So I recently bought this truck and it has that clunk coming from the drivetrain. Hoping it is only due to the spline I went ahead and bought the truck as my dads 2010 also has the issue and he has had his from new and has never had any issues with it other than the clunking at times.

I bought the $5 grease and clamp kit from the Ford dealership. The grease is white and doesn't look like anything special and I was thinking I would use some ceramic high temp brake grease that I have instead as it is very sticky and I thought it might do a better job. Anyways, tonight I took the back half of the driveshaft off. What I found is that the male end of the spline is actually coated in a plastic.

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There didn't seem to be much if any play in it and the grease that was in there didn't seem so bad. This has me worried that the spline is not the source of my problem. Being under the truck when I would twist the driveshaft, the majority of lash seems to be in the transmission and a little in the rear diff so it has me worried I will have to live with the clunk....

Because of the plastic coating, I cleaned off the old grease as well as I could and used the dealership supplied grease as I am afraid of a reaction with the plastic and the brake caliper grease I was going to use.

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I jammed all the white grease from the pack into the female end and smeared it on the male end of the spline as well. You could feel the resistance of the air trying to get out when I was putting the splines back together. Zip tied the boot on and put it all together.

Took it for a short spin and what do you know... .no clunk. I feel it is too early to make a call on if it worked or not, but I will report back after a couple days. The engineer in me still cant see how this regreasing would have changed anything though as the plastic coated male splines slid with no resistance in the female end. It makes me think that it is more about the resistance to moving that may take out the clunk? I wonder if putting a spring or rubber in the blind hole of the female spline end would do the same thing?

Anyways, thought I would post this as I have never seen mention of plastic covering the splines. You can see on the end how it comes over like it was dipped and then the excess dripped to the end face.

 

Very nice first post! hanks.

I had mine lubed by the dealer under warranty but the clunk returned after about 30,000 miles. I have been told by two dealerships that it does no damage, just annoying. I have 81,000 on it now, and the clunk has not gotten any worse and I have learned to live with the annoyance.

 

I've had to do this to my truck as well. It wasn't until I actually preformed the fix that I understood what the problem was. Most would think the problem is a tolerance issue and the grease is used to fill the gaps, however that's not the case. The issue is the drive shaft needs to slide freely on the splines in the (front to back) directions. Ford recommends Teflon grease because its very slippery. As the grease breaks down with age it gets tacky and doesn't allow the drive shaft to slide smoothly and therefore it hangs until sufficient force is applied to move it which causes the clunk or feeling of slippage in the drive train. A lot of teflon grease is going to be the best solution. One other tip, you can buy either $20 kit small teflon grease pack and metal band included, or you can buy the large tube of Ford Teflon grease for $7 and metal wire tie 5 pk from auto parts for $5. It took me all of 30 minutes to execute the fix and i reused my original metal band.

 

i have the same noise. im going to try this nice write up

 

What clamp are you replacing? Is it on the transmission side or driveshaft side?

 

Ive had the same problem also, had it fixed twice and both times it returned within 1000 miles.. The last dealer i went to finally fixed me up, they put Marine Grease with Teflon instead of the ford supplied grease.. So far after about 8000 miles it hasnt come back

 

The short drive shaft connected to the rear axle has a rubber dust boot protecting the splined slip joint. The boot is held in place by a metal band. You can gently expand the band enough so it allows the drive shaft to be removed and lubricated. Then slipped back together and tighten. I was able to tighten mine using some "end cutting pliers" i had. If not just replace the band with the metal wire ties from auto parts dealer.

 

So far so good. No clunk and I am very happy. I think I will get a tube of marine Teflon grease. Surprisingly my local dealer only charged $5.95 for the small packet of grease and a metal band. I ended up cutting both metal bands and I just used zip ties after as there is nowhere that boot can really go to with the rusty driveshaft making it difficult to slip past the smooth covered area. My dad asked me to do this repair to his truck now...

So understandably it is a fore/aft movement that makes the clunk. What is actually clunking though? The shaft getting forced into the rear diff? This is what has me scratching my head. How fore/aft movement make such a clunk?

 

Well I delt with this on my 97 4x4. Reseached it alot and came up with what they call axle wrap. My guess from what I've read is that the axle actually wraps slightly on acceleration generating movement in the driveshaft giving you a clunk. I have read that some guys install a simple "superball" like the ball we played with that bounces forever...in the female end of the hole and and the ball acts as a cushion..I have greased the splines on my truck many times and the clunk goes away for awhile, few thousand miles and comes back. I did install new shocks on the rear and it helped for over a year it did come back but is very little now. Do a search/goggle on axle wrap there is a lot of discussion on it and you may determine as I did that that seems to be the issue.

 

I could believe the axle wrap story if it did it only during hard acceleration. But it would do it when I come to a gentle stop at times. And the truck is stock in height and everything. At the end of the day, I am happy as it is quiet now and if I have to grease it once a while, so be it. Adding rubber to the female end was the plan if it was still doing the clunk. Right now all that grease could be acting as the buffer and when it gets all pushed out, it will be back... time will tell...

 

About to do this repair on my truck. Saw online that if you have 4 wheel drive you have to loosen the center bearing bolts and slide the center bearing fully rearward in the slotted mounting holes. Wondering if this is the case

 

Use the teflon grease. Use a lot. expect this to need attention every 2-3 years. takes 1/2 hour after your first time.


