Greasing the Slip Yoke Cured Several of Issues for me

[Hans Moleman]

Since already re-installed mine with the original bolts I’m not going to go thru the trouble of putting new ones on. I think chances are they are not going to fail.?

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[SWONT2.7]

Excellent information on here. I had to do this to my 2009 F150 back in about 2010. I used the Mercury Marine grease that was recommended by numerous people on the forums as no other grease would last more than a few months. I never had another slip yoke clunk in 15 years.

https://www.amazon.com/Mercury-2-4-...ad-a59f-7453cbb81333&pd_rd_i=B001QGEPQW&psc=1

 

[MTMan]

Which grease was that? I know I have two different ones. One that’s used for wheel bearings on the boat trailer and one that is used for everything else.

 

[SWONT2.7]

Which grease was that? I know I have two different ones. One that’s used for wheel bearings on the boat trailer and one that is used for everything else.

If that was for me MTNMAN it’s the mercury marine 24c PTFE . Look above to my post and click on the Amazon link . Cheers

 

[JerseyGlock]

What about Mobilgrease 28 synthetic aviation grease ??

 

[rr11]

I have not had this issue with my F150 but this was a common issue with my 03 F250. I greased it in 05 or 06 with Lucis red and tackey, it's still good today.

 

[Gros Ventre]

Will have to go look... In previous vehicles the slip joint had a xerk fitting so that it could be greased along with other fittings. I suppose in this world of lifetime ball joints, the slip joint cannot be directly greased either...

 

[CT24Atlas]

Hans Moleman - Thanks for posting this. My '24 FX4 5.0 supercab has had a vibration issue since I bought it last September. Part of the vibration was due to all four wheels and tires being out of balance which required 3 trips to dealers to successfully road force balance plus replace one tire that was NG.
After reading your post, I decided to remove the driveshaft to check the slip yoke. What I found was that three of the four rear flange mounting screws came out normally but the fourth took a breaker bar to loosen. I noticed that some of the factory thread locking compound was pinched between the flanges so that the driveshaft flange was not seated flush to the axle flange. I cleaned both flanges, checked for straightness and after checking the front slip joint which was good, I reinstalled the driveshaft using new bolts. I put some of the teflon grease on the mating faces and the shoulder of the axle flange then tightened the bolts in 3 stages.
The result is that the vibration seems to finally be gone.

 

[Gros Ventre]

It doesn't take much of an angle (as described above) to cause a rotating shaft to vibrate.

 

[Dakar09]

I did mine this weekend, but haven't had a chance to take it up to vibration speed (75-80 mph) since then. But, the splines were BONE DRY!

Whether or not this caused the vibration I feel, this is no bueno. I'm shocked it came from the factory like this.

All in all, took about 30 minutes to do, no jacking required. I marked one of the bolts ears to the rear diff mount so it went back in the same orientation. Then I used a lashing strap looped over the frame over the rear of the driveshaft to hold it up while I loosened the bolts (WATCH THE BRAKE LINES!!) and pulled them out. Slid out of the transmission easily. You will probably lose a few drops of ATF int he process. I also put padding under the yoke end of the driveshaft so it wouldn't get damaged if it slipped out of my hands.

Gooped her up and re-aligned it. This can be a bit tricky due to the high spline count. It took a few shots to get it aligned perfectly. The old bolts could have probably been re-used with new locktite, but they were already starting to rust pretty bad, so glad I got new ones anyway.

Test drive at those speeds is imminent over the next few days but work and life keep getting in the way. Either way, glad I did it.

Bone dry splines:

 

[Mosey]

That is exactly what mine looked like.

 

[Hans Moleman]

On the driveshaft bolts is it $4 for a set of 4 bolts? Or $4 for each bolt?

I’m thinking of un bolting the driveshaft again so I can remove the rust from the flanges to ensure they mate perfectly flat. I was in bit of a rush last time so I didn’t clean the rust. However I’m thinking using new bolts this time.

 

[Dakar09]

$8 for sure OEM bolts on sale

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GK4XGW4?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

 

[JCsTruck]

I did mine this weekend, but haven't had a chance to take it up to vibration speed (75-80 mph) since then. But, the splines were BONE DRY!

Whether or not this caused the vibration I feel, this is no bueno. I'm shocked it came from the factory like this.

All in all, took about 30 minutes to do, no jacking required. I marked one of the bolts ears to the rear diff mount so it went back in the same orientation. Then I used a lashing strap looped over the frame over the rear of the driveshaft to hold it up while I loosened the bolts (WATCH THE BRAKE LINES!!) and pulled them out. Slid out of the transmission easily. You will probably lose a few drops of ATF int he process. I also put padding under the yoke end of the driveshaft so it wouldn't get damaged if it slipped out of my hands.

Gooped her up and re-aligned it. This can be a bit tricky due to the high spline count. It took a few shots to get it aligned perfectly. The old bolts could have probably been re-used with new locktite, but they were already starting to rust pretty bad, so glad I got new ones anyway.

Test drive at those speeds is imminent over the next few days but work and life keep getting in the way. Either way, glad I did it.

Bone dry splines:

 

[FaaWrenchBndr]

Will have to go look... In previous vehicles the slip joint had a xerk fitting so that it could be greased along with other fittings. I suppose in this world of lifetime ball joints, the slip joint cannot be directly greased either...

so the problem with having the grease fitting on was many people over greased. When the over greased at this completely filled the void with grease. This intern limited the travel of the two pieces.

This often created the same problem that many were trying to fix. Many would experience a driveline bind when coming to a stop. It was a result of too much grease in the cavity.

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