Annoying drive shaft clunk
 

Guys I get this annoying driveshaft clunk when taking off from a stop and also when I come to a stop, I have removed the driveshaft and slapped grease in the spline and it goes away for a couple weeks and then somes back, anyone have this problem?

I've got the same thing going on, is it the U-joints going out of it or what? I've only got 107,000 kilometers on my truck, and don't usually abuse it. Didn't know that greasing the yoke would help for a bit.

I just went through this same issue with my Expy. It was the u-joints. After they were replaced, everything felt MUCH better, but I still got a small "poping" sound. Found out the shop that did the u-joints did not pack the slip yolk with grease, so it was making noise. Sounds like you need new u-joints, and make sure they grease the hell out of the slip yolk.

Nope not the U's I should have mentioned I have done them. It is almost like the axle turns too much from the torque and is causing excessive movement and is causing the driveshaft to slap around. I have packed the spline with grease so that it was hard to get it back in but that only lasts a few weeks and then it is back to it's old ways.

Well if you find out let us know, sounds like you and I have the same problem. I am going to take mine back in and have them check the drive line angle to make sure its in spec. Right now all is good with the greasing, but I want to make sure the angle is good anyhow.

You will probably find it is a short term fix as I have, it didn't start doing it until around 130k I now have 160K hasn't got any worse just Fing annoying

I never had this till after I had my u-joints replaced recently. I was not sure at first what it was. The shop thought it might have been the tranny mount but that was good. After research here, I found out about the slip yolk needing to be re-greased. The shop did it and all was good. What was strange was that when they were looking for the cause, they could hear and feel it as they drove but were unable to replicate it on the lift to pinpoint it. It only did it with a load, so it makes me wonder if the driveline is out of spec.

My current F150 4X4 I bought new in 1994 and within a few thousand miles it started clunking when changing from P to Drive and got worse and worse as the miles went up. Several trips back to the dealer at the time and I kept getting the old "they all do that". Having had several F150 4X4s before that one I knew that was not the case. The main difference between my 94" and the older ones I had was the lack of a grease fitting on the rear slip yoke. Any way after some 40,000 I get a call one day from my dealer who tells me they came out with an "engineered solution" for the problem which was a new yoke. I had the new yoke installed and the clunk went away ---- for 5000 miles or so and then it came back and has been with me ever since. My conclusion : it's in the yoke and they need a grease fitting on the slip joint and need to stay packed with grease whether it came from the factory that way or not. Of course once the play is developed the grease only helps, not cures.

Clunk
 

My 99 5.4 F150 With 60,000 Mi. Started To Do The Same Thing,so Today I Got Under It And In Park Tried To Rotate The Drive Shaft And The Sound And Noise Sounds Like The Rear Gears In Mine. The Drive Shaft Turns About 3/8" From Freeplay,backlash....i Am Going To Do The Slip Yoke Grease Tommorow And See If It Helps...

GREAT NEWS!! I dropped an add a leaf on today and the clunk is gone, granted I only drove it 15 or so miles but I did make sure I hit every stop sign I could find. Only bummer is that my truck is no longer level I cranked the torsion bars as much as I dare

Solve Slip Yoke Noise
 

The problem with the Slip Yoke noise, It's the KIND of grease that you are using on the yoke splines. I've solved this problem for over 30 years. Use TEFLON grease, sold by FORD, I bought a small can of it about 30 years ago, don't know the part number, but it is teflon base and is light bluish white in color. Back then, it was about 25 bucks for a 8 or 12 oz can. I've only used this stuff for drive shaft slip yokes, as that was the reason I bought it for. I picked up a tip for using this stuff in a transmissions tips book in the 1970's.

Same in an 05 screw
 

I had the same problem with my 05. Never had a vehicle do that before. It felt similar to a blown motor mount. My truck only has 11700 miles on it so I had the dealer look at the problem. They replaced the driveshaft. There apparently is a TSB that can be retrieved from the Oasis system. :fyi:

My 05 did the same thing at about 1500 miles and it lasted for about 1000 miles and went away. I have 9000 miles now and it hasn't done it again but I do notice that under quick acceleration from a stop that it will do it sometimes. I have a California Limited Edition with the Roush 20's and I think that the tires are hitting inside of the fender well causing the small clunk.

roushlimited,
I would definitely have the dealer look at the "clunk" before the 12& 12 expires. Even if they find nothing it will be documentated as a problem before the warranty expires. Very handy for the future.

Good luck
David

Chassismaster,

I'm definitely going to have the dealer look at it next week when I have it serviced, I also have an annoying idling problem where the rpm jumps from around 800-1200 rpm every 5-10 seconds. Anybody else have this problem?