First off Hello everyone.
I have a 2004 F250 superduty. 145,000 miles. Its a quad cab 4x4. Triton V10.
When i got the truck it had some sort of clunk or felt like the front end was shifting when i went from a dead stop to movement. Then vise versa when i stopped.
Took it to my local auto shop. They replaced damn near everything in the front end. 5grand later. Its still doing it. Everything from the pitman arm, sway bars, tie rod and ends, upper and lower A arms, all replaced. Not a bit of difference. They couldnt find anything.. Had it in the shop several times. So finally i just said screw it I guess i will live with it.
That was about 2 years ago. Well a few days ago i was talking to a friend about the truck and i just pushed on it, and it rocked back and i heard that fuggin clunk, shift noise. And i noticed the truck rocked back about a foot. And as i repeated the process, i saw the rear end shift or rock up an inch or two. Kept at it and i saw the driveshaft kinda buckle at the boot. Where the shaft slides in and out when going over terrain.
Anyone have a solution to this problem, or experienced this? My one friend said something about a shim in the rear end, or worm gear? It seems to be getting worse, but it could be me. I also have a pretty bad vibration developing from 72 mph to about 80 mph then it kinda levels out. But man you hit 75mph, you know it.. Shakes your teeth loose.

The drive shaft dosent move or wiggle when your under the truck and pull on it.. So i dunno. But i been throwing money at these mechanics and getting no results.
Please help.
Thanks, Stephen

 

One item to check would be the mounts between the cab and the frame. Do a search here and you will find that other folk have found loose mounting bolts or degraded mounts.

The rear pinion will move a bit when you rock the truck back and forth. This is due to flex in the rear springs. Recommend checking that the spring u-bolts that attach the spring pack to the axle are tight just to be sure.

Some flex in the shaft's sliding joint would be normal on a high mileage truck. These joints are known to make noise when they run low on grease. Two hours of work and 25 cents worth of grease might just fix the problem.

Lou Braun

 

Sounds like a classic case of "driveline clunk" caused by lack of grease in the slip yoke. You might try pulling it apart and greasing the splines to see if it helps. But, since it's been doing it for so long, the slip yoke might be worn out. If that's the case, you will probably need to get it replaced.

Not trying to rub salt in the wound, but the worst part is (if this is actually the problem) it could have been fixed two years ago in about a half hour with 50-cents worth of grease.

Good luck. Let us know what happens.

EDIT: Apparently, I work faster and use better grease than Lou. HA! Just kidding Lou. The bottom line is, it's a quick and cheap job that should be on everybody's maintenance list.

 

Thanks people! i did search, and found people explaining the same issue. Slip yolk. I will do it tomorrow, and report back. Love the truck other then that issue. Well there is another issue.. When making a turn onto a raised pavement. Speedbumps also, even at slow speeds makes a knock in the , i assume . Front end. I know i need shocks. But opinions accepted. My shocks are worn and rusted to hell. I just did the sway bar bushings helped a bit, but its still there.

 

On a note of greasing the slip yolk, do i just grease the hell out of it? or are there certain parts to grease? Im going to grease everything hardcore

 

Front end knock is probably ball joints since you already did the sway bar bushings. Lay under the truck and have someone rock it. See if you can pinpoint the noise. To check the ball joints, jack up the front end, grab the bottom of the tire, and see if you can rock it in and out or move it up and down. If you can, its probably the ball joints.

 

Don't go too crazy. There's no vent hole in the yoke on the newer trucks to let the excess grease escape, so you could bottom out the yoke and bend the drive shaft. Just remember that all the grease that oozes out goes flying and makes one hell of a mess.

 

You guys are AWSOME!!!! I had a ton of work done to this truck, aND it never fixed my initial problem. Well thanks to you guys/girls. The frigging slip yolk was just in need of lube...... Baffling i know.. But gosh darn it.. it worked.. Feels like a brand new truck!!!!!!!!
A lice3nsed ASE certified mech couldn't find the problem.. But you all did.. Cant believe it.. But no more clunk! Im so exstatic!