My 96 Explorer is carrying complaining BAD in the front suspension department. Any little bump in the road will emit a wonderful skreach. Also tends to be when I turn and am not at a high speed. Already rulled out a low power steering fluid.

I've had a couple of suggestions:

Sway Bar Bushings
Ball Joints



any other ideas?

Maybe the serpentine tensioner is losing it'* tension?, you say screetch so i dont see how it could be a front end part?

mmm, serp. belt? I'm SURE it isn't that. I've heard when that starts howling

Seal in rack and pinion steering??

If this is a WillWren style bait i'm gonna screeh....LOL

Lower ball joints. Common ford problem.

Also make sure you use Ford Only power steering fluid. ANy other fluid will make noise and give you problems. I fix I have used is to flush the system with the Lubeguard flush, and then add either the Ford specific fluid or use the Lubeguard Power Steering Fluid.
http://www.lubegard.com/automotive/pwrstr_flush.html

Check your belt tension John. That'* what mine was on the Zilla. I've replaced BOTH tensioners on that car in the last 60 days now.

You can use a torque wrench to see how much tension it has. Ball joints shouldn't screech. That'* an indicator of a high-frequency (spinning) failure.

It'* the ball joints. I had an old '97 X a few years ago and mine suffered from that. A good place to go and look up the problem is http://www.explorerforum.com

Thanks for all the input! I REALLY appriciate it! Going to tear into in the next coupla days! I'll keep you posted!

http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=32

For my F150, this site is simply the best. I hope you get 1/2 as much out of it as I do.