Rear clunking sound
 

I have a clunking sound coming from the rear of my X when I stop and take off. The sound does not happen until the vehicle has been driven for a few miles. After it has been driven, I will get one clunk when I stop. When I take off I will get one clunk as the vehicle starts to accelerate, and another clunk as I give it a little more gas. Any Ideas on what could be the cause of this?
I do not get the sound when I shift from park to drive, or drive to reverse.

The problem is:
The Slip-Yoke the rear drive shaft bolts to on the rear-end needs greased..........

The fix:
Take rear drive shaft loose from rear-end, remove slip-yoke, grease spline with a good high-temp. grease.
Reinstall Slip-Yoke and drive shaft, your good to go for another 50,000 miles or so.

Plus one on that.

Thanks guys. Is this something that should be fixed immediately to prevent damage?
Is it it possible to tap and add a grease zirt?

No. It's really just an annoyance. Too little grease from the factory or inferior grease. Once you do it you shouldn't have to do it again.You can but it's not really with the effort and you could possibly run into balance problems...although I doubt it.

The sooner you get it repaired the better, it won't get any better only worse. Every time it clunks it puts stress on the U-Joint and the splines of the Slip-Yoke.
It dosen't have to be fixed tomorrow, but as soon as soon as possiable. About 75.00 from a good shop is what I would guess.

You could easily do it yourself in 20 minutes. I wouldn't bother with a zerk installation. You might never have the problem again as long as you have the truck. Mine had the problem when I bought mine (got me a better deal) but went away before I had a chance to fix it and that was 2 years ago. I would say it is a 1 time problem if that.

Just to make sure this is the slip yoke problem. Mine Does not clunk when I put it in gear. Only when I come to a stop (or near stop) and again when I take off. I hope it is the slip yoke since the fix appars to be quite easy. Thanks again for all the info.

Probably got lucky this time.

Revisiting an old thread.

I plan on greasing the slip yoke on rear to get rid of that dreaded clunk on shifting into gear or taking off.

My question is this: Has anyone or is it typical to do the front as well? Reason I ask is I noticed the front u-joints when replacing my sway bar bushings. Seems like an easy task. I've read the article on doing the rear. Is the front the same?

I have a 2002 F-250 extended cab with the exact same symptom. I've greased the splines twice and no permanent solution to the clunk (or two) on takeoff (or complete stop). Did greasing solve your problem?

Here is a forum that talks about greasing the yoke.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...my-2000-a.html

Tim M

That fixed half my noise, the other noise was due to the bumpers on the slapper bars on rear springs were gone.
Not buying it new I did not know they had been there at one time

PS: Re-lubed slip yoke splines today and the clunking is gone! I know now for sure that a double clunk on takeoff and with gentle braking to a stop is due to drying out of Teflon lubricant. This time, however, I've noted the date so that I will be able to see how long this fix will last.
PPS: The splined end of the rear drive shaft in my f-250 is already factory-coated with blue Teflon, indicating that Ford has already tried to solve this recurrent problem.

A few more pic's if needed and a side job or two while in the neighborhood...

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...nion-seal.html

I have had the same problem with my F-250 2002, extended cab (which has a two part drive shaft) for as long as I have owned the vehicle. The problem is "catching" of the slip yoke splines of the drive shaft. After lubrication, the problem may resolve "permanently", but for me it only lasts a period of months and needs re-lubrication.
The fix is easy: Dropping the rear part of the shaft and pulling it out of the splined tube (mark everything and have the ebrake on so that you can get all back together exactly the same). Teflon lubricant is sold at Ford.
Details of this fix can be found elsewhere at this forum.

Thanks for starting this thread.....
Now my truck is doing this...}>

Those splines are machined to tightly. I would hit the male spline with a hi speed drill with a wire wheel on it loaded with grinding compound and then lube it. I can't see any lube working for a long time with those clearances. Mine did it when new which is why I got a good deal on it and then went away in a week by itself.

Those splines are machined to tightly. I would hit the male spline with a hi speed drill with a wire wheel on it loaded with grinding compound and then lube it. I can't see any lube working for a long time with those clearances. Mine did it when new which is why I got a good deal on it and then went away in a week by itself.

Has anyone done this? I have an '03 F250 that I bought a week ago and it makes the same exact clunk..I'm confident that the lube will take care of the issue; just wondering if anyone else has used the wire wheel and grinding compound.

Probably not, it's just something I dreamed up. They made them like that to compensate for the slip joint hanging out side if the tailhousing instead of in and the hanging weights are part of that compromise.

Thanks, appreciate it. I've been enjoying the truck otherwise, like the power but hate the ride. It rides like a board compared to my Jeep or F150. Anything to do about it? Maybe new shocks? Have new 275/65 R16s on them, not sure what the pressure is. I traded up from an '06 Jeep Grand Cherokee that I loved to bits but needed more power to get over the passes between here (Portland, Or. area) and southern Az. I have a 23' Jayco ultralight (19' box) that weighs 5k loaded, and I felt the 4.7 was straining too much in 2nd gear @40mph and 3500rpm when the grade was above 6%.:( The F250 V10 should yank it along like a dog with a chew toy.:-X04 On another note, we've been looking at 5Rs and am wondering how much different (better?) a 5R is to pull than my TT. I'm thinking of a 28' with about 9k loaded weight. I looked at a 35' triple slide with 10k dry weight yesterday and felt intimidated by the sheer size of it. Had a 19.5 5R many years ago that I pulled with a Dakota but that was a different animal. Any thoughts would be appreciated. If I don't get any replies on this old thread I'll try reposting it on a new thread if I can figure out how to make it happen (newbie, steep learning curve).