Hi All , I have an 04 FX4 F150 and i have what seems to be 5mm of play on the drive shaft (IN AND OUT) on the drivers side and 3mm on the passenger side ?This cant be right ? has anyone had this issue ?
The bearing seem fine and there is no play up down side to side just the driveshaft clunks when pushed in and pulled out !!!!! all help greatfully received

 

I think you mean the axles, and not the driveshaft? If so, what you're feeling with the movement is pretty normal. Ford uses a c-clip style rear end and there is a small amount of play. Do you have any driveability issues, or is this just something you noticed with the rear up on jack stands?

 

Sorry in the UK the axle is the tube diff and all internal's we refere to them as half shafts or driveshafts.
Yes you are correct in your assumption i have noticed this when the car is on axle stands, the issue is I get a loud clunk from the rear when going round a corner so looked at it a little deeper and found one side to have 3 or 4 times more play hence my question ? i could not see if it was a taper rear bearing or not. C clip answers my question ! i wounder if it has broken ?
Thanks for your help i will keep you posted.

 

If somehow the c-clip has fallen out or broken, then the only thing holding your axle in is the brake caliper (assuming disc brakes). But i'm pretty sure it would slide out a couple inches, not a few millimeters. However, I would highly recommend you either pull the diff cover and make sure the c-clips are still on there correctly or pull the brake caliper and mounting bracket off and see if the whole axle slides all the way out. If there's pieces of a c-clip floating around in there and they get caught up in the gears you'll need a whole new rearend.

 

Your clunk is pretty common. There's even a TSB out on it. You probably need to lube the splines on the driveshaft. Search and you'll find more info. on it.

 

TNC, he's referring to play in the axle shafts, not the driveshaft.

 

Plus he said it's when rounding corners, not when moving from a stop like the typical driveline clunk.

 

Actually, he complained of a clunk from the rear, and around corners. The driveshaft does it both when taking off from a stop, and when tipping back into it. As in , after completing a turn. Just went through the whole mess w/the dealer. The slip yoke can have issues if it's not greased properly and it will be noticed both when accelerating from a stop ( which wasn't happening to me) and when cornering (which is when mine was doing it). Mostly around right turns, as you don't stop for those as often as left turns, but you do let off the gas and then get back on it. Slip yoke lubrication issues are pretty common on the '04's. I'd be surprised to find his c-clips are gone. I can't imagine the axles holding in place.

 

Maybe so, but that amount of end play in the axle shafts does NOT sound normal. I'd do what's needed to fix that before worrying about the driveshaft splines.

 

not to worry. This is caused by the little bit of play that is allowed inside the carrier (differential) where the ends of the axle shafts go inside the spyder gears. there, they butt up against the pinion bolt. this separates the pinon gears, and the axles are held by the c clips and the c clips are pretty much the only thing holding the axle shafts in place, and if you shake the truck left to right, you will hear that klunk of the 3mm and 5 mm of play you were looking at. that is about the amount of clearance between the ends of the axle shafts and the pinion bolt inside the differential!! i would definitely open up the cover to see if one of the c clips has come off. hope it has'nt!! hope this helps

 

Possibly. I'd find out the specs. BEFORE tearing into something, but that's just me. Regardless, it'll be interesting to hear how it plays out. He asked for assistance. ALL answers even remotely related to his question/problem are valid, regardless of your feelings. That's how he can effectively troubleshoot.

Quick search brought this one:

https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...ight=axle+play

whatdya know, someone greased the spline and it went away.....

 

TNC, I'm still gonna insist you're talking about the wrong thing. He's talking about play in the axleshafts, not the driveshaft. If you jack your rear tires off the ground, you can move the whole tire/rotor/axleshaft assembly in and out a couple millimeters. This is caused by the gap between the ends of the axleshafts and the crosspin in the differential. When rounding turns the vehicle's weight shifts toward the outside of the turn, and axles and tires slide in/out that fraction of an inch, which can make audible clunking noises. It is all perfectly normal. And although losing a c-clip is not likely, it happened to my 02 F150, and blew the whole rearend. So it is not unheard of.

He may have the typical driveline clunk you're talking about as well, but that's not what he asked about.

Keep in mind when he says driveshaft he's referring to the axleshafts.
He never said anything about clunking when moving from/coming to a stop.

 

Insist away. It's all fine. Why are you guys so hot to be right? Dyin' for a pissing contest or something? He asked about a clunk on a turn as well as his other symptoms. The only reason I said anything about the straight line take off clunk was in response to YOU who said something about straight line takeoffs. Maybe you need to read the posts over so you're clear. I just got my '04 out of the dealer for clunking around turns. What year do you have? Looks like '02, not '04+. They're different animals. I didn't bag on yours or anyone elses response. The issue I raised is a known issue with the '04+'s. I fully read and understand his post. I see the mix up between axle/driveshaft. I'm just putting out another possibility. You guys are determined to shoot it down, but the fact is, none of us know what's wrong yet. So why would you throw out free information? It very well could have nothing to do with what us yanks call the driveshaft. But maybe it is that problem. YOU don't know, neither do I. .....

 

Sounds like you are the one itching for a pissing contest - chill out, okay? We are being respectful in our disagreements, you sure aren't.

 

[QUOTE=glc]Sounds like you are the one itching for a pissing contest - chill out, okay? We are being respectful in our disagreements, you sure aren't.[/QUOTE