Clunking from Drivetrain...
Thread Starter
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Senior User
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 174
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From: Palo Alto, CA
re_fill, I think you might be right, we could have the same problem. Becuase like you said about the shifting at low speeds, I too have the similar abrubtness in between shifts. However, mines not so much a "clunk," but more of a harsh shift, by that i mean, no noise just a sort of jolt...any ideas anyone???
Junior User
Joined: Jan 2006
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jpjahn: that's exactly what mine is doing. It clunks at a dead stop when I shift from forward to reverse, but NOT EVERY TIME. It will also clunk when I let the gas off, like to coast or slow down. I hope it's not the rear-end and will try the fix streetgang mentioned above. But do you think the play in the drive shaft is ok (like I said above, the shaft has play almost a third of a revolution). The U-joints are tight and the trany is tight.
Posting Guru
Joined: Oct 2004
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If it really is backlash it can go for a long time before anything will happen. Unless you treat it bad. Minde doesn't clunk too noticably when I shift from forward to reverse.. I mean there is some clunk, but its not bad. It clunked more before I replaced the Tranny mount, so mabey you could check to see if that is broken... I was planning on taking my truck on a long trip, so I took it to a rear end doctor...hehe... just so he could check to make sure it wasn't going to explode on me. If you had some place nearby, call and ask if they would just take a look.. They don't have to tear anything apart to check the general condition of the rear. One mechanic rode with me for a few minutes while I demonstrated what happens. Both of the guys narrowed it down to backlash in the rear, and a stretched transfercase chain. And they both did it for free.
Junior User
Joined: Jan 2006
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I had my son sit in the truck and change gears (drive to reverse) and there was no movement in the tranny or any of the drive-shaft u-joints. It all seemed to come from the diff. Can it be adjusted to eliminate the play?
Elder User
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 656
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From: Houston
Guys, you say your u-joints are tight. My 89 clunked just as you guys are mentioning. I changed all my drive shaft U-joints and the clunk is gone. It was amazing how tight it made the drive train feel. Anyway I found the best way to check the U-joints is to jack your rear wheels off the ground, put her in neutral to relieve all stress on the drive train. Crawl under the car and spin, shake and wiggle the drive shaft at each u-joint. If you have not relieved the stress on the drive train, then a u-joint will still be stressed and feel tight.
Senior User
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 460
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From: Edmonton, Alberta
We once spent three weeks and hundreds of bucks to a ford 1/2 ton that had the same symptoms. After a new pinion and ring and re-adjustment there was still clunking coming from the drive train, and that was from an actual shop (not my garage). My '89 Bronco clunks about the same as yours grey and refill and it's been doing that for a few thousand miles. My '88 did it too. I just figure it's a Ford thing....Nothing has grenaded on me yet. If you do figure it out make sure to let us know here so we can all fix this problem too.
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Senior User
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 174
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From: Palo Alto, CA
Alright, so today when I was heading to work, I was taking a turn and I heard a clunk and then the truck started vibrating like crazy, and ideas? My immediate thought was engine or tranny mount...
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From: Little Rock
Clunking in drive shaft
The problem is in the two piece drive shaft. It needs greasing. There is a special high speed grease that ford has that you can use. I simply pull the rubber dust cover back and force the grease into the splines. The best approach is to drop the shaft pull it apart and give it a good greasing but I have had success forcing the grease into the splines.
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Thanks For That Insight
Originally Posted by RVBfordman
The problem is in the two piece drive shaft. It needs greasing. There is a special high speed grease that ford has that you can use. I simply pull the rubber dust cover back and force the grease into the splines. The best approach is to drop the shaft pull it apart and give it a good greasing but I have had success forcing the grease into the splines.
Last edited by re_fill; Feb 10, 2006 at 07:44 PM. Reason: wording