'24 F150 Rear End Alignment Issues and Diff/Axle Clicking After Sharp Bump

[RaacerX]

Last week I had a unique situation where I needed to floor it back onto an Insterstate in a blind corner from a dead stop (don't ask the why). To do this I had to go up and over an sharp 8" tall ledge from dirt to pavement, with the pedal to the floor on the Powerboost. The rear end hopped super bad upon impact, I had about 800lbs of gear in the bed.

As soon as I got on the freeway, I could tell something was wrong; the truck struggled to track straight, vibrated, and going around corners at freeway speeds it felt like it kept wanting to keep turning. It was as if I had a rear sway bar before, and then it was disconnected, but of course no rear sway on the truck.

Brought it to a tire shop but they called me today to inform me that everything was technically within spec and nothing looked crazy. I still had them tighten everything up and get it even closer to 0. However, it is my understanding that my rear axle could be completely out of whack and that still wouldn't affect the toe or caster readings, and they don't do any other measurements for the rear.

Picked the truck up today and it still feels off, and now when I give it some boost around a slow speed corner, I can hear a loud clicking, like a bad CV joint on an AWD car. When I accelerate good from a stop, the rear end is squirming all over the place.

But I can't find anything loose, broken, out of adjustment, or visually bad. Yet, one tire sits a full 1.5" closer to the front of the wheelwell than the other side.

Thoughts?

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[513Mugsy]

Kinda sounds like the pin that holds the axle to the leafs maybe sheared or has move position somehow. This is just a bolt head that holds the leafs together if I remember correctly. The head is also the pin. 1 1/2" skewed would be noticeable, and should be taken to a good alignment shop for the fix. When I flipped my rear axle, the alignment shop was worried about 0.080" of skew on my axle. So they loosened the ubolts with it on the alignment rack. The used straps and muscle to force it back into alignment, and then tightened everything down straight. They may have to drop your axle to check this. But if it is really that skewed, they will have to anyway.

 

[RaacerX]

So that isn't something that would just show up on a normal 4 wheel alignment rack? If I measure from the front wheel to the back, it is like a half inch off on the left side versus right. I figured that would have to show up but now it sounds like this isn't something that would easily show up?

thanks!

 

[RaacerX]

 

[RaacerX]

For some reason I didn't notice that the whole left side is covered in a sticky oil.

At the minimum seems like I blew the strut, which certainly could be causing the issues in turns.

guess k should t be surprised that the shop never made a comment about that...

 

[EL5_Zero]

Going off of what you have provided, it almost seems like you might have snapped an axle due to the wheels rotating fast on dirt and suddenly stopping when you went over the 8" pavement. I believe the power boost use floating axles in the rear end, which holds the axle and wheel in place even though the axle is snapped. If the truck pulls to one side, this is very common when power goes to one wheel only. The sticky oil is usually gearing oil. Shock oil is not as sticky.

 

[513Mugsy]

Didn't think about those axles. And that oiled up shock doesn't look great either. I would pull the shock and check it out by hand compressing it. If it is easy, it is bad. Then I would pull the wheels and check the bolt at the end of the axles. See if you have sheared it off. If so the dealer will be seeing you soon.


But it really doesn't account for the distance difference. I would still check those pins that locate those leaf springs.

 

[RaacerX]

Well crap. That would sure explain the clicking around the corner. I'll jack her up right now.

 

[RaacerX]

I took off the wheels. There is no evidence of oil at the end of the axles and the axle bolts are still there. If I turn one wheel, the other wheel turns like a normal open diff. I also tested the locking diff and both axles locked, both off the ground and in the driveway.

There was a decent amount of slop, but I remember this with my Ranger too.

The oil is specifically right around where the leaf springs meet the axle, next to the shock mounts. Its not as evidenced on the left side of the truck as the right side, perhaps because the left side shock is behind the axle.

I'll take a strut off later and see how it feels.

However, it appears I slammed my driveshaft... There is a noticeable black mark that partially swirls around the driveshaft from an impact while rotating. The balancing weights are still intact, but it seems quite possible that thing got out of whack.

Not sure which of these things is causing the problems but maybe all.

 

[EL5_Zero]

I took off the wheels. There is no evidence of oil at the end of the axles and the axle bolts are still there. If I turn one wheel, the other wheel turns like a normal open diff. I also tested the locking diff and both axles locked, both off the ground and in the driveway.

There was a decent amount of slop, but I remember this with my Ranger too.

The oil is specifically right around where the leaf springs meet the axle, next to the shock mounts. Its not as evidenced on the left side of the truck as the right side, perhaps because the left side shock is behind the axle.

I'll take a strut off later and see how it feels.

However, it appears I slammed my driveshaft... There is a noticeable black mark that partially swirls around the driveshaft from an impact while rotating. The balancing weights are still intact, but it seems quite possible that thing got out of whack.

Not sure which of these things is causing the problems but maybe all.

That's great news the axles are good! Might be a good idea to clean off the oil with brake cleaner and go for a drive. Pay close attention to the welds on the shock mount to the axle housing. I have seen those welds crack on 4x4 rigs when going too hard on the rocks. Sometimes the welds are strong enough to tear the base metal off the axle housing when encountering an extreme impact.

 

[513Mugsy]

Well it is time to check out that drive shaft now. Great that you have good axles! Still worried about that shock too.

But this still doesn't explain the dimensional difference from one side to the other. In your pic that shocks rubber stopper is at the bottom of the shaft. That means it was totally bottomed out. And the lower mount and end of the bolt look a mashed. It this just the pic, or did it really get touched?

How about some pics of everything under the rear. Maybe someone on here will notice something else...

 

[Dakar09]

I'm surprised the thrust angle on their alignment sheet was within spec. I don't see how that'a possible with a 1.5" wheel centering position on one side. I hope they didn't "align" the truck into more of a mess trying to show there was "nothing wrong". Most shops are full of inexperienced hacks nowadays.

You may have a combination of issues all working together.

I agree that one of the axle centering pins may have sheered or your block at least jumped off the pin from the manuever. Though that should be pretty easy to notice under there.

Shock is probably blown but that wouldn't cause the axle shift or the wonky pulling. Looks like fluid is on the lower shock bolt, too.

A bent rim or damaged tire wouldn't cause the axle centering but issues should be checked out.

 

[RaacerX]

Thank you everyone for the assistance. I did a 2.5 hour drive yesterday and can for sure say something(s) is/are definitely wrong. I can hear a noticeable creak and thump when braking or accelerating, so something definitely got loose or broke, but I've still been unsuccessful in finding a glaring issue back there.

I have not been able to recreate the clicking around the corner after picking up the truck from the alignment shop. I did have them rotate the tires. Weirdly enough, the rear shocks actually feel ok on the freeway; it's the front coilovers that are bouncing all over the place now.

I will get under the truck this morning and try to clean it up a bit and post some better photos.

With the shock bumpstop, it actually was not fully down like that, it had about 1/4" of shaft still showing under, I moved that while inspecting stuff. I'll post a photo of the other side which shows how it was.

 

[Dakar09]

Did you look at the leaf spring shackles where they connect to the frame?

No cracks in the axle shafts where they meet the brake backing plates?

I wonder if the creak/thump on velocity change is due to the driveshaft taking a whack (unrelated to the thrust angle being off). Or if the axle shifted, the driveshaft angle is now off, too.

 

[miniceptor86]

On my ‘14 there was a sticker that said replace I dropped. So it may be part of the problem.

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