2007 Ranger driveshaft play

[Mike Tonon]

I wasn't sure where to put this, so I'll put it here. My driveshaft is two pieces, not with a carrier bearing, it runs straight from the transmission to the axle, but has a boot near the transmission and the joint inside the boot has play and shakes the truck at highway speed.

How do I fix this? can I just remove the boot and weld the driveshaft into one piece? If not, can I replace the driveshaft with a one piece driveshaft? Or is there a durable rebuild kit for this?

The truck only had about 40,000 miles when this started and about 43,000 now. This is ridiculous. My 87 Ranger, that my dad owned since new had a one piece driveshaft and tight original U-joints at 21 years old and 192,000 miles when I sold it.

 

[cvar]

Did you hit something hard, and bend (or dent) your driveshaft? Or is there something stuck on it (eg, tar)? Or maybe the U-joints at each end are sticking instead of flexing? Maybe time for new U-joints? The 2 ends should be in-phase, so both U-joints match up, not with yoke ears each pointing in different directions.

What you already have is known as the 1-piece driveshaft. See http://imgur.com/a/BL7mz for photos. Your driveshaft has a slip joint hidden underneath that boot, to allow +/- half inch leeway when going over bumps. Do not weld that joint. That joint needs some thick grease, which removes some of the play.

http://visualbits.net/Car Stuff/Ford Ranger 2001-2008/2000-01 DRIVESHAFT.pdf

 

[dla]

I wasn't sure where to put this, so I'll put it here. My driveshaft is two pieces, not with a carrier bearing, it runs straight from the transmission to the axle, but has a boot near the transmission and the joint inside the boot has play and shakes the truck at highway speed.

How do I fix this? can I just remove the boot and weld the driveshaft into one piece? If not, can I replace the driveshaft with a one piece driveshaft? Or is there a durable rebuild kit for this?

The truck only had about 40,000 miles when this started and about 43,000 now. This is ridiculous. My 87 Ranger, that my dad owned since new had a one piece driveshaft and tight original U-joints at 21 years old and 192,000 miles when I sold it.

Sounds like the CV joint is bad. My 2007 uses U-joints.

 

[Mike Tonon]

Did you hit something hard, and bend (or dent) your driveshaft? Or is there something stuck on it (eg, tar)? Or maybe the U-joints at each end are sticking instead of flexing? Maybe time for new U-joints? The 2 ends should be in-phase, so both U-joints match up, not with yoke ears each pointing in different directions.

What you already have is known as the 1-piece driveshaft. See http://imgur.com/a/BL7mz for photos. Your driveshaft has a slip joint hidden underneath that boot, to allow +/- half inch leeway when going over bumps. Do not weld that joint. That joint needs some thick grease, which removes some of the play.

http://visualbits.net/Car Stuff/Ford Ranger 2001-2008/2000-01 DRIVESHAFT.pdf

If that slip joint is so important, why did my 87 Ranger not have that and never had a problem in those areas? I do snow plow with this truck and beat it some. Maybe that did it.

Ok, any recommendations on beefing this joint and or entire driveshaft up, so it can take more abuse?

 

[Sasquatch_Ryda]

All drive shafts have a slip joint of some sort. Either in the shaft itself or where it enters the transmission or transfer case. Without it you will crush your drive shaft and destroy the transmission when the suspension moves.

 

[Mike Tonon]

All drive shafts have a slip joint of some sort. Either in the shaft itself or where it enters the transmission or transfer case. Without it you will crush your drive shaft and destroy the transmission when the suspension moves.

Ok, I think I remember seeing clean metal on the shaft that went into the transmission on my 87 Ranger, that's probably where the slip joint was on that.

Why did Ford change it to in the driveshaft? Would it be stronger if it was a solid driveshaft and I leave room for that small shaft to slide in and out of the transmission?

 

[4x4junkie]

Ok, I think I remember seeing clean metal on the shaft that went into the transmission on my 87 Ranger, that's probably where the slip joint was on that.

Why did Ford change it to in the driveshaft? Would it be stronger if it was a solid driveshaft and I leave room for that small shaft to slide in and out of the transmission?

Your '87 must have been 2WD.

