I have a 97 f-150 with 3.55 ls and from a stop it feels like the rear end slips a little and makes a klunk sound. this is the best that i can describe it

has anyone else encountered this problem and know how to fix it. i have only heard the limited slip rear end do it. I dont think that anything is broken and the truck has done it since i bought it two years ago, but sometimes it gets annoying.

any help

mustngpny50

 

Seems to be an anomaly with the '97 LS rearends. I had a '97 f150 and the rearend made that same "slip then light clunk sound" I thought it was u-joints but they appeared good. The rearend went out after I had the truck for awhile, so I replaced it and the new one done the same thing. I wrecked that truck 2 months ago (bad wreck, rolled 3 times)...and recently got me ANOTHER '97 f150 lariat 4x4 supercab with same rearend in it..and it does the EXACT same thing!! Not sure what the deal is but I agree that it's annoying. Only seems to do it when I goose it.

 

have you tried lubing the slip yoke splines? that might get rid of the clunk...

 

I have the same "anomaly". Kind of a light grind (or gear slip) then a clunk. I've had it to 3 different dealerships (when it was under warranty of course) to get 3 opinions. Every one told me the same thing, "that's what the '97 LS sounds like." My '97 F-150 has 108k miles and I still haven't had to go into the pumpkin yet. And believe me I haven't babied it either (it's a 2WD and I still take it off-roading). I was skeptical at first, thinking that my rear end was eating itself. But over the years it's worked great and it still makes that noise.

So don't worry, you're not hurting it and it's not going bad. Accept the noise and enjoy you're truck, it's fine.

 

troy k

i had the rear end looked at by my mechanic. when he opened it up he noticed one of the spider gears were broken so he replaced it. when he put it back together and put the fluids back in he added some kind of additive that was suppose to help the noise. it helped for about a month the the noise slowly returned.

i am now looking for any other ideas the might work if not i will just drive it until it breaks, but knowing ford rear-ends that might be a while

thanks everyone for the replies.

mustngpny50