i own a 1996 f-150 ford. manual trannie I had the u joint replaced twice and looking to have it doe for thethird time this year. Does anyone have an idea what could be causing this problem. I running stock tires. no mods to the vechile, and does anyone know where i can find the speedometer sending unit. that went bad as well.

 

Well not much info in there so its kinda hard to answer this. Is it 4x4 or 4x2 and which ujoint is going? If its a 4x4 the VSS gear is on the tailhousing of the tcase, if its a 2wd its the same place on the trans. Its on the drivers side and very easy to find. The ujoint could be from a misinstallation. If it bound up any during install it will go out very quickly. If you're 100% sure it was installed right it may be a problem with the pinion bearing in that it may be causing a slight vibration in the shaft causing premature failure, but I'd lean more towards a bound joint. Its very easy to have them bind slightly and I've had to replace my fair share on equipment because of this.

 

Thank you for the reply. I suspected the u-joints. I have a high pitch squeal when i start out in first then it goes away when i shift to second. When I first had them replaced. i thought it was fine. being that they were under warrenty the service tech questioned me as if i now how to use the clutch. ( i figured it was operator error, since I drive commerical ) I have been gentle with the truck and the squeal has returned. Again thank you for mentioning the pionion gear being the suspect. The noise sound like it is coming from the rear.

 

I've blown many u-joints including two in my f-150 and I never had one "squeel". They usually always just knock when you go to pull out and/or in between gears. Also do the same when you put the vehicle in reverse and give it a quick hit of gas.

I would think that your problem is more clutch related, input or output shaft bearing on your tranny, or pinion gear as suggested.

Good luck,

kev