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drivetrain CLUNK...

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Old Aug 31, 2011 | 05:13 PM
  #1  
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drivetrain CLUNK...

...hey gang, just in the past day or so I've had my truck start making a nice CLUNK from the vicinity of the rear axle when starting moving from a standstill. (and it's a pretty decent thunk sometimes, you hear it AND feel it) Anyone else noticed this on their trucks? I called and made an appt to bring it in and have it checked out (also having the first oil change done and gonna see if they can figure out why the automatic headlights are almost always on even on a bright sunny day) but I figured I would see if anyone here has already encountered/dealt with this one.

Actually, it's going to be a busy visit to the dealership since I've also got an appointment for the body shop to look at my little parking lot "ding" and give me a formal written estimate (to be compared with the $2700 that State Farm is estimating it's gonna cost to fix).
 
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Old Sep 1, 2011 | 08:15 AM
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The dreaded "clunk". Mine appeared at 8,000 miles and I felt it when shifting from Park to Reverse to Drive etc., and when coming to a stop the truck would downshift and I would hear it. Ford has a fix where they lube the driveshaft splines with heavy grease and then apply two band clamps. I now have 18,000 miles and no problems. Yet! Two piece driveshafts........MEH!

Regarding your electrical issue, have the dealer check for loose grounds. Just read on another forum that an owner was having a lot of electrical issues with his 2011 F150. Ford called the dealer and gave mechanic a list of 5 critical ground points. Three on his truck were not fastened securely........fixed all the issues. Good luck!
 
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Old Sep 1, 2011 | 06:30 PM
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oh the slip bump is what i called it till it came back for the fifth time. now i call it that damm *&^%$#@^%*$#^&*~!@#$%^&*&^%$#$%^&^%$#@!@#$%^%$#@)( *&^%^&*&^%$#$%$#@!@#$%$#@#$%^%$#@##@^$# noise in my truck's transmission / drive line.
sorry for all the mouth but come on ford.
 
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Old Sep 1, 2011 | 07:18 PM
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My 2011 F150 2WD XLT Screw has done this since new......thx for grease/clamp info; I'll ask for this at next dealer visit.
 
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Old Sep 1, 2011 | 07:43 PM
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Just posted on another thread that my 11 Screw EB has started to develop a clink/pop going from reverse to drive intermittently. I have 11k miles on the truck and it sounds like an old farm truck! Lol
Not really liking the two piece driveshaft! May start looking into a custom 1 piece aluminum replacement.
 
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Old Sep 1, 2011 | 11:20 PM
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One would think that FORD would engineer a better fitting 2 piece driveshaft setup after 3 model years of clunking.
 
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Old Sep 1, 2011 | 11:26 PM
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So... I was merging onto the expressway this evening and needed to get up to speed fast so I punched it a bit and WOW... the clunk was LOUD that time (was actually more of a double-clunk now that I think back...). Interestingly, I didn't hear any more clunks for the rest of the night after that big one (not sure what that means but, we'll see how it sounds in the morning when I head off to work).
 
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Old Sep 2, 2011 | 09:44 PM
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...and so, of course, on the 30 mile drive up to the dealership this afternoon my truck behaved perfectly and never clunked once which of course means that the service department is now going to be able to call me on tuesday and inform me that they could not duplicate the complaint and so will not be able to fix it. *sigh...*

in the meantime my service loaner for the holiday weekend is a 2010 XLT supercrew with the 4.6 3v. Not a bad truck but... it's missing some key features that made my truck the right truck for me... Little things like running boards... I never really noticed how much I was using them to get into/out of my truck until I had to climb into this loaner (this btw is probably a good point to grumble about the absence of the a-pillar grab handle on the newer generation F150's). Oh, and when I got home a little while ago, I opened the door and almost fell out into the driveway when my foot failed to find a running board to step down to. Oh, and this truck has been smoked in... a LOT... grrrrr... I want my baby back!

okay, that's enough whining for now. please return to your regularly scheduled chaos.
 
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Old Sep 3, 2011 | 12:57 AM
  #9  
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Mine has it to, reverse to forward loud clunk. I have a 1 piece driveshaft so I think it's rear axle gear slop.
 
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Old Sep 3, 2011 | 01:18 AM
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Originally Posted by gasbrnr
Mine has it to, reverse to forward loud clunk. I have a 1 piece driveshaft so I think it's rear axle gear slop.
or just cheep u joints. oh you only got a 1 piece
 
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Old Sep 4, 2011 | 12:30 AM
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Yeah I have the one piece but also could be excess drive shaft spline play....I doubt it's there for a reason!!!
 
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Old Sep 4, 2011 | 01:51 PM
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Originally Posted by FoMoFun
One would think that FORD would engineer a better fitting 2 piece driveshaft setup after 3 model years of clunking.
My 04 F250 w/ 2 pc driveshaft did it also. I took it apart and greased it good and it behaved until I traded it on my F150. They should put a dang grease zerk on the slip joint so we could grease them.
 
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Old Sep 5, 2011 | 08:27 PM
  #13  
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I'll tell this story again.
Back in 1996 when my F150 was a few months old I started hearing clunking noises when I goosed the accelerator especially when cornering.
That truck didn't have a limited slip and when local mechanics I knew heard it they would guess it was a lot of things like the rear gear,u-joints,and drive shaft.
I knew from experience that you don't bring a new vehicle to the dealer and have a inexperienced flat rate mechanic try to fix a noise because I did that with my 1984 F150 and that was close to a disaster.
So I lived with the occasional clunk and when the leafs needed an upgrade I removed the old bolts and hangers and I was totally surprised at how worn through the leaf bolts were and that they never broke.
When I installed the upgraded leafs,new hangers,and bolts they were greased well.
Every once in a while I ride in that old truck that to this day still works hard and has no clunks coming from the rear.
 
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Old Sep 5, 2011 | 09:52 PM
  #14  
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I've noticed on my truck as I'm slowing down for a red and it turs green before I'm stopped all the way if I give it gas I get a clunk. I've only had that happen maybe 10-15 times since I've had the truck but I'm passing that off as it's between gears or something like that.
 
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Old Oct 28, 2012 | 12:59 AM
  #15  
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Ahh yes this infamous clunk sound!!! So far I've taking my 2011 F150 back to the dealership twice to FIX this clunk sound and bump feel when coming to a complete stop and also when taking off from a complete stop. First time I took my truck in the work order reads as follow; "Verfied clunk found TSB 12-07-13. Removed grease cover and checked splines. Applied grease to splines. Installed new boot and clamps. Road test - Clunk gone."

The second time I took my truck in for the same reason the work order reads as follow; "Verified bump stop. Reprogrammed PCM to latest calibration road test and bump stop gone."

I have a appointment this Wed 10/31/12 for the third time to try and get this dang clunk/bump feel when tanking off and stopping FIXED. I really don't know why this is becoming such a big issue... I guess I should've bought a Silverado instead. Any suggestions???
 
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