My sister's truck feels like it has some kind of slack in the driveline. If you let off the accelerator and then tap it in any gear it feels like something slaps before the truck starts to accelerate. All the fluid levels are ok, truck has about 110K miles on it, Motor is the 5.4l, 2wd with tow package. Any ideas?

 

U joints are my first guess.

 

had the same problem. there is a TSB 16070 on this and a list of parts that you need to replace in the front axel. It has to do with a spring that needs to be upgraded. Here is all the info you need..


Problem
The front drive shafts in these trucks when new is under some friction from the new seals, bearings, and other things in the front drive line. when the truck is new it takes about 50 in. lbs. of tourque to turn this shaft. the transfer case puts out about 30 in. lbs. of tourque when the truck is rolling down the road. (this amout will change depending on how fast you are going, how warm the fluid in the transfercase is ect.) but after time when the front drive line gets broke in that 50 in lbs. goes down and wil get down to as low as 5 in lbs. of totque so as you can see the front drive shaft will start to spin. Now this is not a problem and it was designed to do this. but what is happening is when the front shaft spins it also spins the front axles. and this is not a problem except the front axles are not spinning at the same speed and some one axle will spin foeward and the other backwards. this is where the noise is comming from. the noise is being produced inside the front differantial becouse the axles are not spinning at the same speed. Now I could go into how this can happen and I am sure a lot of you would like to know but I just don't have the time right now I am in school and not at work so please ask you questions and I will respond as soon as I get back to work on Monday.

Now for the fix
in a limmited slip differantial there is a spring that holds pressure on the side gears of the diff. these gears are splined to clutches that hold the gears from turning.
in the front of the expy is NOT a limmited slip diff. but ford is going to take that spring from an 8.8in. diff. and put it in the front diff. of the expy. This will provide enough friction on the gears to keep both axles spinning the same speed.

This fix will fix the growl and the loud pop bang grind you here when shifting from 2WD to 4X4Auto.
this fix should be out in the first quarter of 2003
I would suggest that you eather drive your truck in 2WD or 4X4auto but do not switch back and forth a lot at high speeds it could damage the locking wheel ends. if you have already been doing this ask your dealer to check them when you get you truck fixed.



FORD Parts list for fix


I got the growl fixed yesterday...so far so good.

030604A INSTALL CLUTCH SPRING INTO FRONT AXLE
DIFF.TSB 03-06-04
1 EOAZ*4214*A SPRING-RR AX DIFF CLUTCH
1 *N808765*S RING 28MM RET TYPE SB EXT S FI
1 D8BZ*4241*B BOLT 5/16-18X1.80 HEX FLG PLT
1 F7AZ*19554*EA SE-R/T/V
(OIL and METAL service cleaner)






DESCRIPTION HOW TO FIX

I can not put the procedure on this sight but I can put it in my own words this is what needs to be done.

1. put on hoist
2. remove front cover
3. remove pinnion shaft retaining bolt
4. remove pinion shaft
5. remove axle snap rings
6. slide axles out just enough to clear side gears ( this can be done without removing anything else)
7. install new spring between side gears
8. slide axles back in place and secure with new snap rings
9. install pinnion shaft and new retaining bolt
10. install front cover and fill with 75W-90 gear oil.
























Other dealers are fixing this… Heres a few…


The service dept (dealer Lisle, IL) said the owner's wife drives a '03 X and had this problem a very short while ago. They fixed it. They tell me that they are ordering the parts which will take a few days and fix it. Perhaps I can pry the TSB number from them as I haven't seen it here. I saw 16070 mentioned



On the 6th of January Barrie Ford, in Ontario Canada, replace the Axle Gear Preload Spring
Part #E0AZ-4214-A and PIN - LOCK D8BZ-4241-B on my 2003 Eddie Bauer Expedition after having experienced the described problem on this thread. I was experiencing a droaning - howling noise in 2H shortly after the first time I used the Auto 4W drive for the first time in October. Like everyone else, it seems, I just left it in the Auto 4WD mode.
I never had any vibration until around Christmas when the steering wheel would shake at around 55-60mph and there was a noticable stuttering under my feet.
Anyhow, what matters is that the problem has been solved! Thanks to yourself, this forum and all those who kept up the pressure on Ford. I love my Expedition!
Thanks again, Dave B.




I just picked up my 2003 Expedition from the dealer after having the above-mentioned problem fixed.

My assessment is as follows:

1. Depending on speed, I may hear a very slight mechanical noise when switching from 4AWD to 2H. Nowhere near the loud clunk noise that I had experienced in the past. No noise from 2H to 4AWD.

2. Since I never had a loud growling noise from the front, all sounds from the front appear to remain the same. It still feels (sounds) that the front wheels are spinning more freely in 4AWD than 2H.

On the way home from the dealer, I switched between 2H and A4WD many times. You really have to concentrate to pick up any sound differences between the 2 modes. For my case, the loud clunk is gone and have piece of mind for the future. Hopefully.



My 2003 had this problem. The dealership knew what the problem was right away. I was worried that they would say "cannont duplicate problem" (I hate it when they do that)They added the spring to the front differential and it solved the problem.

I also noticed that the "KLUNK!!" was gone now. I didn't realize that is was because of this fix. Cool.

 

btw, ford fixed mine under extended warranty after a million years of screaming at the service manager. I had to go over his hear to the sales and district manager to get it done as my warranty specifically covered it.

Ford will probably die a slow agonizing death with people like this working for them.

 

I was thinking u joints but wasnt sure. Btw truck is 2wd not 4wd, no front driveshaft. Thanks anyway.