It is more loyalty to one brand. My family has always had Ford Trucks, and never a Chevy, and that is why I got my 1999 F150.
I have had my truck in for the following...that is if you care.
1) Oil leak on my 5.4 because of gasket bad. That was fixed, but leaked 8,000 miles later.
2) Engine replaced due to the later leak on the 5.4, because it was a defective part yet agian.
3) Truck in twice for the #4 coil going out due to antifreeze dripping on it.
4) Transmission problems with the 1-2 up and down shift. They reset the code, and the truck was back in the shop in one week.
5) Transmission yet agian, This time the 1-2 valve body broke loose because of poor parts on the transmission, which also inturn caused the torque converter to freeze, and basically destroy itself. (Remanufactured Tranny put in under warranty)
6) Roughly 23,000 miles later the remanufactured tranny had the same problem that the first one had, 1-2 valve body carrier bracket broke loose causing part to move about in tranny. Well guess what, they replaced that remanufactured transmission with another one.
I have brought my truck through the Ford Dispute board, and got nothing in return other than Ford saying that all the problems were supposively fixed, but they weren't. I also live in Minnesota where the weather gets to -30 degrees, and they use road salt...well guess what, the insides of my doors are rusting as well, and what are they doing about it, the same as they are doing with the door cracks, NOT A THING!!!!!
I know this doesn't happen to everyone, but guess what, a friend of mine has a 2000 Chevy 1500 pickup, and he is having just as many problems as what I am having.
Now tell me that there still aren't a lot of problems with the vehicles that are made today. Yes we are all humans, but I guess that it is time for all those "bright engineers" to go back to school and learn something about how to make customers happy with products that you pay $32000 to $35000 dollars for.
You even say it yourself Then tell me why my truck has been in the shop close to 50 days total because of all the problems that I have had? Now tell me where Fords "Quality is Job #1 comes into play?
Ok, stepping off my soapbox now, yet you know something, if I had it to do all over agian, I would buy another Ford.

 

Well here is the real kicker. I have a friend who had to have his front left fender painted 3 times and it still peeled so they gave him another truck. Granted his was only an XL and had 8000 miles on it. All I asked them to do was cover it with an extended warranty and I would just keep dropping it off and paying for the rental car happily, they said the warranty would not benefit me.


I see you have a polaris 4-Wheeler. Do you like it? Can you give me some personal info on it. I was looking at a Grizzly 650.

Clint

 

Its a toss up, sometimes you get a truck with lots of problems.
I have 1998 Lincoln Navigator (Expedition like) and I have had no problems what so ever. Most reliable vehicle I have owned.

Who know I could have lots of problems with my new Screw.

I do agree 100% the dealers are a big problem. I have a Corvette and I dread taking it to the dealer. I do not want a bunch of mechanics the primarily work on basic chevys to work on my C5. I have heard horror stories about getting there car back with 100 more miles, etc.

When I took my truck for an rad replacment to Earnhardt Ford it came back with 65 more miles on it. I could be wrong but I was sure I looked at the odometer. Not much I could do so I did not say anything.

Rivalry is fun but I think it has no place in these threads when were trying to solve a problem and someone says "Buy a Chevy".
Its just not productive.

Anyway, off my soap box now.

 

I had this same problem with my '99 long story short,

the ford engineers had my dealer replace the vavle body first didn't work neither did changing the fluid so the engineers finally said that the real fix is a totally new computer! I watched them replace it! (Not just a reflash)

tranny has worked great since.

these things are mostly electronically controlled and the fluid change is only temporrary.

good luck!

peace-

 

Halfacre-
I haven't had too many problems with my Polaris 4wheeler, other than the normal maintence. I have to replace a shock on the front though because of using it to plow snow last winter, I blew the seal out of the shock....Didn't have time this summer to ride it or work on it, so I have to get it done before the snow flies...If not, I am sure it will still work fine.
I really like it, so far have gotten it stuck a few times in the mud, but it keeps going. I have buried it to the headlight pod in a peat bog, really nasty, but got it out and still ran great. I would recommend them, but then agian the majority of wheelers that I see in Minnesota have Polaris Xplorers or Sportsman 500 H.Os.
I think I have roughly 700 miles on mine, and none of those 700 miles have been easy riding, mainly mud riding, and tight logging trail/road riding.
If there is anything else that you would like to know, just let me know, and I can answer any more questions that you might have.
David

