Based on how loud it squeaks - I’d guess rubber on rubber but ….that’s just a guess.
If it's a rubber squeak it probably means a torn bushing. None of the rubber bushings get lubricated, with normal function the rubber doesn't slide or spin on any of the surfaces. The normal suspension movement should just be the rubber flexing one way or the other. So if you have a rubber squeak it means the rubber is sliding over a surface it wasn't supposed to slide on.
You could try to isolate the noise further, you have rubber bushings at the UCA, LCA, and one end of the strut rods. Unless you have a sway bar, in which case you also have end link and sway bar bushings. If you can isolate it you could just change the bushing in question instead of a wholesale suspension rebuild. But if everything was replaced at the same time you'll probably just end up right back where you started when the next one goes bad.
I’ve never worked on this part of the car and I’m no longer a young man. If it needs a rebuild - is it something that a novice could do after buying the necessary parts? I realize that I’d need to have the car professionally aligned after doing this. I’m also wondering how many hours this task might take if I’m able to rent space on a lift at a near-by military base.
Replacing the bushings themselves really isn't something that requires a ton of skill, but it does require some specialized tools. You'll have to loosen the torsion bar adjusters, then slide the torsion bars back. The shocks get removed, then the spindles will need to be broken loose from the ball joints. Remove the strut rod nuts, loosen the pivot shaft nuts and slide the LCA out of the K frame, then you've got the UCA's.
The UCA bushings can be removed with a tool like this, in fact I prefer this to a press because it's just about impossible to bend the UCA with this...
The lower control arm bushings are the trick, they're a pain in the ***.
@Jim Lusk has a video showing a couple methods to remove them...
I personally use the tap method to remove the outer shells, it's so much easier. But you need to buy the tap, although they're pretty cheap on eBay most of the time. I paid less than $20 for mine. Either that or you weld a washer to the outer shell and press it out, or use a chisel (carefully) to split the shell and roll it over to press it out. Regardless you need a press for the LCA bushing removal and install, I've tried using a puller method with the Mancini tools (basically what I have pictured above for the UCA's but with a MUCH longer pipe and bolt) but the LCA bushing operations usually requires more force than the bolt threads can take. So I'd say a press is a must for the LCA's. And then either the tap, or a welder, or a chisel. But the welder or chisel method both require some care, because if you screw those up you can damage the LCA to the point where your reinstall will be a problem.
The strut rod bushings are easy. If you have an early sway bar, the sway bar bushings are also a problem because of the way they're captured in the mounts. I don't have an early sway bar like that so I don't know all the tricks for those.
As for hours, I'd say at least 8. More for a novice, and that assumes everything goes well. If something is rusted, stuck, or goes sideways on the LCA bushing shell removal, well, it could take a lot longer.
