How to stop rear suspension squeaks

[bokuglen]

The rear of my 74 bus started squeaking loudly on every bump. I can also step on the rear bumper and hear the squeaks, which seem to come from behind the spring plate covers, on both sides.

I tried spraying lube around that area, but no luck in quieting down. Is it safe to just remove the spring plate covers and apply some lube to the bushings?

[KentABQ]

Try spraying the bushings at the top and bottom of the shocks.
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-Kent-
1976 Riviera, 1.8l FI chrome yellow VAN - "Chloe"

"I must say, how can you be in a bad mood driving this vehicle full of vibrant color.
Cars of today are so bland in comparison. It's like driving a celebration!" ---WildIdea

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[telford dorr]

The rubber doughnuts on either side of the spring plates wear out, causing the torsion bar to start rubbing on things. You need to pull the covers and inspect. BUT, before you remove the covers, you need to prepare to reinstall them. Pull a cover bolt. Go to your favorite place where you get good quality bolts, and pick up four matching full thread bolts, maybe four (from memory here) inches long, and some nuts and washers. Once you pull the covers, the torsion bars will move out of position. Inspect the outer doughnut for wear. If it isn't really nice, replace both the inner and outer. Mark the torsion bar and spring plate so that you can get them realigned properly. Mark, then disconnect the spring plate from the axle housing. Pull the spring plate from the torsion bar, but leave the bar engaged with the center section. Clean everything. Using talc (baby powder) as a rubber lube, install new doughnuts, then reinstall the spring plate onto the torsion bar, aligning to your mark. Install the cover using the long bolts. Each bolt should have a nut and washer on it. Run the bolts in, then slowly and equally tighten down the nuts, forcing the cover plate to push the doughnut and torsion bar back into position. You'll have to jack the spring plate up to get it above the stop. Once the cover is on correctly, remove the long bolts, one at a time, and replace with the stock bolts. Reattach the spring plates to the rear axle hubs, carefully aligning with your marks. Torque to spec.
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[Davada66]

It sounds like the torsion bar on the axle, there are large rubber bushings compressed when reinstalling the bars, if you don't lubricate them with powered graphite they will squeak as the rubber wears out. It is a very difficult procedure to remove the plates and reinstall must be done by a mechanic

[aeromech]

Might only be the shock absorbers
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[SGKent]

As others said -

Real talc powder on new rubber bushings if it is the torsion tubes. Is a job, BTW those of you who do not have real talc better get some now because that huge judgement over talc and ovarian cancer is going to pull that product off the market.

Check the bolts on the shocks where they go into the body to be sure that there are no cracks. Sometimes when steel is cracking it will squeak. You can also spray some silicone spray on the shock bushings to see if that helps.
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[scrivyscriv]