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2012 F150 clunking

Good afternoon. I have been working on my shop since March. Now I'm taking a break today. My truck is making a clunking noise when I start from a stand still. I inspected the drive shaft and the play is at the trans. tail shaft and a little in the rear gear. When I shift from reverse to drive I can hear it in my carport. The truck has 75,000 miles. This tail shaft play seems excessive to me. Any thoughts or others experience this too? I want to have my ducks in a row before I approach the dealership. Thanks I look forward to your response.
 
Have I said something of line here. I'm new to this forum and not sure how long it takes to get a response. A little guidance here would help. Thanks
 

fatherdoug

Tonto Papadapolous
Good morning. Since "clunks" are of a generic nature, there is a link below to troubleshooting rear axle noises for the 1978 Ford. It will get you started towards at least limiting what the possible source. Sorry, I am not familiar with the newer vehicles.

http://www.fordtruckfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29710
 

CowboyBilly9Mile

Charter Member
7,118
442
USA
X2 on what Doug said. Asking what is causing a noise online is a toughie because many things can cause them and you're the only guy there that can hear it. With that said, IMO, your options are to a) try to pinpoint the source and b) sometimes a process of elimination is needed to find the source. Could be a u-joint; they are pretty easy to check.
 
I provided some details regarding this noise. The u joints check out ok. My inspection found some slop in the two piece drive shaft where its splined extension connects to the transmission tail shaft. I can rotate the output extension more than I think is normal. Also there is some play in the ring and pinion. this combined wear is what I suspect is causing the bump I had a hunch this may be a condition that other 2012 F150 owners have had. I have read one tech describe a similar condition ("slip bump") on a 2011 F150 one piece drive shaft. A complete new drive shaft fixed the problem. This is starting to sound like an on going issue. If it is maybe some others could let me know what they have done to correct this. Thanks for more comments. I want to tackle this before my warranty runs out.
 
Ford has a TSB (technical service bulletin) on this "slip bump" condition. It is very common in these trucks. I had the service done this morning. I don't feel the bump now. We will keep you posted on this. Basically the slip yoke is greased and the boot around the yoke gets a new seal. Cost is around 72.00 dollars. The mech. Said the yoke at the trans. Tail shaft does seem to have excessive play but most of the trucks he has serviced has the same play. We shall see. Just sharing my experience.
 

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