clicking sound from front end
 

04 f350psd 4x4 srw cc, lariat.
It started today, making a left turn from a stop sign, I heard a clicking sound coming from the front end, you can faintely feel it through the steering wheel as well, it does it making right turns as well, just not as pronounced.
The truck was loaded with my atv rack, two atv's and gear, about 1800 lbs.
Drove it yesterday, 300 miles, loaded exactly like I explained before and I don't recall any problems.
Haven't drove it empty since this happened.
I'm thinking U joint behind front wheels, It almost feels like when you have 4x4 engaged on pavement.
Any ideas or sugestions are welcome :-roll
BTW it's got 49.550 miles

I had a faint clicking noise up front and it got louder and louder over months. It got faster relative to the speed of the truck. Dealer could not figure it out on two trips in. I was finally backing up with the door open looking at the back tire when I realized it was coming from the rear too.

...long story short it turned out to be the hubcaps on my Weld rims. Took them off, put a bead of silicone on the rim and torqued the bolts slowly to make the silicone stay put.

I doubt its your issue based upon you are thinking you can feel it through the steering wheel but just thought I would throw it out there.

I've only felt it when making sharp turns

Sounds like one of your front hubs is locked.

Or worse, the needle bearing the axle rides in is so shot that it turns whether or not the hubs is locked.

Reach around the back of the wheel and the spindle, and try to turn the axle by hand ... report back.

Exactly what i'm I looking for? is the axle suppose to turn by hand?

Yes, it should turn by hand. Easily... well, somewhat with some drag, but easy enough, and SMOOTHly.

If it doesn't turn by hand, either the hub's locked, or the needle bearing went. In my 2001, the needle bearing was so bad the axle wouldn't turn by hand. But I resurfaced the axle, replaced the needle bearing, and everything's fine.

If you look behind the wheel, you will see the u-joint for the front axle. Spin it by hand. If it moves smoothly, no problems (be aware, this is really testing BOTH axles (the other one will spin the other direction) - so, to really check which side it is, jack up the front end and spin the tire).

thanks
 

Thanks for the tips,I didn't get a chance to check it today, I'll try it tomorrow.

Ok, it's hard for me to get my hands on the axle and turn it, but when I spin the wheel the axle spins as well, does this mean the hubs are locked? or is this normal?
BTW it's very hard to spin the hub lever ( lack of better word) from auto to locked.
If the hubs are locked, it it hard to unlock them?

Alot of times, the knob gets hard to turn.

Either the hub is locked, or the needle bearing is shot. When you spin the wheel, can you grab the u-joint and make it stop spinning with the wheel? Is it "crunchy" ???

Ok, its not crunchy.
Driver side wheel and axle spin, can't stop axle from spinning when wheel is spinning, I'm guessing its a locked hub. Also can't rotate from auto to locked with out help from pliers.
Passenger side wheel spins and axle does'nt, when I spin the axle the wheel does'nt spin. Also can't rotate from auto to locked with out help.
BTW took a short trip today, first time since I unloaded it. I didn't feel or hear the clicking.
Also would you know if this is covered by ESP?

bingo
 

I followed the instructions on the thread below and pulled off the hub and now the wheel spins free with out the axle. Can this hub be repaired or should I just bite the bullet and get the manual hubs?
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...8&page=1&pp=15

Do the soak-in-ATF thing that BFR250SD posted, get the knobs working, work them back and forth, and see if they unlock.

Many an auto-hub has been resurrected this way ;)

It looks like my curiosity got the best of me, I made the mistake of taking this thing apart, I'll never figure out how to put it back together.
So I guess I'll be ordering new manual locking hubs.
Thanks for your help and time

Kyle Emerick thanks for posting on here. I have the same wheels on my truck and have had my front end looked at by 2 mechanics 4 times and no one could find the problem i have found some unrelated issues, but the clicking always comes back and it seems to go away every time the hub caps are pulled off and then comes back louder and louder every time again thanks for the post. A small tube of silicone will be so much cheaper than another trip to the mechanic