F250 Lockout hubs, noise in 4x4

[TJRecreation]

So my 02' F250 has been making a thunking noise in 4x4, I am getting traction but it doesn't sound good. (I have the stock manual lockouts.)I have opened the diff and the R&P is good, I took the lockout off yesterday and cleaned it up. Nothing looked damaged or worn. The lockout is difficult to turn by hand but the truck has 145K on the stock lockout. The splines also looked good on the axleshaft as well. This is my first experience with lockouts so I am not to savy. I have not taken the brakes off to look at the hub. Everything is fine in 2wd, with the hub locked in 2wd it makes some noise
but nothing like 4wd.

I have looked at replacing the lockout(s) with the warn premium hubs, anyone swapped those out for the stock ones?

Thanks!

Shawn

[Dave McDonald]

Could it be the U joints on the front driveshaft?

[TJRecreation]

The u joints were just replaced at the dealership before I bought it. They look good, but I could take a closer look.

[Brutus]

I have a buddy that used to work at a ford dealership and he told me that he talked with the Warn distributor (maker of Ford hubs) about the automatic hubs from the '90's trucks. The Warn distributor told him that Ford contacted Warn about making the hubs so that the average failure of the hub occurred after 10 engagements.

Somehow the bean counters at Ford figured out that that was their best probability to get out of the warranty period without a claim. This is also why Warn does not display their name on the product.

I cannot say this is true for the newer manual hubs but honestly, IT WOULDN'T SUPRISE ME. If you are still in the warranty period take them in to the dealer and have them put Warn premium hubs on it.

[74BuckinBronc]

Check your ball joints? Maybe the torque from the front tires pulling causes the knuckle to move. This is common on the superduty trucks.

J.D.

[Clint]

Check your ball joints? Maybe the torque from the front tires pulling causes the knuckle to move. This is common on the superduty trucks.

J.D.


Thats my thought as well.

[stealthtoy]

I'd look at the torrington bearing between the spindle and shaft too. I know my superduty make a klunking noise when I'm turning with the hubs locked because the outer shafts aren't held in place by a clip on the outside on newer trucks anymore.(stupid) I hate that noise.

[TJRecreation]

Ironically, the two things that the dealership did before it sold me the truck was replace the front axle shaft u joints and the ball joints. This helped in my decision to choose that truck. I don't know much about the wheel bearing and how if functions. At this point if the u joints are fine as well as the ball joints then it leaves the wheeling bearing or the lockout hubs correct?

Could I just switch my lockout from the passenger to drivers side and if that solves my problem I will know it is the hubs?

Thanks for the help so far!

[Wally]

Just a side note, but from what i've seen in reading, the dana 50 and the dana 60 fronts share the same 30 spline outter stub, so in "theroy" shouldn't most any stockish dana 60 30 spline lock out hub work :shrug: my thought being, you could find someone up there with 30 spline warn hubs on their rig, and just swap one on to see if in fact it is the hub. Unfortunately i don't have any 30 spline lockouts.

[74BuckinBronc]

The unit bearing could also be the culprit as you mention. I would jack the tire of the ground and see if you can rock the tire towards and away from you and see if it moves. If it is the unit bearings, they are very expensive to replace. There is another option, but I fear it's much more expensive, but better because it converts the unit bearing to replaceable tapered bearings as you'd see in just about any other axle.

When do you hear the sound? When you accelerate or slow down? Is it only if you accelerate hard are anytime etc etc..?

J.D.

[Leon Phelps]

Just a side note, but from what i've seen in reading, the dana 50 and the dana 60 fronts share the same 30 spline outter stub, so in "theroy" shouldn't most any stockish dana 60 30 spline lock out hub work :shrug: my thought being, you could find someone up there with 30 spline warn hubs on their rig, and just swap one on to see if in fact it is the hub. Unfortunately i don't have any 30 spline lockouts.

Unfortunatly the funky unit bearing construction Ferd decided to use on the Super Duty wont let you use the conventional hubs. Gotta do the Dynatrac conversion to get the stock Dana 60 hardware.

I wouldnt be shocked if the unit bearing is smoked. 120-130k and up seemes to be the magic number for failure, in my limited hands on at Ford w/ em before I left to go turn wrenches for the Jap companies.

[Chris Halvorson]

Crawl under your truck and push on your front drive shaft where the splined section is to see if you have any movement. I just seen a problem with a truck and it had the same symptoms....just a thought.

[TJRecreation]

Could it be the U joints on the front driveshaft?

Well I went back and double checked the front driveshaft. Something felt loose at the CV so I pulled it and took out all the u joints. The CV flange or yoke was done. So I have all the u j-joints but now I need to find the CV
part(s).
At the CV end of the driveshaft, there is a part that looks removeable where the "ball" was. Does that piece separate form the driveshaft? Then the other yoke piece where the "ball" fit is all wallowed out.

Anyone tore one apart before?

Thanks for all the help so far!

[Wally]

Sounds like you need to have a new CV for the shaft. I would call either Englewood driveshaft in Denver, Tom Woods in UT, or Drivetrain Industries in Junction and see what they want to rebuild the CV section, my guess is roughly $150-$200 :shrug:

[osue077]

I smoked a hub on my f250 and I checked it out but it was smoked. I put a new hub on it and it was fine.