47-59 Rattles & Squeaks

[Father&son56project]

I am currently hunting down the sources of rattles and squeaks in my S10 swap truck (Project Fargolet), and as I do this I keep saying to myself “I really need to pay more attention to common sources of rattles and squeaks during the build, rather than debugging it at the end”. So I am gonna toss this question out to the members of this board:

What steps do you take during the build, to avoid rattles and squeaks?

I’m curious to see what everyone else does.

[mr48chev]

Never use an S-10 frame to start but that is just me.

First when you remove any of the factory braces from the front end sheetmetal you stand a chance of creating a squeak. the braces that go between the fenders and the firewall, The cross braces that are in front of the radiator that stabilize the core support and the whole front end. That is my personal experience, not only is it a lot harder to line up the sheet metal those braces do a lot to to keep the metal from moving around and squeaking as I had a ton of squeeks when I thought I didn't need the fender to firewall braces and had a heck of a time getting gaps right.
All of those gaskets and seals between the sheet metal that a lot of us don't think we need incuding the fender welts. The factory used them so the trucks wouldn't have so many squeaks.
Any place on the body where you have metal to metal contact where you shouldn't have including the body mounts. Meaning when you built or installed the mounts did you install rubber isolators of some sort?

Old dry Chevy A frame bushings tend to squeak no matter what Chevy they are on if the bushings weren't replaced on the Front A frames. They can also squeak if you tighten the bolts/nuts on the shafts without the full static weight sitting on the tires when you tighten them as you are putting them in a bind. That's on any front end that has rubber control arm bushings.

Coil springs can squeak in their pockets in the frame or the A frame.
Rear leaf springs can squeak from metal to metal contact.

Shock bushings that were overtightened can squeak.

Most of mine was front end sheet metal moving around because it wasn't braced right though.

[_Ogre]

I don't have many squeaks or rattles, but the wind noise drives me nuts
Face it, nothing aerodynamic about our trucks

[mr48chev]

After I put the Camaro subframe under my truck and left out a few of the braces in the front end I left for Texas with 35 miles on the just put together truck. It developed a couple of squeaks in every state between Toppenish and McGregor, Tx. Usually it is what you didn't do or put on that is what causes squeaks. My list of should have used but didn't and should have done but didn't on that assembly would fill two pages and squeak wise if there has been a mistake made I surely made it.

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by Father&son56project

I am currently hunting down the sources of rattles and squeaks in my S10 swap truck (Project Fargolet), and as I do this I keep saying to myself “I really need to pay more attention to common sources of rattles and squeaks during the build, rather than debugging it at the end”. So I am gonna toss this question out to the members of this board:

What steps do you take during the build, to avoid rattles and squeaks?

I’m curious to see what everyone else does.

I never have many squeaks or rattles on my s10 swaps and I think its because I use the factory isolation style rubber cab mounts. I remember you did too but not on the front?

I also put all the factory stiffeners back in, like the rods to keep the fenders from waving.

it could be your hood is a lot of it, take it off and run around. your hood is like the 41-46 chevy (which I am doing the kit for now) and it rubs EVERYWHERE, no way to isolate it.

[Father&son56project]

My truck is actually pretty squeak & rattle free on paved roads. Once I hit a washboard stretch of a gravel road, it’s a whole other story! I have the proper S10 isolators on the cab, but on the rad cradle I have just a rubber pad. I have all of the welting and braces in place as well. A lot of my noises on washboard surfaces actually originate inside the cab itself. That Mopar heater was a bad one (not a great design in terms of preventing the heater box from wiggling and squeaking). The doors still have some squeaks, but again, not on a paved road. I also have to wonder just how squeak & rattle free these trucks were when they were new. We have all gotten used to modern vehicles that are very good at providing a quiet ride. Maybe this truck is actually normal for something built in the 40’s!

I didn’t put this question out there to get help debugging my truck. Rather I was curious about any tips & tricks that others use during a build to prevent problems. Some good points have been raised!

[edgeleycanuck]

It's a good question to ask. I think both yourself and Russ probably have your noises explained with the vintage vehicle and engine hood the likely culprits respectively.
My point doesn't help with squeaks or rattles necessarily but I would definitely use some sort of spray on sound deadner(lizard skin etc.), on as much as reasonably possible, on another vehicle, I didn't think of it early enough on in my build.

[mr48chev]

I'm going to say, don't leave any of the anti squeak bits that the factory installed and go from there.

I was thinking lizard skin on mine along with the heat and noise insulation. We have a couple of long cross country drives in the cards just after the truck is done and both of us have already earned our full compliments of creds for riding in a hot windy truck with little or no insulaton and way too many rattles and squeaks.

[rnrdthefox]

I can't speak to our trucks specifically because I'm still building mine, but I have built other projects. In my 71 bronco, I spent a lot of time putting down both bed liner, dynamat in the doors, firewall, bed sides, etc. On top of this I also put in sound deadening under the carpet. I've also used graphite on bushings and other areas prone to squeaks during assembly.

After 50K miles in the bronco since the resto and driving on everything from highways to backcountry passes in CO, I'm noticing that I'm getting more resonances on dirt roads due to the bushings in the suspension starting to break down.

I drove it for a few years before I took the time to kill all the noises. All of the points above makes a huge difference.

I plan to use lizard spray (thermal and sound) on the 53's floor, firewall, cab wall below the window and celling. The doors will get dynamat or something similar. Then the normal upholstery work on top of that. Under the dash, I will be making brackets for all the electronics and likely put a bar across underneath to tie the wiring and other accessories to. Vibrations over time are bad, some you can hear and some you can't. But all create potential fatigue in wiring and electronics over time. Secure everything that you can.