hello everyone! i'm new here, we just bought an '06 F350 Super Duty PSD. it came lifted from the factory 5'' pro comp on 35's, and i have a question... when you take off from a stop there is a shuddering motion you can feel from somewhere in the drivetrain. i'm not sure if it's driveshaft, trans, rear end, or suspension.... is this normal?

Thanks!!

Cody


P.S. Happy Holidays

 

The folk who installed the lift kit probably did not check it for drive-away shudder before it was sold to you. If your truck has a 2-piece driveshaft, adding lowering shims to the center driveshaft bearing usually fixes it.

Ford does not install lift kits at the factory, but it is not unusual for some dealers to do it. Since they did the work, you should ask them to do the fix.

Lou Braun

 

There have been some service bulletins for the 150 posi rears. They make noise when pulling out and turning. You don't have the same rear, but could have similar problems.

 

could just be the tires my friends old tires did that Toyo MT's then it went away with bridgestone revos installed

 

if you have a 2-piece (like he said), majority of the time this is the case!! rule of thumb is 1/4" shim for every 1" of lift! anouther thought might be if they used lift blocks, you might have some spring wrap issues too! just some ideas. the shim is a quick fix with a piece of square tube and a drill bit set! i fixed mine for about $8 bucks. a piece of 2x2" square tube and longer bolts.

i had the same issue once i lifted my truck 6.5"! i added a shim (block) to the carrier bearing mount and that solved the problem!

if it ever stops raining here i'll ge some pics!

 

I have had the same issue with Shudder on two F350's I have owned ... The first one was a 2003 King Ranch dually ... The shudder was most prominant when pulling a load (dump trailer and loader) .. up hill, or incline, from a dead stop ... you would have thought the drive line was gona come off ... but it smoothed out as soon as you were up to speed, +25mph or so .....



I had a buddy that was a service writer at the local dealership at the time ... and he had the service department work on that thing for two weeks ... they replaced the entire driveline ... re-shimmed the angle on the rearend .... put the spacers in for the center carrier bearing ... put the "sperm oil" in the rearend, double dose ... etc, etc, etc .... they even had a guy from the factory fly out to look at it ... they actually made the shudder go away once, on the dead stop, on the incline, but then it had a funny vibration at crusing speed with no load .... I asked them to put it back a notch, and I finally told them I would live with it as is ... and it was a lot better than when they started ...

so, time passes, and I decide to buy a new F350 truck (2004)... single rear wheel drive this time .... (easier to park don't ya know) and it had the exact SAME issue, but not quite as bad .... I didn't bother to take it in ... I just take off slower on an incline, with a load .... and it is tollerable ....

My guess is that with the long bed wheelbase and the flex on the leaf springs, under load .. it just puts the drive line out of alinment just enough to cause the shudder ...

I aways wanted to try putting one of those wireless backup cameras (from Cosco $89.00 - http://www.vr-3.com/backupcamera_vr3.php) under the truck just to see EXACTLY what what happening under there when it was under load, but could never convence the service guys the idea was worth doing ... hehehe they were afraid the camera would fall off and get run over and they would have to pay for it! hahaha ... <SMILE>

Dave