I have a 99 super cab 4x4 3.0. I had the truck on the lift and I tried turning the rear driveshaft by hand in park. I would say that from lock to lock left to right I can turn the drive shaft about 1 inch. Is this causing the rear end clunk ? If so what is needed to fix it ? It doesn't clunk while coming to a stop any longer as I have heavily greased the slip yolk but under initial acceleration it will clunk and after about the 3 to 4mph into that acceleration if I hit the gas a bit harder it will clunk once again just not quite as hard. Any input is greatly appreciated.

 

Mine clunks into gear from reverse or park but that was a TSB for "delayed transmission engagement" and there is no fix. The wheels should have a little play when it is in park like most cars. Don't know if that helps at all.

 

No mine is fine going into gear is upon acceleration only

 

mine has the same exact symptoms as the op. but i have not greased the slip yolk yet

 

Honestly that sounds about right, just the small differences with the rearend, transfer case/transmission.

Most people even after the greasing still get the clunk sometimes.

I know with my 06, even with greasing it, new u joints, and shifting good it would still do it on a few occasions; its just one of those things. Each vehicle has its little quirk.

Id just recommended greasing it good and make sure your u joints are good.

 

can someone post a pic of where exactly to grease it? i have this same issue

 

Heres is the style my 06 had, I dont know if yours will look a little different as they used one and two piece shafts through the ranger years but the same concept applies. Even my 06 that was supposed to have the "upgraded" driveshaft to stop the clunk still clunked from time to time especially with a manual and big tires.



Find where the the boot is, and it will have a special clamp on it. If you dont have the proper tool to put another one, or that one back on you can just use a big strong zip tie or big circle clamp.

But you take the clamp off, pull back the rubber boot and you will see the splines you need to grease. Grease it up as good as you can and seal it back up.

(note: if you plan on taking the driveshaft apart and seperating it to really clean out the old grease, make sure you mark the splines so it goes back the way it came and stays balanced.

fyi greasing mine only helped temporarily, for my manual 06, the best thing to do was to just make sure I shift good and smooth, keep it greased, and make sure u joints are good and greased)

 

Yeah, I was thinking you had to take it out in order for the problem to not come back shortly. I really need to do this on mine sometime over Christmas break, hopefully taking the driveshaft out and putting it back in isn't a pain.

 

I mean you dont have to drop the driveshft to do it. You can take the clamp and slide the boot back and fill it with new grease with it on the truck if you dont want to do all the work of taking it off and stuff.

Mine wasnt to bad being a 4x4 but I also didn't like to do mine on the ground and put all the force on the rearend and transmission.

So I would usually jack up the rear to give me more room and to put a big screwdriver or prybar between the driveshaft and truck to stop it from turning when loosening and tightening the bolts. Probably not needed but I like to be rather safe than sorry.

 

Ok cool, I'd rather do it that way if it worked as well. If you do it that way do you need to use a grease gun or just get some in there.

 

All you neeed to do is remove the metal band, pulback the boot, then with your fingers shove as much greese into the splines as you can, then spread a geneous glob all around the remaining spline area. Reset the boot with a circle clamp, and you will notice a difference. I uses a zip lock bag, filled it with greese like a cake decorators bag, cut a corner off it and controlled where I intially put the greese. A bit less messy, but wear gloves none the less.

 

Cool thanks