Well the old girl seems to be doing good as for temp/oil ps. I took her for a spin today, a lil run to Trabucho Canyon for some landscaping items... river rock. She ran smooth and delt with low speed temp and elevation twists pretty well. However I have noticed a 3rd gear slack snap lately at low speeds like 25/35 mph she will thump when the trottle is released or pressed at this range. My thinking is that it's the U joints but ? Also it seems there is a vibration from 10 - 25 mph .. so i wonder is the driveline the issue .. how can I dicern this ... what kind of $ can be expected to verify/resolve the issue ?

 

Have you tried moving the shaft forward and back by hand? It's possible the rear end lash may need resetting. My experience with mine inre to u-joints is when they start to fail, a noticable clunk occurs from takeoff.

BTW...Nice truck!

 

Jack up the back end and spin the tires by hand and look and feel for anything that way too. Check the U-joints first - they are by far the easiest to fix. A worn carrier bearing could give you the vibration and even a thump, but probably not that slack feel.

My bet is on the rear end. Fortunately the Ford 9" is fairly easy to work on and adjust, if that's your problem. If your rear end makes a hum or whine going down the road, it shouldn't. I know it's kinda hard to tell one noise from another on these old trucks though - especialy with a T-98 tranny.

 

i DO HEAR WHAT SOUNDS LIKE A BEARING/RACE NOISE UNDER WAY AND CHECKED THE FRONT WHEELS FOR THIS. nO SIGN OF ANY WEAR. mAYBE THAT IS WHAT THE NOISE IS ? sOUNDS LIKE A dry bearing to me.. darn caps key.. the new keyboard is a pain.

 

Redmanbob; I beleive Sam_fear is referring to you too possilbility having a two piece drive shaft, there's a carrier-bearing ajointing those two drive shafts together, usually they whine/growl, then cluck and in some cases lock up your abilitly to roll as well. Usually about a $15-20 buck replacement. but check all options posted above first to determine your problem.

Mitch

 

You might also have dry rear axle bearings. That will give you the whine as well. To fix that you will have to pull each brake backing plate and pull the axles out to check that. It probably wouldn't hurt to relube them anyways. I had a dry axle bearing for a few weeks that was driving me nuts to try to find. I thought all axle bearings were lubricated by the gear oil. Turns out Ford liked to put a seal just before the bearings in the early years.

As far as cost, better portion of an afternoon with some brake fluid for bleeding the brakes after taking them off and axle grease/RTV to relube the bearings and seal them since the paper gasket isn't around anymore.

 

The 9 inchers are set up using a crush sleeve (B7A-4662-A). Over the years, the sleeve will crush a bit more from usage. If your shaft has excessive freeplay, you might just replace the sleeve, pinion seal (4676) and O ring (B7A-4669-A)...you'll have to reset the lash.

Bill's Automotive in Orange does very good work, btw. He specializes in the older stuff. He does quite a bit of work for the members of SoCal Galaxies. I had him do a bunch of stuff on my 68 XL.

 

Wow, all good info.. thanks guys. Now if I hadnt spent all weekend playing with a fence the issue might have been resolved. LOL

 

OK I got under her and jacked up the rear. The U joints all seemed fine, I did notice a little squealing from the driveshaft to tranny connection when spinning in forward motion direction. Like a rubbery squeeky whine. But not the bearing steel growl sound. So chocked the front wheels, started it up and put it in D there was the sound. Got down and listened and it would seem the carrier bearing is the culprit. So went online to Autozone etc... looking for the part via that name and nada... is there another term for it. Like "Differential Carrier Bushing" of which they do not have available.. but it is listed ?? go figure.. is it a dealer item ?

TIA
is it simple to replace ? any specifics on how to ? Never done this before..and I am good at having to things twice so ...

 

Bob this article will help with the pinnion rebuild. You can buy whole bearing rebuild kits for less the $100 depending on where you shop for them. I found several for $75 or less on ebay. Just type in "9 inch rebuild" in the search box. You might even want to think about tackling a whole rebuild since you are in there.

 

I'm lost ...1. what article ? 2. I'm talking about the dual driveshaft connecting grommet/bearing thingy doodad LOL...I assumed that was the carrier bearing.. thats what is making the noise best I can tell... there is a U joint setup there but I'm pretty sure this is the bearings in that connecting contraption...

 

Opps... I ment to post this link

https://www.ford-trucks.com/article/...ear_Setup.html

I am starting to get a little confused though. Do you have a two piece driveshaft with a bearing support in the middle between the transmission and rearend?

 

I found one of these to see if this is what you are refering to using google images.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/DRIVE...QQcmdZViewItem

 

yes two piece drive shaft, the ebay item is the one. That seems to be making a noise like a dry bearing under way. Looks pretty simple to install...but I always think that and then..."**&%%^$#"

 

Try asking for a driveshaft support bearing.
Your NAPA or machine shops will know exactly what it is, whether you say carrier or support.

By the way, I HIGHLY recommend you have a machine shop press it off and on. Striking it with a hammer can ruin it, and a miss will ding the driveshaft and put it out of balance.