TSB
10-22-6
• REAR DRIVESHAFT SLIP/BUMP - BUILT ON OR BEFORE 12/1/2009
Publication Date: November 3, 2010


FORD:
2009-2010 F-150
This article supersedes TSB 09-25-5 to update the Service Procedure.
ISSUE:

Some 2009-2010 F-150 vehicles equipped with a 2-piece driveshaft only and built on or before 12/1/2009 may exhibit a rear driveshaft slip/bump concern on light to moderate acceleration from a stop or when coming to a stop with light braking.
ACTION:

Follow the Service Procedure steps to correct the condition.
SERVICE PROCEDURE

It is not necessary to remove the entire driveshaft from the vehicle for this repair.
1. Mark the rear driveshaft flange and differential pinion flange.
2. Mark the center slip yoke barrel across the boot and the clamp crimp heads to the rear shaft spline stud shoulder. (Figure 1)


Figure 1 - Article 10-22-6
3. Remove the clamps from the center slip yoke and discard.
4. Remove the rear axle to driveshaft flange fasteners and remove the rear portion of the driveshaft only.
5. Remove the boot.
6. With a clean towel thoroughly clean old grease from the splines on the slip yoke only. Do not use solvent.
7. On 4X4 vehicles only, using hand tools, loosen the center bearing bolts and slide the center bearing fully rearward in the slotted holes.
8. Torque fasteners to 35 lb-ft (48 N-m). Refer to WSM, Section 205-01 for detail.
9. Apply an even coat of Motorcraft® PTFE Lubricant to the internal splines of the yoke only. Amount of lubricant applied to the yoke should be 1/2 of the tube contents. (Figure 2)


Figure 2 - Article 10-22-6
10. Position boot and clamps over the spline portion of the driveshaft. Do not crimp the clamp at this time.
11. Install the rear portion of the driveshaft into the center slip yoke.
12. Fasten driveshaft flange to the rear axle using the previous alignment marks for reference. Refer to WSM, Section 205-01 for detail.
13. Position the clamp heads in-line with the alignment mark on the slip yoke and stud spline shoulder to minimize any balance shift.
14. Crimp clamps using service tool ESST 205-343.
Other driveline noise conditions will not be corrected with this procedure. Refer to appropriate WSM for diagnosis and repair for engagement clunk, hesitation during light throttle 1-2 upshift, harsh downshift while coasting 15 MPH (24 Km/h) and, shudder/vibration on moderate to hard acceleration. See other applicable Technical Service Bulletins for details.



PART NUMBER
PART NAME
XG-8
Motorcraft® PTFE Lubricant
9L3Z-4421-A
Spline Boot
9L3Z-3B478-A
Clamp (2 Req.)
WARRANTY STATUS:

Eligible Under Provisions Of New Vehicle Limited Warranty Coverage
IMPORTANT: Warranty coverage limits/policies are not altered by a TSB. Warranty coverage limits are determined by the identified causal part.
OPERATION
DESCRIPTION
TIME
102206A
2009-2010 F-150: Clean And Lubricate The Splines Of The Driveshaft Slip Yoke Following The Service Procedure (Do Not Use With Any Other Labor Operations)
0.5 Hr.
DEALER CODING

BASIC PART NO.
CONDITION CODE

 

I have the "clunk" on my 04 SCREW. I was thinking of replacing the drive shaft with one from Shaftmasters.com does anyone have experience with their product ? Will this stop the "take off clunk" on my truck? I would rather replace it than re-grease it every couple miles...

 

I have the Drivetrain Clunk, and had the dealer lube it at 36K miles.

The clunk comeback after an additional 30K miles, and I just been ignoring it.

Today, at 101K miles, while traveling at 70 mph, there was an extremely loud/hard clunk, then my auto transmission seemed to be out of gear, and I had a non-responsive throttle. I tried different gears, with no change.

I then turned off the ignition, waited a few moments, and restarted the truck. All seem to be back to normal, and I drove another 250 miles home.

Thoughts (?)

Could the clunk and the lack of throttle be connected?

Is this a one time thing?

Computer issue?

What do I need to do to make sure I don't get stuck on the side of the road again?

Thanks for your help.

George

Houston, TX
2010 F-150 XLT 8 cylinder

 

Didn't want to start a new thread, hoping someone can help. I had my mechanic lube my spline with mercury marine grease. Normally I would do this myself but I couldn't get one of the flange bolts off. So the "bump" is gone but I have this weird shudder that seems to only occur after I have stopped. I'll do my best to describe the issue:

Come to a stop
Holding foot on brake
Light turns green, release foot from brake
Truck feels like it has tension in the driveshaft and shudders, it is audible as well
Drive away from light with no other symptoms

It really feels like there is some binding in the driveshaft area. If I coast up to a light in neutral and come to a stop and then release the brake I don't get any shudder.

I asked my mechanic if he marked the flange and made sure the driveshaft went back exactly the way it came out and he said NO.

From the above post:
It is not necessary to remove the entire driveshaft from the vehicle for this repair.
1. Mark the rear driveshaft flange and differential pinion flange.

Would this be my problem ? The fact the driveshaft most likely did NOT go back exactly the way it came out prior to getting greased?

Any help is appreciated