 

Well I took the truck into the shop today. They called and said that it was a bad u-joint in the differential. I'm not sure if I believe them yet or not, but I still opted to pay the $100 for them to replace it. I guess it is better then me sitting out in the cold and replacing it myself. Anyways I pick it up after work today. I will let you know the outcome tomorrow morning. I hope that is all that it was.

kev

 

Hey Kev,

I know it's been a long time, but I've read your post and I have the same exact problem. Did replacing the Ujoint on the truck fix the Jerking motion on up and downshifts?

thanks,
Larry

 

Yep actually it did! I took it in about a year and a half ago and they replaced the rear u-joint of the driveshaft. I haven't had a problem since! Also I even installed a lift and 35s on since that happened and still have not had a problem!

Now ever once inawhile if you are on the right grade and at the right speed, it will slam down or up a gear but this is common on ford transmissions. My truck does it when pulling up to this stoplight near my house. One day I was driving my dads Ford Windstar and sure enough his vehicle slammed down in right at the same place. Must just be some kind of a general ford querk, hehe.

Well anyways, it fixed my problem. So check your u-joints real good. At the time, I couldn't even imagine blowing a u-joint so early in the life of the truck.

kev

 

Thanks for the response Kev! Do you happen to still have the receipt from the dealer for the work on the U-joint? I want to know what part #'s they used.

Another thing, is it possible for you to take a pic of the u-joint on your truck so I know what to look for?

thanks,
Larry

 

Well I probably have the receipt somewhere. I will have to look.

The U-joint is very simple to find. Just look under your truck. You will see the huge 6 foot driveshaft, hehe. On each end of the driveshaft is a joint (u-joint). Just basically a piece of steel that looks like a "+" and has four bearings on it.

To replace it, you need to first drop the driveshaft which is just held on by 4 bolts I believe. THen the driveshaft pulls out from the tranny. The rest of the hard work is all done on the bench. If you have the shaft out, might as well replace both u-joints. They are held in with circ-clips that just pop off but then you need to press out the u-joint. I always had good luck with a socket just a hair smaller than the joint on the one side to press and a deep socket larger then the joint on the other side so that the cap can push into it when pressing and a big vise. You press it out all the way to the one direction until the one bearing cap pops off, then flip it over and press it out the opposite direction until the other cap pops off. Then you repeat this for the other two caps and then for the opposite u-joint on the other side of the shaft. It is good to mark your driveshaft and yoke or rear hubs position with respect to one another so that you install them in the same position. If not, it might through off the shafts balance some.

One word of caution: when pressing out the first cap, don't push far enough to drop the opposite cap into the center area of the yoke! Kind of hard to explain in words but don't push it too far because you will just jam the ujoint and cap in the center of the yoke and it won't come out. I speak from experience here. I ended up using a cut off wheel and cutting the u-joint in half to get it out. That hard steel doesn't like to cut easily either!

Then you just press in the new joint while adding some grease in the bearings, this is the easiest part. Then install the driveshaft back on the vehicle.

It is a pretty easy job as long as you have a nice big bench vise. It doesn't take much crawling around under the truck because the driveshaft comes out very quick. I had the ford dealer do the one on my truck just because it was in the shop at the time and already up on the lift. However I have replaced countless u-joints on other vehicles and they are all the same.


Of course before you start pulling driveshafts and u-joints, make sure you verify th at the u-joint is the problem. This is easy to do. Just climb under the truck and grab one hand on the driveshaft, but the other hand on the yoke of the tranny for the upper u-joint and twist. See if you feel any play. If not, go to the u-joint closest to the rear axle and do the same. If it has play and you hear any knock coming from the joint, then the joint is bad. If it feels like everything is completely rigid, then your joints are not the problem.


Good luck
kev

 

Thanks very much Kev! I will try that to see if that's the problem.

Larry

 

I've just replaced both U-Joints on the driveline and took it for a drive and the problem is not as noticable, but definatly still there. i will try to change the tranny/diff fluids to see if that will fix the problem.

Larry