I am almost positive in thinking that the squeaking coming from my truck is the u joints... My drive shaft however, does not have clips like the older ones did, and appears to have the caps pressed in. Has any one put u joints in their 2004 and newer f150, and if so how did you do it?

 

The 04 is another wonderful design - the approved method is to replace the driveshaft. I believe there are kits made to convert them to a clip system, but they aren't cheap. You may want to contact a driveshaft shop.

 

I wish it was that easy.

Correct.

 

I was also convinced that I had a driveshaft squeak in my 2004 supercrew. I took it to the dealer yesterday, they said the rear end has to be repaired. I have 106k and the Ford ESP Base plan good until 135k. The service rep said its all covered under the plan and it covers a rental too. Its at a Lincoln Dealer.

About the driveshaft, ford does not sell the kit to replace the staked in u joints anymore, the only solution for u joints is to replace the entire drive shaft. You should look into local drive line shops to make one for you.

I think ford went back to standard clips somewhere around 2006.

try asking someone at tasca ford in rhode island
http://www.tascaparts.com/partlocato...?siteid=213668

 

So can you replace a pined shaft on an 04 with a clipped one from an 07?

 

If the '07 clipped shaft uses the same sized u-joints as yours, is the same length, and came out of a truck at least as heavily rated as yours, I don't see why not. If in doubt, talk to a driveline shop.

If it were me, I would rather replace the shaft with a custom made one or a chopped boneyard shaft (assuming I couldn't find a boneyard special to fit), even if it cost more, if only because it would gall me to pay Ford for another stupid throwaway shaft. Besides, with a custom (or equivalent boneyard) shaft, you could replace u-joints in the future without having to replace the shaft.

 

Back from the dealer. They changed the ring and pinion gears, side bearings and cups, pinion bearings and cups, axles bearings and seals, and limited slip clutches.

Squeak is gone.

$100 deductible.

 

I'm glad that worked out well for you.

 

Sweet deal!! Probably close to 2 grand w/o warranty.

 

Yes the squeaking is comeing from your ujoint you had the same setup as me i had to replace my drive shaft i had mine custom made a little longer for my lift as well came out to i beleave 575$ for a new drive shaft it came back to me with serviceable ujoints and it was powder coated as well FYI i had my friend who is a mechanic look at it firestone look at it and even the dealership look at it they all said they didnt know how to change them, so i went to my regular drive train and transmission shop and he said he could change the u joints but it wouldnt be a guarentee that it would be perfect with no vibration or sqeaking so he recomended a new drive shaft for andother 150$ so instead of sticking with the old drive shaft and oem ujoints and it costing me about 400 for for the labor and the parts i had him make me a drive shaft for another 150 more with serviceable ojoints you are better off witha new driveshaft and if the vibrations is bad right now get a new one asap cause it will start to ruin your ring and pinion gears inside you diff

 

update, did some research and found that Advance Auto sells a kit for $93 dollars that comes with all the necessary parts to convert this style to a normal clip type (u joints, special cutter bit, shims, and clips). Ended up calling the local drive shaft shop, and the guy told me they convert them all the time and it would be pointless to make a new one when they could rebuild my old one for $200 out the door... Dropped it off this morning, so we will see. To add insult to injury, my passenger side window regulator crapped out on the way home to remove the drive shaft, found one at rockauto.com for $97 and it should be here thursday. The worst part is I'm left with driving my worthless 08 tundra work truck all the time, as if its not torture enough spending 10 hours a day in...

 

almost a thousand miles on the repair and the squeak has not returned.