Thud on stopping and takeoff

[wallygetsit]

My 97 Sport seems to stop "twice" when I come to a stop. First the vehicle stops and then within a half second afterwards I feel a seperate thud like something is loose on the vehicle and it finally stops. Then when I take off I feel a slight thud right after I take off. I had a 95 Eddie Bauer about three years ago and don't remember that same feeling.

Could the rear u-joint be going out?

Thanks
Justin

 

[ok89]

I have the same problem with my 1998 XLT
When I come to a rolling stop then go it does this. Except sometimes it slips out of gear when i accelerate. I will accelerate and all of a sudden it will just rev. Then I will let the car roll and it will go clunk and it will be back in gear. Come to think of it maybe this isnt the same problem. But the clunk on mine comes from the back as well.

 

[jimbo74]

could be u joints... get them checked out

 

[wallygetsit]

Thanks for the advice. When I first bought the X I felt it about week after I bought it. I got underneath and grabbed ahold of the drive shaft and could not get it to move. If the u-joints are going bad, would the drive shaft move?

 

[Robert]

Try lubricating the rear driveshaft slip joint. It is part of normal maintenance, however the recommended interval is overkill. I have to do my '97 4x4 Sport about every 30K or it feels like I get a light tap from behind when coming to a stop. If it doesn't have enough grease on it, it will bind up as you stop and then release which causes it to lurch a bit.

 

[ok89]

How do I do that

 

[FROADER]

Check in the cargo area too see if you guys have something actually roling around in there.
I'm just kidding, I had the same problem and it was my u-joints. Good luck.

 

[RON COX]

Pulled apart my slip yoke and what do ya know, no grease! What happened to the old greaseable style? Thud is gone for now, we'll see for how long.

 

[Robert]

My Ford dealer found the same thing with the slip yoke on my '97, the first time I had it lubed. When they got it apart, they said it looked like it was never lubricated at the factory. They lubricated it under warranty and the bump went away for about 30K miles. When I lubricated it myself the next time, there was hardly any trace of grease on it again. I don't know where it goes, but I lubricated it and the bump has been gone so far for the last 15K miles.

 

[Robert]

Originally posted by ok89
How do I do that

Take the four bolts off that hold the rear of the driveshaft to the rear differential. Remove the rubber boot at the front of the rear driveshaft. Slide the driveshaft straight back about 6" to clear the slip yoke. Put some grease all over the splines at the front of the driveshaft. Slide it back in. Replace the rubber boot. Put the four bolts back in. A word of advise. The clamps that Ford puts on the rubber boot are either one-time use clamps or require some special tool to remove and replace them. I really screwed mine up when taking them off. I replaced them with standard hose clamps which will make getting the rubber boot on and off much easier the next time. It will take two different sizes of hose clamps since one end of the boot is about 1" and the other end is about 2". The clamps were the hardest part of the job. Next time I should be able to complete the job in about 15 minutes. First time took me about an hour which included the time to run up to the corner to purchase the hose clamps.

 

[BUCHVILLEMAN]

sounds like a pretty common problem. i actually tore up the needle beerings on the ujoint and there was this bad vibration, the vbration caused the seall between the transfer case and the the extension housing to break. it sucked but at least i know to lube my ujoints regularily.

 

[wallygetsit]

Thanks for the information. I really appriciate it! At least the problem is not as serious as I thought it would be.

 

[RON COX]

Word of advise, mark both ends of the slip joint with a permanent marker just in case it does comes apart. The shaft is balanced so if it does not get put back together correctly you'll get a vibration. It doesn't hurt to mark the yokes either, better safe than sorry.