a) Before leaving for the gym liberally apply 16% menthol (blue box Flexall) to both knees
b) Wear a pair of tighter long sweats under your regular sweats
c) Do 2 sets of deep range of motion leg presses for 20 reps with more weight the 2nd set before any other leg work
d) Do (as someone else mentioned) higher rep leg work at your age....starting with leg presses and never do a set below 12 reps at your heaviest. Do leg presses first and squats dead last
e) Inzer or similar wraps on your heavy all out sets on squats...again dont go below 12 reps ever. Dont go incredibly tight on the patella
f) Since i dont know how deep you squat, and instead you are doing shallow squats....without going deep into a true squat that might be the problem right there shearing force wise..... try this....go into your deepest squat, count 1 one thousand, 2 one thousand for a pause and then rise out of it (not ballistically but a steady rise out of the hole)....youll reteach yourself to squat properly that way and youll start much much lighter and work your way up again....make yourself do it with 135lbs next time for 12 reps...swallow your ego and teach yourself how to squat properly again....and then slowly go up the ladder weight wise every week
g) Drop the hacks - awesome movement but really tough on older guys knees if you dont have the right machine.
(just some advice from a guy who still squats every single leg workout til this day and has had to teach more guys (especially the shallow squatting guys who fall in love with the numbers shallow squatting allows more than a true deep squat) than i could ever count.
In my experience....two types of guys get bad knees...
a) those who ballistically bounce out of the hole instead of a steady rise
b) those who shallow squat so they can claim "i squat this" instead of a true deep squat thats 100 lbs lighter
Would you mind sharing a Workout you would suggest for this situation.