I have a 1993 Ford ranger xlt 2.3l 4 cyl. just recently i installed a 3" and 4" drop kit complete with i-beams and a rear flip kit. Ever since that was installed i have notced a problem in the rear of my truck. it started with a loud clank noise and hard jerk from the rear when i started to move from a dead stop. then it started to jerk from the rear when i shifted gears (not sure it this is the same problem), and now whenever i am at i constant speed it feels like i am running over small bumps when im not.all of this is comming from the rear of the truck im not sure if its the drive shaft, the axle of maybe the flip kit wasn't installed right. if anyone has any input it would be greatly appreciated because i love my truck way too much to see it like this. thanks for all of your help and keep on truckin.....

 

Does anyone have any input at all??

 

Get under the truck and grip/shake everything under it. Your looking for play in the driveshaft, rear end,springs, etc.
Dave

 

last week when i got new rear brakes the mechanic said that there was some play in the rear axle. could this be the problem or is the drive shaft actually messing up my rear axle?

 

Would the drop mess up the drive-line angle and cause binding?

 

Yes, it could do that. We get lots of truck drivers at work complaining of vibration, and we just go out and reset the ride height.

If the angle of the pinion is off by more that a couple degrees, you will have what you are experiencing. Make sure the u-bolts are tight, and that you aren't missing any shims between the spring pack and the axle housing.

 

Thanks for all your help i got under the truck and nothing seemed too loose. somebody told me that they think that it might be a u-joint but im not too shure if thats right. do any of you think that a u-joint might be the problem?

 

This sounds like something with too much play in it "loud clank noise and hard jerk", "jerk from the rear when i shifted gears".
But, "constant speed it feels like i am running over small bumps" sounds like something out of balance. Drive shafts should be marked when taken off and put back on without rotating them relative to the pinion gear. Its call phasing, maybe you can look it up somewhere. Yes a bad u joint could cause it as well as pinion angle, phasing and others things, anyway good luck.
Dave

 

thanks for all the help guys. im going to take the drive shaft off today and make shure that its not at an angle im also going to replace both the u-joints. hopefully this will fix the problem......