Vibration from the rear and aussie locker question.

[04S-TracJon]

I'm a very new guy to the site ya'll have here and I have to start off by saying what a great site and there are so many awsome pictures of sport tracs. I never knew they could look so bad ***.

I bought this sport trac 2 years ago and have had NO problems out of it. 107,000 miles when I bought it and the engine runs great. I bought it because I wanted a truck that was alright on gas and I needed a 4WD. Also, Fords have been the choice of the family before I was even thought of. My father has a ranger that has over 3 or 400,000 miles on it. I cann't remember the exact miles but its pretty amazing.

I've done some searches about my problems but I haven't found MY problem.
Takeing off from a dead stop or even a slow creep, I get a vibration from the rear end. When I reach to about 15 or 20 mph it stops. No other troubles. My plans are to pop the rear end cover (forgive my lack of terminology) off, clean everthing good, then replace the fluid.

I would like to know the exact diagnosis or pretty close. If it calls for new gears, I would like to go with something bigger and better. If the change of fluid would be sufficient, I'll just do that. Check for metal flakes ofcourse.

The noise has been going on for awile now. Recently I bought a 21' pontoon. That is one reason I want to fix the issue before it gets major. The sport trac pulls it waaay better than I thought it would.

What are the aussie lockers purpose?
How efficent is the factory trans cooler?

Any help will be greatly appreciated and again, Great trucks you guys have and great site. Oh yeah! Sorry for being long winded.

 

[AlexSport'00]

What's the Aussie's purpose? It basically locks the axle shafts together whenever power is applied, but spin freely whenever no power is applied. Very helpful if one tire looses traction, as with an open differential the tire with the least traction gets the most power.

How efficient is the stock trans cooler? Can't speak from experiences here, but from what I've read, if you're gonna do much towing you should upgrade it. I see threads where it's been upgraded even when people aren't towing. Getting a trans temp gauge may also be something you'd want to look into.

About your vibration, I honestly have no clue what's causing it, but changing the diff fluid can't hurt. Good luck


By the way, "rear end cover," I'm pretty sure you're talking about the differential cover, often abbreviated as the "diff cover."

 

[01STrunner]

I disagree with needing to upgrade the tranny cooler. UNLESS you don't have the towing package. This package came with an auxiliary tranny cooler. One of fords strong points over the years has been keeping the drivetrain relatively cool. At least I'm my experiences and others I've seen firsthand.
In high school I used to tow a lot with the ST ranging from a light utility trailer to a 25' powerboat that weighed too much. Anyway I've run normal operating temps with only a little climb. If it's not going to be hooked up to I don't think you need to upgrade that IMHO.
That being said it can't hurt but I don't believe it to be pertinent and you could put the time and money into something else.

 

[04S-TracJon]

In high school I used to tow a lot with the ST ranging from a light utility trailer to a 25' powerboat that weighed too much.

The toon isn't nothing like a 25' powerboat, thats for sure. With the trailer and all, it may weigh barely over 3k. It's mostly aluminum. I put this truck through the test before any long huals were done. Drove to a super steep ramps acouple of blocks from my house, this truck pulled the boat out like it was nothing. A Z71 did no better than my sport trac. The Sport Trac has disk breaks all around and the single axle trailer for the boat has surge breaks. Breaking at speeds of 65-70...no prob.

The trans wasn't hunting for gears as we traveled up the hills on the interstate. There wasn't prolonged shifts. It did great.

I just want to beef this truck up to suit my needs you know.

Thanks for the info.

 

[04S-TracJon]

What's the Aussie's purpose? It basically locks the axle shafts together whenever power is applied, but spin freely whenever no power is applied. Very helpful if one tire looses traction, as with an open differential the tire with the least traction gets the most power.



By the way, "rear end cover," I'm pretty sure you're talking about the differential cover, often abbreviated as the "diff cover."

Ok, so the lockers don't do much for the axle as far as hualing something..... If you get stuck in the mud or have a slick ramp, it works great.


Diff cover....Thats it!!

Thanks Alexsport.

 

[01STrunner]

The toon isn't nothing like a 25' powerboat, thats for sure. With the trailer and all, it may weigh barely over 3k. It's mostly aluminum. I put this truck through the test before any long huals were done. Drove to a super steep ramps acouple of blocks from my house, this truck pulled the boat out like it was nothing. A Z71 did no better than my sport trac. The Sport Trac has disk breaks all around and the single axle trailer for the boat has surge breaks. Breaking at speeds of 65-70...no prob.

The trans wasn't hunting for gears as we traveled up the hills on the interstate. There wasn't prolonged shifts. It did great.

I just want to beef this truck up to suit my needs you know.

Thanks for the info.

I completely understand! Being in college she doesn't see quite as much work anymore but I'm now on 35s and in the offroad club so it's a different kind of work.
Yeah our boat is in the 6000-6500lbs region. Thank god for air adjustable shocks. With stock tires it wasn't terrible towing but she didn't like O/D very much. With 35s I'm only in O/D if it's downhill haha.

Also I forgot to mention the tow pkg came with 4.10 gears which tremendously helps towing. As for the lockers you got the idea. For hauling they won't really help you any. I've never even had to use 4x4 pulling our boat up some steep ramps.