4WD Rangers all have the slip on the driveshaft itself. It's not normally a failure point or subject to rapid wear. My guess is maybe there was insufficient quantity of grease in the joint (or the boot became compromised, letting dirt/water into it), which allowed it to wear prematurely.

Probably easiest fix is to find another (good) shaft at a junkyard, replenish the grease on it (it uses moly CV joint grease), and be good for another 100-200K or so.

 

[gw33gp]

At 180K miles, I am noticing a little movement in the slip joint. I checked pricing on a new drive shaft and the least expensive I could find was more than $500 with shipping. I then contacted a powertrain specialist that I used to change my differential gears. They can replace the slip joint. They cut the old one out, weld a new one in and balance the drive shaft. They also like to replace the u-joints. All of that adds up to about $350. I am considering doing that.

I only get a little vibration when I am going above 75 mph with my 31" tires with the 4.56 gears. When I have my 33" tires on I don't get any vibration until I get around 85 mph.

 

[adsm08]

Do not use CV joint or wheel bearing grease in the drive-shaft slip joint. Neither are correct, both will produce a clunk when changing direction or going from coast to drive in just a few months.

The correct lubricant is PTFE lube, it is teflon based and should last for years. It is blue. It can be bought by the tube or the can. Just buy the tube, put the whole thing in, and close her back up.

 

[Mike Tonon]

Your '87 must have been 2WD.

4WD Rangers all have the slip on the driveshaft itself. It's not normally a failure point or subject to rapid wear. My guess is maybe there was insufficient quantity of grease in the joint (or the boot became compromised, letting dirt/water into it), which allowed it to wear prematurely.

Probably easiest fix is to find another (good) shaft at a junkyard, replenish the grease on it (it uses moly CV joint grease), and be good for another 100-200K or so.

You know what, doing some more research on it, I think I just need to take the boot off (it's in good condition and the straps are there) and re-grease it. It has play, but I'm thinking some is normal and maybe it needs new grease.

My 87 was 2wd, yup.

I have synthetic grease, it looks like the grease in grease guns, I might try that. I only have 43,000 miles on the truck, but due to it sitting a lot and joints rusting and then being used to plow, maybe that caused things to wear early.

 

[Mike Tonon]

Do not use CV joint or wheel bearing grease in the drive-shaft slip joint. Neither are correct, both will produce a clunk when changing direction or going from coast to drive in just a few months.

The correct lubricant is PTFE lube, it is teflon based and should last for years. It is blue. It can be bought by the tube or the can. Just buy the tube, put the whole thing in, and close her back up.

Thanks, I'll look for that.

 

[Mike Tonon]

Haha, you know what, I told a mechanic my door seals were freezing in the winter and he gave me most of a tube of that PTFE stuff for the seals. I have half a tube left, is that enough?

 

[adsm08]

Depends on how big the joint is. Some designs and years were different depths and widths. It's better than nothing.

I usually put a whole tube in because it's too much but the boot will retain the excess.

 

[4x4junkie]

Do not use CV joint or wheel bearing grease in the drive-shaft slip joint. Neither are correct, both will produce a clunk when changing direction or going from coast to drive in just a few months.

The correct lubricant is PTFE lube, it is teflon based and should last for years. It is blue. It can be bought by the tube or the can. Just buy the tube, put the whole thing in, and close her back up.

Recommended right in the FSM under Lubricant and Maintenance Materials Specifications for rear driveshaft slip yoke: "High-Temp Constant Velocity Joint Grease" (Ford spec ESP-M1C207-A).

Been using various brands of CV joint grease on various driveshafts for over 25 years (probably Sta-Lube brand the most), no problems whatsoever.


Edit:
I just noticed elsewhere in the same table it shows another listing for "Driveshaft, Universal Joint and Slip-Spline", which calls for "Premium Long Life Grease" (ford spec ESA-M1C75-B). Looking it up it also appears to be a molybdenum type grease. So probably two very similar greases, though why the different entries/specs for it I'm not sure. Either way, the slip-yoke is a sliding type of interface, which a moly type grease is best for.

 

[adsm08]

There is a TSB that says to use PTFE for slip yoke clunk. TSB supersedes shop manual. Ford technical Hotline has also directed me at several times in the last few years to use PTFE over other greases.