Howdy All,

My first post here but wanted to throw this out there as it seems a common issue but didnt see a clear fix. My '78 F150 shudders fairly hard taking off out of 1st gear. Between 2nd and 3rd is fine and if I'm rolling and put it in 1st the shudder is significantly lessened.

Any thoughts on what may be causing this? This truck has been through a few hands and lived a rough life but will suit my needs perfectly for short trips to the hardware and feed stores.

Thanks!

 

Is it a manual? My T18 does this all the time. First gear is a granny gear and is unsynchronized. I always start in 2nd because it's low enough even though it wears away the clutch a bit more.

 

But if he's driving an automatic it could be something else...like a bad spark plug wire.

 

First welcome to FTE. Great site to find answers to your questions. Had this happen on a Ranchero I owned. Finally found a u-joint going bad. Seems the initial torque with the deteriorating joint was just the right combo. As the previous posters said, do you have an A/T or manual? Granny gear or no?

 

If your truck is a manual it sounds to me like your flywheel has hot spots or your clutch is contaminated with oil.

 

Thanks for the suggestions so far! Its a 3 on the tree manual. This thing has been through the ringer so before I started groping around in the dark I would try and narrow it down.

 

Mine does the same....shudders a lot in 1st gear. (460 with a 4spd). As is the case with me....sounds like there is a clutch job in your future. And when you do, get the flywheel resurfaced, replace the throw out bearing and pilot bushing (if it has one) and by all means DO NOT use a reman clutch set.

 

If it has a lot of miles on it, the flywheel could have blue / hard spots in it from being abused or slipping the clutch. Sometimes they can be removed by having the flywheel resurfaced at a local machine shop or installing a new one.

 

Thanks guys, lots of good stuff to ponder. Took Loosey Goosey out for a spin last night and with a veeeeery slow take off the shudder is dramatically decreased. No jack rabbiting for me from stops.

 

Is it only when you're actually using the clutch? Or does it ever do it when just accelerating from a low speed after you've let the clutch all the way out?

And I wonder if your truck has the freeway-flyer gears? The 3-speed was not a low first gear, so taking off from a stop definitely involved the clutch, but if you have 3.0 gears or similar in the pumpkin, and especially if you've got larger tires, things get worse in a hurry.

Slow takeoff making it better does sound like a clutch issue. Even though I don't really want you to wreck your clutch, sometimes doing a long, hard clutch-slipping start under a lot of power will "burn off the bad stuff" and you'll have a smoother working clutch for some time to come.
The flip-side of that though, is that if it's just old and worn out, you could just make things worse. So use that old-school "fix" with much caution. Get to know your truck first a little more would be a good idea.

Maybe it just did not get driven much before you got it?
Other things that can add to a rough clutch are:
1. Bad u-joints.
2. Bad engine and transmission mounts.
3. Oil leak managing to get oil on the clutch. (not as common, but it happens)
4. Bad tires.

Probably other things, but when it comes right down to it, it's usually all about the clutch, as the others have already said.

Good luck. And have fun with it in the meantime!

Paul