Hello, i just return home from a road trip and when every i am leaving a stop light or sign i feel a hop or like skip as i release the brakes if i roll threw the sign nothing. i have had the u-joints replaced about 6 months ago and all the mounts looked ok and no excessive flex. I had the same problem with a ford ranger and it turned out to be a frozen slip joint on the driveshaft. I pulled the boot back and there is grease on the splines. also you can feel a little bit in the tranfer case handle when it does it but not any more then usually. Any help would be great thanks, jr

 

I am no help to you but very interested in the reply. I drive a 99 E-450 cube van that does something the same. To me though its like the rear axle shifts a little, just like a little bump, hop, hard to explain.

 

Jr22,
Thats kind of funny I am searching for answer also right now with my truck. Same issue: a clunk or pop when I load or unload the drivetrain. Sometimes its more pronounced than others and doesnt always do it.

 

I'm going through this too.


I've noticed that if you get someone to do the: (while you look at the front of your rear end!)
Put in drive, maybe some pedal while they hold brake. Then take it out of drive, then put in reverse and back to park!

You might notice that your rearend truns somewhat more than normal and there is some play both directions.

Mine truns almost 1/3- 1/2 turn.

I'm taking mine apart this week and rebuilding.

Some people that are SUPPOSED TO KNOW have told me it could be the previous owner did alot of towing and possibly heavy and also didn't change fluids frequent. That the clucthes are worn and the pinion/ring gears are worn bad.

We'll see soon and I will let you know this week.

Hope this helps someone!
T

 

mine only started doing it after it started to warm up again. i found a tsb that this is normal in chevy trucks and i have drove a couple at work that act like my dodge. maybe a fluid change in the diff is in order Thanks, jr

 

The other thing i noticed is all the replys are from auto trans guys ??

 

A contractor I did work with once had broken locator bolts/pins, whatever they are called and his axle would rotate slightly in the U-bolts. Maybe something similar?

 

I had a similar situation on my truck ('98 12 valve 4x4). Turned out that one of the pinion shims between the leaf spring and axle cracked causing the rear end to move around. Replaced both pinion shims and installed new u-bolts. Took care of the problem.

 

Good info I will check that too. JIC!

 

i crawled under the truck again to take a look and noticed that the bottom spring is cocked to the left while the right is straight on. Thanks for all the info, jr

 

found a tsb for 95-98 trucks to add a another bottle of friction modifer to the gear lube to help with rear end chatter, I think that this is my next step thanks, jr