2006gtmike

My installer is telling me this is caused by my Steeda Part#555-4109 Adjustable Upper Control Arm. But along with the UCA and LCA's he also installed a one-piece Dynotech driveshaft on my caralong with 3.73 FRPP Gears. He said he doesn't like installing these specific Steeda Competition/Street control arms. I don't understand if it's my UCA or the driveshaft. When I stay at a constant speed of 80 MPH, according to my speedometer, there is a loud sound that sounds almost like when you start up a ice maker and it's grinding the ice. It's sounds as if something is spinning very fast and scraping against something. As SOON as I accelerate above the 80 MPH tick mark or decelerate below 80 MPH the sound goes away. The noise seems to be coming from my driveshaft, but I could be wrong. The install guy is telling me the sound is coming from the UCA.

My installer is telling me to get rid of the Steeda UCA and demand that Steeda takethe part back and install a different brand UCA.

I was looking at the Steeda website and came across information in regards to spacers that may help...

"Stepped Spacer Details
This spacer is designed to fix the problem with the OEM upper link. At the attachment point for the upper link to the chassis mount Ford uses a 14mm bolt, but the opening in the mount is 16mm. This is not typically a problem with the OEM mount as it uses a soft hydra mount bushing to soften this. But once an aftermarket upper is installed with a urethane bushing can transmit this noise or clunk. This space can be installed with all aftermarket upper that still use a 14mm bolt. The stepped spacer takes up the slop and eliminates all noise from the upper. Note, it does work with aftermarket chassis mounts with smaller then 16mm bolt holes.

Please Note:
All Steeda Upper Third Links produced on or after February 2007 include the Stepped Spacers."

I bought the Steeda Upper Control Arm from stangsuspension.com and they told me my control arm didn't come with the spacers. My installer said spacers were not installed either. So could this be a solution?

I already talked to Steeda but they told me there should be no noise and to go to a different installer.
I am going to call Steeda back and mention these spacers.

Any feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Mpaint99

Good to Know about the spacers.

crozerstang

There's already been a couple of posts on the noise you describe (ice maker is a great description), my car does it as well, I've been trying to work it out and here is what I found

- Noise happens when car is cold and in cold weather
- Noise happens in 5th gear only and doesn't go away when you press the clutch in
- Noise even happens when engine is turned off and car coasts in 5th gear with clutch depressed
- I can get the noise to stop by moving out of 5th, I can even make the noise go away by shifting from 5th to 4th while coasting (with the clutch in all the time)

I think it's a tranny problem related to 5th gear when cold, maybe there is a syncro on 5th or something which in really cold ambients is spinning (shrunk onto the shaft because of contraction), when warm it frees up. Something else that sound like an ice maker is a bad roller bearing, but that shouldn't improve when the car is warm.

I'm taking mine to the dealer cos it's really iritating me,

moosestang

I would try turning your driveshaft at the pinion flange 180 degrees first thing. Torque the bolts to 41 ft lbs in a crossing pattern. Next up i'd try making small adjustments to your pinion angle.

bodyman

sounds like you have pinion binding.

2006gtmike

Now I am noticing a slight loud rotational grinding noise when I brake slowly and/or decelerate from 10 MPH to a complete stop. I don't really notice it on acceleration though...YET. It seems to occur more when I first start the car either due to the cold temps and/or rainy weather. It sounds like I'm running a garbage disposal. Maybe they installed one under my car, haha...or a Mr. Fusion.

r-chri12

I AM A FORD SENIOR MASTER TECH AND HAVE BEEN FIGHTING THIS ON A CUSTOMERS CAR FOR AWHILE,I,VE HAD THE DIFF OUT 3 DIFFERENT TIMES DOUBLE AND TRIPLE CK,ING MY SET UP,EVERYTHING IS WITH IN SPECS,I,VE SENT THE DRIVESHAFT OUT TO A LOCAL SHOP TO HAVE THE BALANCE CK,D,THEY REBALANCED IT(CUSTOM 1 PIECE DRIVESHAFT) AND REPLACED THE U-JOINTS,NOISE IS STILL THERE.I THINK THE NEXT STEP WILL BE TO CHANGE THE UPPER CONTROL ARM(HAS A CUSTOM ADJUSTABLE CONTROL ARM) THIS CAR HAS BEEN LOWERED CUSTOMER REAR TRAILING ARMS,SUPERCHARGED (AFTERMARKET) AND THE LIST GOES ON,THE CUSTOMER JUST PURCHASED IT FROM OUR DEALERSHIP AND WE,VE HAD IT LONGER THAN HE HAS,THIS CAR BELONGED TO SOMEONE THAT MADE IT A ROUSH CLONE,IT,S BEEN HIGHLY MODIFIED WITH WHAT BRAND AFTERMARKET PARTS I DO NOT KNOW,I,M GOING TO LOOK INTO THESE STEEDA UCA BUSHING,S NEXT,THE SOUND DOES SEEM TO TRANSMIT THROUGH THE VEHICLE LIKE SOMETHING GROUNDED OUT ON THE BODY,I,LL LET YOU ALL KNOW WHAT I COME UP WITH