 

[rickybobby]

on a wet slippery steep ramp a locker could get you in trouble. with an open diff you wont slide around if you get some wheel spin, but locked if you get wheel spin you have very minimal drirectional control

 

[04S-TracJon]

Here is a major concern of mine.

I don't like the sag I have going on here. I didn't realize it untill we got home the following day and checked out our pictures. Now, I did pack alot of our gear in the front of the boat to HELP with the tongue weight. Guess I over done it. I just cann't beleave that about 200#s did that. Thats includeing the two coolers.
I would still like my sport trac to handle it anyway. I've seen the add a leaf that you guys post here. BUT, the helper springs seem to be easier to install. From what little research I've done so far, they seem to be about the seem price.

With 35s I'm only in O/D if it's downhill haha. LOL

 

[04S-TracJon]

on a wet slippery steep ramp a locker could get you in trouble. with an open diff you wont slide around if you get some wheel spin, but locked if you get wheel spin you have very minimal drirectional control

Good point thanks.

 

[01STrunner]

This is mine a couple years ago.

I have Monroe Max-Air rear shocks that I can pump up with a compressor or even a bike pump. They really help to level it out when theres a load and once you take the weight off you can just let some air out and retain ride quality. The add a leaf does the same thing but makes the unloaded ride stiffer. It also gets you just under a 2" lift in the back.

 

[01STrunner]

I havent used the add a leaf but everyone that has says that they like it. You could always do a small torsion twist to level out with the lift you'd get in the rear from the AAL.

Edit:
If you still have the OEM shocks on that I would highly suggest tossing them and getting new ones. That could also contribute to extra noises and movement.

 

[04S-TracJon]

This is mine a couple years ago.

I have Monroe Max-Air rear shocks that I can pump up with a compressor or even a bike pump. They really help to level it out when theres a load and once you take the weight off you can just let some air out and retain ride quality. The add a leaf does the same thing but makes the unloaded ride stiffer. It also gets you just under a 2" lift in the back.

Now that's convincing and nice to see the sport trac sitting level like that. Do you know what your tongue wieght is?





"I havent used the add a leaf but everyone that has says that they like it. You could always do a small torsion twist to level out with the lift you'd get in the rear from the AAL."

"Edit:
If you still have the OEM shocks on that I would highly suggest tossing them and getting new ones. That could also contribute to extra noises and movement."


Thanks to this site and you guys that are on here posting away, I know now that I could do the add a leaf project myself. So I'm up in the air on what to get: the AAL or air shocks. I'll let the price comparisons choose for me I guess. I'm the only one that drives my truck so the ride isn't a problem for me. The family ride is my wifes loaded Ford Edge.

As for the shocks. Yeah I'll be ditching those. From what I've read, alot of ya'll use the ranchero (I'll have to look up the correct name). I just might get a set, I'll tell my wife "Sorry babe, but thats how much shocks cost!"

Thank you for ya'lls advise.

 

[05dakotatrac]

i did an add-a-leaf and love it me and offtrac swear by it. as for load leveling in your situation i would recommend either the air adjustable shocks mentioned above or get the air ride load leveling kit. the air ride kit is an inflatable air bag that is situated inbetween your frame rail and your leaf spring. both of those are good options if hauling often.

 

[OffTrac]

I love the add-a-leaf but they're not what I'd have chosen if I need to tow anything heavy with the ST. Seeing how level runner's sits with the Max-Airs, that's probably the route I'd go. And then an add-a-leaf just for good measure and some lift.

 

[04S-TracJon]

Yeah. I have to agree with ya'll. After further research about the AAL, I saw a set that came with torsion keys, I did a search on this site about the torsion keys. From what I have read on here I would have trouble with ball joints and cv 's if I installed the torsion keys. That's sucks because I would have liked the AAD 's, seemed like it would be less trouble and I would get a little lift.

 

[01STrunner]

My tongue weight is somewhere around 600lbs. I'm just figuring about 10% of the total weight especially since boats have a lighter tongue weight than campers and the like.

As for the torsion twist, you shouldn't need to get the aftermarket torsion keys. Also since you would only twist them up about 1.5" to even out the AAL, you shouldnt really have problems with the joints. Most people that have the problems have cranked the t-bars too much putting too much stress on them. The max with 4x4 is 2" so I'd say 1.5" isn't bad.

Also with the AAL, it's not needed but could only help take some of the stress off the shocks. I say both AAL and the max airs!!

 

[04S-TracJon]

I'm still gathering all the info I can about my towing issue. Learning alot btw. All of this info will be used for future refrence for lift and upgrades. Tomarrow I'm replaceing the drivers side cv joint, changing the oil, and if there is time, I'll be draining the fluid from the differential. Cleaning it and changing gear oil with 90 wieght and posi additive.

 

[04S-TracJon]

I drained the fluid from the axle today. Rotated the axle as I soaked everything down with brake cleaner untill it was all nice and shiney. Let it dry out and feeled with synthetic gear oil. It took care of the vibration for the most part. The noise is damn near gone. I'm very pleased.

I changed the oil and replaced a CV joint also.

Has anyone used Load leveling shocks?