instructions to remove bolts one at a timem clean and lubricate then torque to oem spec.
No more creak. The housings were full of water and bolts rusty. Jeep dealer had no clue. Changed by struts when it was in warranty. This did not fix it. Thanks for this post. If problem returns I may change to the brackets and replace bolts and washers. Cheers, Phil
Brisbane Australia

 

Yeah, I am victim of my own stupidity by bending these brackets. Replaced front upper control arms recently and had the Jeep on stands on these brackets instead of the pinch welds like it should have been. After my install, I thought my control arms were squeaking, but it was the bent subframe connectors pushing up.
Replaced both of them and replaced one of my bolts as it was water logged and corroded. The other side was great.

 

Glad I stumbled across this thread! My GC has been creaking near the front of the chassis starting a couple months after I bought it, I just assumed it was because I tweaked something while offroading. I also just assumed it was something I'd have to live with forever, since it wasn't really worth spending a bunch of time and money to try to resolve. Since I have most certainly used this bracket as a jack point MANY times, this is almost certainly the cause! For $100 all-in, this is absolutely worth trying out. I just ordered everything, I'll give it a try and see if it's fixed after this! And I've got rock sliders now, so I'm definitely not using these brackets as jack points ever again.

What the heck were we supposed to use for jack points in the front, if not these brackets?!? There's really no other obvious place to put a jack.

Once I swap these out (hopefully it fixes it!) I think I'm going to figure out a way to put labels on them saying "Do not use as a jack point!" to make sure tire shops, etc, don't mess them up again.

 

....What the heck were we supposed to use for jack points in the front, if not these brackets?!? There's really no other obvious place to put a jack....

I've been using the frame rail part of the body, just behind the brace, there is a little crook in it that fits the jackstand well. But it requires the jack stand to be perpendicular to the body and a lot of jack stands are not square footing, so many might not be as stable longitudinally than when you can place the jack stand parallel with the vehicle. Putting the jackstand parallel with the vehicle, makes the brace very attractive to put the jackstand under.

 

The creaking comes from the subframe shifting a bit on the big rubber bushings it mounts on. This is when the weight shifts front/rear or rear/front at low speeds, like driving in a parking lot. The slightest braking or accelerating, results in a creek, and only at low speeds. If you look above the brace, you can see a tab sticking out of the back of the sub-frame, probably there for assembly, if the brace is touching the tab, it is because its bent, its the two parts touching that creates the creak.

Another common one for the WK2, if it has the QT2 or QD2 4WD system, is the clunk (noise and feel) while pulling out from a dead stop with more than a mild acceleration. It occurs a second, or a few feet, from pulling out from the stop. The MP3023 transfer case uses a wet clutch to transfer torque/power to the front drivetrain, if the transfer case fluid (ATF+4) is degraded or low, the wet clutch will engage abruptly and cause the drivetrain wind up and clunk noise and feel. If your motor mounts are worn (another common fail for the WK2) it will contribute to this. Fresh ATF+4 usually solves this.

If you have QT1 4WD system, then you have the MP2010 transfer case that uses a planetary gear set instead of the wet clutch pack, it would not clunk from degraded fluid.

If your creek or clunk are occurring outside the parameter I just described, then its likely something else causing it.

 

Thanks for that info! I have QT2, but the clunk is for sure not the transfer case. It happens when I hit little bumps in the road, almost sounds like a loose undercarriage plate bouncing around. That was why my first thought was struts. If replacing these brackets doesn't fix the clunk, then I'll eventually try the struts next (as I already have new ones sitting in my garage, waiting to be installed). I'm betting the creaking is definitely these brackets though, so most likely this will resolve at least one of my annoying noises, if not both

 

You guys are AWESOME! I just installed my new brackets and bolts from Mopar (all the part numbers shown on the first page of this thread are still valid for my 2019), and the creaking and squeaking is all gone! It went from sounding like I was driving an old 1965 cargo van down the road, to now nice and smooth and quiet like a proper modern luxury car Never lifting my car from those brackets again!

Some installation notes (some of these already mentioned by others, but just for the sake of having it all in one place)

1. As already mentioned by others, DO NOT remove both brackets at the same time. Always leave one of them fully installed while you work on the other one.
2. You'll need a 21mm socket for the large bolts (13mm for the small bolts)
3. I drove my car onto ramps so I had more room to work underneath
4. Support the subframe with a floorjack while you remove the large bolts - it's not required, but it makes it easier to get the bolt out, and also faster to get the new one in.
5. I couldn't get the large bolt to budge with my Dewalt 1/2 impact driver. A 24" breaker bar does the trick.
6. Lithium grease all over the threads on the big bolts, except on the part of the thread which has factory threadlocker pre-applied on it.
7. Torque the large bolts to 129ft/lb, the small bolts to at least 15ft/lb (I did 20, just to be sure it stays put), but don't go too crazy, they really don't need to be that tight as they aren't really doing much besides keeping the bracket from flopping around.

The whole job took me about 30 minutes per side.

 

Eyyyy congrats!

 

Wow thanks for this thread, I Recently purchased a brand new 2021 Altitude and At 500km I developed the symptoms, it drove me insane trying to figure out the noise. I went under and re tightened the bolts and shot some grease and it's super quiet now , I also tightened the upper strut bolts to wich seemed loose for a brand new vehicle
Thanks so much!