A Ford tech's take on "THE CLUNK" (THE ONE and ONLY CLUNK THREAD)

[Z7What]

I havnt read all 75pages to see what everyone is saying but I'll give you my experience with the clunk. I have a 2013 FX2 Supercrew which has a 2 piece driveshaft.

Driving off the dealers lot I felt it but didn't think anything about it. Then read on another forum that people had issues with it and Ford had a TSB for the issue. Brought it in and they greased it. Couple months later it came back. Brought it in again and they greased it but made a comment that Ford changed the grease to a higher temp grease because trucks in the south where having issues even after greasing it. Couple months later it came back. Brought it in again and they greased it. Couple months later it came back and they designed to change the entire driveshaft, well what do you know, it came back again. This time I brought it to a different dealer. That dealer said they find that the kit that Ford supplies to make the repair the techs weren't putting the entire tube of grease in the spline. I thought they were full of shit but it's been almost 2 years and it never came back since. Shortly after having the different dealer grease it I did install traction bars also so idk if the entire tube of grease was a permenate fix or the traction bars fixed it, all I know is I havnt had the clunk in 2 years!

Wayne

 

[dangle]

I have experienced the clunk! glad there is not much to worry about

 

[ogdobber]

Clunk gone

So i had this clunk, along with an additional squeak, or rather a chirp. Did the yoke grease and the chirp went away... However the "clunk" was still there. To me it felt like a worn out leaf bushing that would shift under load.
So i took a pry bar under the truck and see if i could find a loose part...to my disappointment all the bushings were good.
Fast forward to last friday. Had my shocks rebuilt by werebuidshocks.com and low and behold the clunk is gone!
My theory for the fix.
Pretty sure i had a sticky shock shaft/valve. So on acceleration the initial axel wrap was held for a brief moment before the shock would "unstick" making that clunk.
Another fix would be to install after market springs that dont wrap like the stock ones, but you would still have a bad shock.
The fox shocks need to be rebuilt every 10-30k (depending on use) so mine were long overdue.

 

[Svtryan]

Has anyone fixed this on their own? Ive tried grease and replacing the yoke with 0 success. At this point its driving me nuts

 

[mmaterni]

Has anyone fixed this on their own? Ive tried grease and replacing the yoke with 0 success. At this point its driving me nuts

I used an Amsoil grease recommended by chris@freedommotorsports and it has not done it since. I'll take a pic of the grease when I get home.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk
http://www.amsoil.com/shop/by-...-2/?code=GPOR2CR-EA&zo=1678239

 

[Fivenines]

It's been a while, quite a few kms since I last posted, but the clunk came back. I pulled and greased the yolk once, only temporary relief from the ol' clunk. I dunno, not sure what to say...I hate the clunk >:-(

 

[dataustin]

It's been a while, quite a few kms since I last posted, but the clunk came back. I pulled and greased the yolk once, only temporary relief from the ol' clunk. I dunno, not sure what to say...I hate the clunk >:-(

I though the drive shafts they introduced back in 2011 fixed the problem. While my S/N was just past the TSB, I have lived with the 'clunk' for almost 200,000 miles and have recently considered just buying a new drive shaft.

 

[Fivenines]

I though the drive shafts they introduced back in 2011 fixed the problem. While my S/N was just past the TSB, I have lived with the 'clunk' for almost 200,000 miles and have recently considered just buying a new drive shaft.

I had two warranty driveshafts, the truck had zero clunk when the shafts were new, but it slowly came back both times and I currently have what I'll call "moderate" clunk.

My two cent theory....the more you use the truck on rough roads or off road where the rear suspension is moving through it's travel more, the more the slip yoke is doing it's thing and the faster the splines lose whatever coating they have when new and the yoke starts to bind. This condition will only get worse the longer you go before either adding grease or replacing the driveshaft.

 

[Fivenines]

I havnt read all 75pages to see what everyone is saying but I'll give you my experience with the clunk. I have a 2013 FX2 Supercrew which has a 2 piece driveshaft.

Driving off the dealers lot I felt it but didn't think anything about it. Then read on another forum that people had issues with it and Ford had a TSB for the issue. Brought it in and they greased it. Couple months later it came back. Brought it in again and they greased it but made a comment that Ford changed the grease to a higher temp grease because trucks in the south where having issues even after greasing it. Couple months later it came back. Brought it in again and they greased it. Couple months later it came back and they designed to change the entire driveshaft, well what do you know, it came back again. This time I brought it to a different dealer. That dealer said they find that the kit that Ford supplies to make the repair the techs weren't putting the entire tube of grease in the spline. I thought they were full of shit but it's been almost 2 years and it never came back since. Shortly after having the different dealer grease it I did install traction bars also so idk if the entire tube of grease was a permenate fix or the traction bars fixed it, all I know is I havnt had the clunk in 2 years!

Wayne

Traction bars (if installed correctly) would prevent axle wrap that is creating the clunk (the slip yoke splines binding is causing the clunk), so I'd bet that is why you have no clunk. With the axle more or less locked in position, there is no energy being loaded into it to suddenly release and produce the dreaded clunk...just a thought.

 

[Trick.Raptor]

I though the drive shafts they introduced back in 2011 fixed the problem. While my S/N was just past the TSB, I have lived with the 'clunk' for almost 200,000 miles and have recently considered just buying a new drive shaft.

Check out Forged Offroad who just installed a custom drive shaft...

https://www.facebook.com/ForgedOffr...xtT94S5Dvb-5rXHtq-XFQx-PKkfYHBOlatA&__tn__=-R

@Stagecoach did some testing this weekend on the ROC Ghost Town II run and is amazed how much smoother the truck is with the new driveshaft. The "clunk" has been reduced greatly and the vibrations pretty much gone.