My Ranger CLUNK! driveline rebuild

[madakaw]

Hey guys doing a rebuild from the trans back. Drive shaft, u-joints, ring & pinion, & spider gears. It's a stepping piece by piece process. I have an 06 Ranger FX4 with the 4.0 manual trans 4.10, 8.8, with only 35,000 miles. It has the "CLUNK". I have play in all the major players, doing it all myself. Have the tools to do it, the skills, so it's just a matter of time. Does anyone have questions comments or suggestions. I really just updating and avoiding the future issues. Anything is helpful some good brain picking.

 

[Hagan]

Why are you rebuilding the axle at only 35k miles? If you feel a clunk if anything it could be a limited slip issue!

 

[Sunk]

Make sure to lube the slip yoke splines on the drive shaft. IIRC, the splines can dry out and cause a clunk.

 

[Earl43P]

^^What he said, slip-yoke.

No way could a DD have a bad rear diff or u-joints at 35k unless you pound it off-road every day.

 

[basketranger]

I would only add, have seen 1 time where u-joints failed at less than 15,000 miles. factory did not grease prior to installation.

 

[madakaw]

Thanks for the points I've already done the ring and pinion. Still have the clunk going to do a diff rebuild next. I've heard of using spacers for the spider gears? Anyone else heard of these or used them. Was going to get a kit from Southern gear or the dealer here. I work at a local full serve station with a full auto shop so getting parts at cost is no big deal. Your thoughts?

 

[legoms013]

Seriously, just lube the slip joint first before you spend all that time and money on stuff that is not bad in the first place. Peace of mind aint cheap buddy...

99% lubing the slip joint gets rid of many clunking problems.

Do what you please though I guess.

 

[Downey]

wow you waisted a ton of money listen to these guys they know what they are talking about

 

[Viva*the*Ranger]

Yeah, the odds of this having anything to do with you spiders, is 1/10000. The shims you're thinking about, aren't for the spider gears, but for the carrier bearings. Absolutely no need to play around with those!!!

Take a closer look at your drive shaft, and lube up the slip yoke. Far less work, and cash!

Have fun!

 

[06RangerXLT]

its a 5 speed, its gonna have a clunk when you let off the gas.

the driveline always has play in it, but if your so worried, put it in what ever gear clunks with the ass end off the ground, climb under it and give the drive shaft a twist back and forth. 20 bucks its either the splines in the carrier (normal) or the splines on the slip yoke (normal). if you dont find anything there, take off the wheel and drum and wiggle the axle back and forth. if still nothing, your looking at trans issues, not driveline.


ASK~LISTEN~REPLACE

dont ask, fix something you have a hunch on and the say i cant figure out the problem

 

[madakaw]

Thanks for the pointers guys. I went in and the reason I'm doing the replacents of stuff is I have play in everything. I'm dropping the drive shaft & lube it. The root part for me is the truck bought in California lived in Alaska. Not sure why but the drive line seemed to have rear end had some good wear ring & pinion were out of spec, spider gears upper and lower have a really good amount of play, maybe a 1/4 inch vertically. I do have the drive shaft play sticking sound. The drive shaft and the spider gears are next to be done this weekend. Thanks for the pointers. I'm OCD and like the project. I'll keep you up to date.

 

[bilzy7]

Some day I'll have a what the F did I do wrong thread, but before I can replace tranny, I must destroy it.

 

[det107]

.......have seen 1 time where u-joints failed at less than 15,000 miles. factory did not grease prior to installation.

This goes on to explain the quality of work...uh, So what else is new ?

 

[madakaw]

Hey All you guys i just finished my rebuild will do some posting on the project in a week. the clunk is gone, it was in the spider & axle gear set. I still have a very light one only in certain situation but I'd have to shim the axle gears to get out the rest of the slack. Thanks for the input. I will post the most comprehensive diff clunk rebuild diagnostic & repair post ever. This i though up when i was working on it. Thanks again for all the posts.

 

[madakaw]

Hey guys, I know it has been awhile. Then overall run down! Originally I found moderate play in the drive shaft so I pulled it and put a good amount of red grease on it, still had the clunk but no ping sound. Next step lead me to the moderate clunking sound, the drive shaft had about 60 degrees or more of rotation. Going through multiple research avenues, ford dealer questions, mechanic questions lead me to remove the cover to the diff. As multiple tech and mechanics told me the spider gears were very loose. I could move them with my finger a measurable 1/4 inch. Once I pulled the axles the backlash was on the highside to out of tolerance on a four position check. Got the parts u-joints, diff rebuild kit, all parts together for what I did $500. New ring & pinion installed and on the tighter side of tolerance .010 on a four position check. Replaced the limited slip guts, now all tight no chatter within the measurable spacing from factory to get proper pressure on the limited slip. Replaced the u-joints to greasble ones that was the cheap part. With all that apart I re-greased the slip yoke with axle grease. Please not I did this in stages to check work in process to know if I got it or not. Once all this was done I was quiet as a church mouse. Trust me if I could have ended with the slip yoke lube up I would have been happy. I wish I new what lead to all of that wear. It did it really from the day I bought it I just finally got to not wanting to hear it. It's done learned a lot about the whole system and learned no one thing was the dead ringer. My best guess was it was a chain event wear out. Now at 15,000 miles it is still going no sounds.