U joints going symptons?
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Postmaster
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From: New Hampshire
U joints going symptons?
Folks,
Can someone give me indications on symptons,especially early, of U joiints
going out. I think i may have a joint going bad. Got vibration at different speeds unless i let off the go pedal. Mild vibration is best description. 64k on truck.
Thanks
Nut
Can someone give me indications on symptons,especially early, of U joiints
going out. I think i may have a joint going bad. Got vibration at different speeds unless i let off the go pedal. Mild vibration is best description. 64k on truck.
Thanks
Nut
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Joined: Oct 2005
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From: Paw Paw, MI
Originally Posted by PSNut
Folks,
Can someone give me indications on symptons,especially early, of U joiints
going out. I think i may have a joint going bad. Got vibration at different speeds unless i let off the go pedal. Mild vibration is best description. 64k on truck.
Thanks
Nut
Can someone give me indications on symptons,especially early, of U joiints
going out. I think i may have a joint going bad. Got vibration at different speeds unless i let off the go pedal. Mild vibration is best description. 64k on truck.
Thanks
Nut
Well, I can only speak from personal experience. If broken, you will hear the click, click, click, or when frozen up it will make that vibration. But it could also be tires out of balance. That is probably the cheapest and less time consuming fix, so I would have those checked first.
Hope this helps!
Bill
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From: Paw Paw, MI
Originally Posted by PSNut
Thanks Bill! I thought about tire balance but it smoothes out when i let off the throttle.Hmmmm.
After going through all the problems I have had in the last 2 weeks, the last thing I would want you to have to do is chase your tail like I have. I just know that if your tires are out of balance, they will do lots of goofy things which will make you do a lot of tail chasing! If it lets off when you go slower, it very well could be ujoints. Can you pinpoint where it is coming from? It could also be the rear end, or front hubs. Do you have WARN's? U joints are one of those things that are hard to test if there is a problem, unless they are so bad one of the caps have broken and is rattling around. If it makes you feel any better (it didnt help me much), if you change them and it is not it, atleast you have new ujoints
!Good luck
Bill
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From: New Hampshire
Can't pinpoint it's source. Feel vibration everywhere. Different from out of balance tires(which i've had on other vehicles). Starts at around 45mph and goes to 55mph then smoothes till 69mph then smoothes till about 73mph. In the bad zones if i left off the gas to pull power from the drive train it smooths out like glass. Seems to be getting worse. My thoughts are: U joints, T/C , rear end
, tranny....don't know yet. Another learning experience. I'm a troubleshooter by trade(electronics).This truck has been a good learning experience.
, tranny....don't know yet. Another learning experience. I'm a troubleshooter by trade(electronics).This truck has been a good learning experience.
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Joined: Oct 2005
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From: Paw Paw, MI
Originally Posted by PSNut
Can't pinpoint it's source. Feel vibration everywhere. Different from out of balance tires(which i've had on other vehicles). Starts at around 45mph and goes to 55mph then smoothes till 69mph then smoothes till about 73mph. In the bad zones if i left off the gas to pull power from the drive train it smooths out like glass. Seems to be getting worse. My thoughts are: U joints, T/C , rear end
, tranny....don't know yet. Another learning experience. I'm a troubleshooter by trade(electronics).This truck has been a good learning experience.
, tranny....don't know yet. Another learning experience. I'm a troubleshooter by trade(electronics).This truck has been a good learning experience.
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Joined: Oct 2004
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From: Ridgecrest, CA
What I've done in the past is to place the rearend on jackstands and put the tranny in neutral. Now you can rotate the drive shaft while trying to move the yokes side to side to find any free-play. Also look for grease coming out of one or more of the bearing cups. If everything is real solid and pretty clean (always try to clean off excess when doing grease jobs), then I'd look else where.
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From: NorCal
Sounds just like my thread here...
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...d.php?t=482882
My U-Joints appeared ok, it was the CV joint in the driveline (it's actually part of the transfer case yoke) giving me my vibration...
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...d.php?t=482882
My U-Joints appeared ok, it was the CV joint in the driveline (it's actually part of the transfer case yoke) giving me my vibration...
Last edited by cgl; May 16, 2006 at 10:48 AM.
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From: Parker, CO
Depends on which u-joints are going out. My father just replaced his rear u-joint, and we found it by a broken bearing cup. His symptoms were vibrations above 70 mph only, and got much worse as he increased speed. I've noticed recently that I have what I can best describe as slack in my driveline and a slight takeoff vibration. I've checked underneath and my front u-joint out of the transfer case is leaking from the bearing cup. Once I am moving though I have no vibrations at all. So your symptoms might vary depending on how bad the u-joint is and which one is failing.
Roaky has good advice. Check very carefully as driveline problems are sometimes hard to pinpoint sometimes.
Roaky has good advice. Check very carefully as driveline problems are sometimes hard to pinpoint sometimes.
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Originally Posted by PSNut
Folks,
Can someone give me indications on symptons,especially early, of U joiints
going out. I think i may have a joint going bad. Got vibration at different speeds unless i let off the go pedal. Mild vibration is best description. 64k on truck.
Thanks
Nut
Can someone give me indications on symptons,especially early, of U joiints
going out. I think i may have a joint going bad. Got vibration at different speeds unless i let off the go pedal. Mild vibration is best description. 64k on truck.
Thanks
Nut
I think you are on the right trail in your assessment of a bad U-joint! Classis symptom is the one you describe with the vibration but the second classic symptom as mentioned above is "slack" in your driveline. The best way to explain this is if you are at a dead stop or slightly moving (as in bumper -to-bumper traffic) when you hit the accelerator there will be a delayed reaction (maybe a second or two) in the driveline. Overtime you tend not to notice this, as it happens gradually, but after the new U-joints you wont believe it was that sloppy. When I had some work done on my truck a couple of weeks ago I also had all 3 U-joints on the rear driveline replaced. I would post part #'s but they are different depending on wheelbase dimensions and other factors so not all #'s would be the same for each of us. Mine were actually the same part # for all three u-joints! While you have to remove part of the driveline anyhow you might as well lower your carrier bearing (once this is loose the whole assembly comes off and you can do it on the bench), disconnect at transfer case and rearend and do all three at the same time so you are not guessing which one is bad. As already stated a bad u-joint doesn't automatically show any exterior sign of being bad. Hope this helps.
Last edited by turbostroke; May 16, 2006 at 02:39 PM.
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Postmaster
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From: New Hampshire
More to think about.... I did some searching on u joints. Are u joints pretty easy to replace? Never done any till now. My Helm service manual should help. Got to get under my truck again.
Nut
Nut