Anyone ever seen a cross pin or c-clips wear?

[Dirtman]

My truck started making a slight clunky noise going over bumpy roads a few months back. There's no vibrations, no noise on smooth roads, alignment is dead on, it otherwise rides and handles like a dream. I know the shocks are wearing out though so I ignored it but now it's getting worse. Today I put it on the lift to give it a once over. Everything was tight EXCEPT I noticed I could pull the rear wheels out and make them clunk. The axle shafts seem to have excessive in and out play (no up and down to indicate bad bearings). The only way there could be excess in and out play is if there's and issue with the c-clips or cross pin though correct?

Any ideas before I start fiddling?

 

[pjtoledo]

my 2005 has been doing that for the last 150,000 or so miles. the end play that is, no clunks.
in a straight line the cross pin and axle shaft can make contact but do not rotate against each other.
rotational contact only happens when there is a difference in speed between the 2 wheels.
I've taken a few axles apart, never saw that kind of wear on a pin. spider wear yes, shaft no.

 

[Dirtman]

The play isn't much, maybe 1/16" at most but I didn't measure it yet, it's just enough that by hand I can make a nice clunking sound that seems to match what I'm hearing when I hit a bump while driving. I can actually just shake the back of the truck hard enough side to side that it will clunk with the tires still on the ground.

 

[Bird76Mojo]

I had 1/4" of play on each axle shaft in my 8.8" in my 2001. The Trac-Lok discs were extremely worn.

 

[Dirtman]

Yeah I've herd of that... but unfortunately I don't have L/S rear.

 

[8thTon]

I asked this a month ago or so - there was enough endplay to make a nice thunk pulling on the wheel. From what I could tell the factory spec is 0.030". I looked at the inner edge of the drum in relation to the backing plate while I pulled it in an out, and judged it to be about 0.0295", so all is good.

 

[Dirtman]

Thanks 8thTon. I'll measure it and see if it's in spec. It's one of those weird things that may have been like that since I bought the truck but just never paid attention to. The clunk is definitely new though so if it's not the axle shafts I still have hunting to do.

 

[Dirtman]

I half ass checked it. Didn't feel like pulling the wheel and drum off so I just measured the distance the drum moves off the backing plate. It's under 30 thousands. Probably around 25 so I guess it's ok. I miss my Dana 70 full floating rear...

 

[8thTon]

I half ass checked it. Didn't feel like pulling the wheel and drum off so I just measured the distance the drum moves off the backing plate. It's under 30 thousands. Probably around 25 so I guess it's ok. I miss my Dana 70 full floating rear...

Yup, that's how I did it too.

 

[Dirtman]

But now I cant figure out what the eff is clunking. Rear springs and shackle is tight, u joints are tight, shocks are worn but tight, tie rods are good, upper ball joints have a tiny tiny bit of play, end links are good....

 

[97RangerXLT]

check the slip yoke on the driveshaft

 

[Dirtman]

I suspected that months ago. So I bought that special ford high pressure grease they spec in the technical service bulletin. I was dumb though and never looked before I bought that 20 dollar tube of grease...

I have a transmission slip yoke at the trans. not a 2 peice shaft so the yoke is lubed by transmission fluid.

Its rock solid either way and doesn't clunk coming in and out of gear. (Well it does but only the 2-3 clunk) this is a steady clunk with bumps not speed or gear change.

 

[8thTon]

If it only does it on one wheel suspension movements look at sway bar bushings/ends.

 

[Ramcharger90]

My

My truck started making a slight clunky noise going over bumpy roads a few months back. There's no vibrations, no noise on smooth roads, alignment is dead on, it otherwise rides and handles like a dream. I know the shocks are wearing out though so I ignored it but now it's getting worse. Today I put it on the lift to give it a once over. Everything was tight EXCEPT I noticed I could pull the rear wheels out and make them clunk. The axle shafts seem to have excessive in and out play (no up and down to indicate bad bearings). The only way there could be excess in and out play is if there's and issue with the c-clips or cross pin though correct?

Any ideas before I start fiddling?

My 98 was doing that until the spiders came out from the diff cover lol did you check the drive shaft side to side and up and down at the pinion area?

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

shock bushings, spring bushings, swaybar end link bushings, front wheel bearings, loose caliper, loose brake pads.