Hi all, Have a 97 F150 4X4.

My Drivers front axel slides out of the differential about 2 inches. Is their a pin that should keep its' travel confined. I can manually re-insert the axel it will stay there as long as I stay in 4wd. When I go to 2wd, eventually the shaft will slide out past the shoulder that mates with the seal on the differential housing then there's no going to 4wd untill I manually re-insert the shaft

Don't have a repair manual yet so I not certain how big a job this will be.

Thanks for any repair tips. Dan

 

Sounds like the CV joint or boot is shot, AND the C-clip is missing from that axleshaft. But I'm not extremely familiar with that IFS.

 

sounds like the c clip came out, all you need to do is take off the cover, the c clip will probably be on the magnetic plug, if the c clip is not broke then you can reuse, you will probably be able to put it back on the end of the shaft with your fingers and use a flat tip screwdriver to push it on the rest of the way, it might pop off a few times, once it is on jerk on the ouside of the shaft in and out a few times to make sure it wont pop off, good luck

 

Have you recently had that shaft out? (aside from it popping out on its own, I mean...) The circlip may be damaged. It's a good idea to replace it anytime you remove the joint.

As for why? Who knows... you'll have to drop the axle and pop the cover to find out.

-Joe