Whats that sound / where is that feel coming from?

[1pt21gw]

Okay, since there are quite a few little driveline problems, I am not able to keep track of them all.

But today, I felt what I have always felt for a long time which is a little what I would call a "wiggle" or a "Vibration" from the rear end/drivetrain. It has been there a while, I just thought it was normal. It feels like tires trying to get traction, but it is dry out and that is not it as I have fairly new 32" AT's. I have done quite a bit of suspension upgrades, and it is planted fairly well. It is that initial 4 seconds of gas pedal from a stop to go, then it goes away as you drive off.

What do you all call this problem?

Driveline - Get a Tom's Driveshaft?

Transmission / Tailshaft - get it replaced?

Service the Rear Axle? - Actually did that at 1500 miles when I put on a FP rear axle cover.

I am sure someone in here has experienced this, what was the process & outcome?

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[RangerBill]

Okay, since there are quite a few little driveline problems, I am not able to keep track of them all.

But today, I felt what I have always felt for a long time which is a little what I would call a "wiggle" or a "Vibration" from the rear end/drivetrain. It has been there a while, I just thought it was normal. It feels like tires trying to get traction, but it is dry out and that is not it as I have fairly new 32" AT's. I have done quite a bit of suspension upgrades, and it is planted fairly well. It is that initial 4 seconds of gas pedal from a stop to go, then it goes away as you drive off.

What do you all call this problem?

Driveline - Get a Tom's Driveshaft?

Transmission / Tailshaft - get it replaced?

Service the Rear Axle? - Actually did that at 1500 miles when I put on a FP rear axle cover.

I am sure someone in here has experienced this, what was the process & outcome?

Driveshaft splines need lubrication?

 

[Rp930]

Ignore it. Or do a search on shudder. That should keep you busy.

 

[subquark]

Driveshaft splines need lubrication?

If you look at doing this, here's a nice video about it:

 

[Msfitoy]

Wheels torqued down?

 

[1pt21gw]

Wheels torqued down?

Yep, just had them rotated to deal with 74+ mph vibration that was from weights that have come off the wheels (edited)

I have always thought of it as a "soft" tire getting traction while it is starting to move. It doesn't clunk or make a harsh noise, just a little wiggle and then you go forward. It is play in the system somewhere.

Pretty sure it's the driveshaft and a lot of grease for a joint or two. I'll get a Tom's driveshaft when I can, see if that solves it. I don't think it's critical at the moment.

Was just curious if someone else experienced it.

 

[RangerPNW]

Yep, just had them rotated to deal with 74+ mph vibration that was from weights that have come off.

I have always thought of it as a "soft" tire getting traction while it is starting to move. It doesn't clunk or make a harsh noise, just a little wiggle and then you go forward. It is play in the system somewhere.

Pretty sure it's the driveshaft and a lot of grease for a joint or two. I'll get a Tom's driveshaft when I can, see if that solves it. I don't think it's critical at the moment.

Was just curious if someone else experienced it.

If you dig around on this forum enough, you'll find a lot of stories similar to yours. I never had the shudder at takeoff, but did get a nasty vibration above 75 mph that, depending on the speed, actually felt like the ass end of the truck was going to fall off... I went the Tom Wood's one piece route, and was very happy with it.

One thing to keep in mind with the Tom Wood's shaft is their return policy, if it doesn't fix your issue you can just send it back.

 

[Big Blue]

This sounds like the startup shudder some people feel and complain about. I personally haven't noticed it on mine, at least not bad enough to care about 4 seconds on startup. My personal opinion is it has to do with the startup torque and the resilient mounting of the center bearing on the driveshaft, along with the mis-phasing of the rear driveshaft. As the resilient mounting breaks down, the driveshaft pulses from the u-joints cause a shudder in the center bearing that take hitting a certain speed to settle out. These pulses are inherent with any with any use of a single or odd number of u-joints, even at low angles. The greater the angle the worse the pulse.

Not sure what Ford's reason for the change to the Tremor shaft was, but they should have put the CV joint at the front and correctly phased the second shaft. That would have eliminated the pulses in the first shaft and the second shaft u-joints would have canceled each other out like a one-piece shaft. A longer second shaft would also minimized angle changes with suspension travel.

Again just MHO.

 

[Whiplash]

This sounds like the startup shudder some people feel and complain about. I personally haven't noticed it on mine, at least not bad enough to care about 4 seconds on startup. My personal opinion is it has to do with the startup torque and the resilient mounting of the center bearing on the driveshaft, along with the mis-phasing of the rear driveshaft. As the resilient mounting breaks down, the driveshaft pulses from the u-joints cause a shudder in the center bearing that take hitting a certain speed to settle out. These pulses are inherent with any with any use of a single or odd number of u-joints, even at low angles. The greater the angle the worse the pulse.

Not sure what Ford's reason for the change to the Tremor shaft was, but they should have put the CV joint at the front and correctly phased the second shaft. That would have eliminated the pulses in the first shaft and the second shaft u-joints would have canceled each other out like a one-piece shaft. A longer second shaft would also minimized angle changes with suspension travel.

Again just MHO.

You have obviously put alot of thought into the whys our 5G drive shafts suck.

Mine started with Carrier Bearing failure at 8,400 miles...dealer said they were backed up, could not even look at it for over a month , and the drive shafts were back ordered indefinitely.....made my choice easy.......Tom Woods One pc......2 1/2 years of smooth bliss...paying the $700 and be done with it was worth it....

 

[Big Blue]

You have obviously put alot of thought into the whys our 5G drive shafts suck.

Mine started with Carrier Bearing failure at 8,400 miles...dealer said they were backed up, could not even look at it for over a month , and the drive shafts were back ordered indefinitely.....made my choice easy.......Tom Woods One pc......2 1/2 years of smooth bliss...paying the $700 and be done with it was worth it....

As a mechanical designer/engineer with a 45 year career in the high speed converting industry, I am all to familiar with how to setup a driveshaft with Cardan joints on each end. As well as the speed pulses the induce intermediate shaft. I have been trying to figure out how Ford figured they could ever get a three Cardan joint shaft to run smoothly especially at the varying speeds our driveshaft sees. I suspect the out of phase of the rear shaft is to add an extra pulse into the system to drive the frequency high enough to not be noticed. Which it does fairly well, except at starting speeds and for more sensitive people.

So, the Tom Woods one-piece driveshaft really the only sure solution as long as you can live with being close to the critical speed of the shaft at higher speeds.

 

[1pt21gw]

Who you callin' sensative?

?????


- Thanks for the help too!

 

[1pt21gw]

Well an update for ya all...

Dropped my '20 XLT off for my annual oil change, at only 14k miles and asked that changing the oil is all it needs. I take care of the rest. Unless something major is needed.

I said oh by the way... it has a wiggle when starting out of a stop. The SA asked does it do it now and can we replicate it? We drove around the building and sure enough, the wiggles.

He said I will look into it as the 5 year warranty expires in November. An hour or so later after the drivetrain guy looked at it, he said yep there is a problem, and a TSB about the driveshaft/flanges. So there are now new & different drive shafts to replace them. They'll get parts and fix the problem. SA said should be a lot smoother with the new setup. Pretty happy, was just about to get a Tom Woods Driveshaft. Looks like I am getting more than that.

 

[1pt21gw]

Watch it wiggle... see it jiggle!

 

[1pt21gw]

And the results.

adding this is TCB 23-2251.

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