I'm replacing my driveshaft carrier bearing this weekend. It appears that all I need to do is unbolt it and let the driveshafts drop and separate. Slde them into the new bearing and bolt it back together. Am I missing anything?

99 F-350 Lariat V10 4x4 CC LB SRW

 

The bearing is actually pressed-on to the front driveshaft.

 

They may be pressed on this application but I haven't run into one anywhere else that I would consiter pressed as opposed to just corroded and stuck. for me, pressed means you need to press it on but the carriers I have seen just slip on the shaft once it is clean. I did one in an f-800 yesterday.

That doesn't mean the old bearing will be easy to get off though. You are correct, once the driveline is out, you seperate the two driveline pieces where the bearing is, make sure to mark the two so you can get them back the same way they came apart. 75 percent of the time I can clamp the bearing in a vice and pound the spline shaft out of the bearing with a big block of wood. The bearing however, is probably tight from corrosion and dirt and may be so bad that you need to cut it off.

I should say, you need to take the rubber and steel carrier portion and half of the metal shield that is next to the bearing off so you can clamp it in the vice.

Once the old bearing is off, clean up the shaft with emery cloth or I prefer scotch brite pads (a good auto parts store will carry them) and just slip the new bearing on, slide the driveshaft back together the same way it came apart and put it all back in.

 

I figured I would let you all know what I found whne I dug into this beast. As Krewat stated, the bearing is pressed onto the front driveshaft. (insert chioice word here) I did find however, that the bearing itself seemed fine. It spun freely, smoothly, and quietly. I did notice that the rubber bushing in which the bearing resides was a lot more flexible than the bushing on the new bearing and was actually kinda offset relative to the metal bracket in which everything is held together. I looked up at where the bearing attached to the truck and I could see that the footprint left in the metal was also offset and not perpendicular to the drive shafts. The bolt holes are actually elongated so this sort of thing could occur. Well, at this point I decided that the job was beyond my immediate capability to accomplish so I put everything back together. I took care to put the bearing in as straight as possible. Well the result was that the howling noise has stopped. I have gone 200 miles with no noises other than an occasional clunk, which I am attributing to the soft bushing material. SO, I think I should still replace the bearing, but it is no longer an emergency and I can gear up and buy the tools I need or just look around for the best price at a shop. Thanks for the input, guys...

 

Appreciate the update.

While you had the shafts apart, did you regrease the slipjoint? That's often the cause of the "clunk".

 

I did not regrease the slip joint, which is probably the reason it was a real bear to slide back together. I will make sure it is done when I dig back in....

 

My son and I Just rebuilt the rear drive shaft of his 2001 F-250 4x4 at 205,000miles. On his 2 piece rear driveshaft the carrier bearing was secured by a large nut. The nut took a 2 5/16 6 point socket and it was so tight we had to heat the nut up to get it to break loose. the bearing then just slipped off and no press wae required. The u-joints were a bugger to replace. Seems the factory uses ones with oversize spiders that could not be pressed through and we had to cut them out with a torch. Everything went back together OK, and it is good to now be able to lube the u-joints during regular service. The job took most of the afternoon.

 

I haven't run across a Super Duty driveshaft like that. The ones I've dealt with (including my own) have about 6" or so of shaft before you even get to the center bearing, so that would have to be one heck of a deep socket. But luckily the ones I've dealt with, the bearings were just pressed on. This is from the thread in the sticky folder from Eureka Boy on greasing the slip-joint. Is this what your son's driveshaft looked like?

 

It has the same splined stub (pictured) on the front of the rear driveshaft section rear of the carrier bearing. This stub feeds into the slip yoke. The slip yoke connects to another yoke which is splined with the large retaining nut. This nut secures the yoke and carrier bearing the rear of the front driveshaft section. I wish I could post a picture but my son's truck is 150 miles away. I have seen other Fords use different components on the same model in the same year.

 

Changed mine yesterday and it is just like Paul stated. That flange nut is a SOB if you don't have an impact hammer cause of the lock tite. Then pulled the other half of the joint cut away rubber cushion and knocked mine off with a punch. Mine is an 03 but my buddy's truck is an 02 and his is just like EnviroCon's pic.

 

Don't sweat it. I think the description you gave is more than adequate enough for me, or anyone else searching this topic, to be able to identify it if we run across it.

 

Mine is the same, the carrier bearing is not a tight pressed on fit, I was able to remove it very easily with a gear puller with the shaft still in the pickup.

 

Has anyone heard of noise coming from the driveshaft (Carrier Bearing) when the whether outside drops down around 20 degrees or less? Since the noise seems most pronounced at low speed and the frequency of the noise is pretty high compared to the speed of the wheels turning in the back, I would suspect the problem to be before the differential. I have already replaced the U-Joints (they were worn badly) but I had this problem before I replaced them and afterward too. Once the whether outside warms up, the noise is gone. Any ideas?

 

We rebuilt my son's driveshaft because he found the boot was gone from the slip yoke and he was experiencing the dreaded clunk on drive away. We cleaned it up, greased it with Ford's teflon grease as per the service bulletin, installed a new boot and put it back in the truck. About 500 miles later he found the boot was gone again. I checked the carrier bearing and it had a smooth rotation however was loose and seemed to wallow around in the rubber retainer inside the mounting bracket. I thought it may be causing a vibration or harmonic that caused the boot to desintegrate. We rebuilt the entire driveshaft per my earlier forum reply, and so far no problems. My son said although he never noticed any kind of vibration before it seems to run smoother now. He travels allot, and with those 4.30 gears I wanted to make sure it wouldn't "grenade on him" on the freeway. Regarding the noise in the earlier post, I would suggest putting the rear axle on jackstands, block the front wheels, and let it idle in drive and trying to find the noise while the wheels are turning. It sounds like a u joint running dry that quiets down as it heats up. A good way to check the u-joints is after driving the truck for several miles feel each u-jount cup on the driveline. If one is dry it will usually be much hotter than the others.

 

i'm replacing mine tomarrow and it has a large nut holding it on . i'll take some photos and try to get them in here .