Looseness in drivetrain - is this normal? - Diesel Forum

corgi1 · 08-25-2006, 03:47 PM

I have about 16k miles on my 05 F350 PSD. About 5k of those miles has been towing a 29ft fifth wheel trailer. A few months ago I started noticing that the drivetrain was feeling looser than it used to.

This is a little hard to describe. After coming to a complete stop, when I remove my foot off the brake and apply the accelerator, there is a slight hesitation before the wheels engage and begin to move. It is as if the drivetrain is loose and needs to spin forward a little before it engages. When I am parking the truck, I bring the truck to a full stop using the brake pedal, place the transmission into Park and then release my foot off the brake pedal. The truck will roll forward or back maybe 5 or 6 inches before it catches and stops.

Is this just normal wear or is it something I should have looked at by the dealer?

agdodge4x4 · 08-25-2006, 04:31 PM

The parking and rolling is OK, thats just the nature of automatic transmissions. Not sure about the other.

rock_doctor · 08-25-2006, 06:01 PM

The other is something that has found to be "normal". The reason it is normal is because we don't know what causes it but a huge number of SD do this... It is officially called a "clunk". If you search in this forum, the 7.3 forum or the excursion forum you will find tons of posts. It appears most often when you are backing up then start to pull forward the driveline will clunk. It can be a noticeable sound and feel or just a thump felt in the seat. Both of my excursions show (ed) this as well as my suburban. I can't give you any more information but if you determine what is causing it there will be boatloads of members who will be grateful. You may want to consider using the parking/emergency brake when parking. Then the truck will not move until the parking claw catches in the transmission. For example see this thread

mark

dvtech · 08-25-2006, 08:39 PM

[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]that is a normal characteristic of the dana diff. do you have any chatter when backing up slowly? if so take it to your dealer & have them put some more friction modifier in it to better lube the friction plates. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smokin.gif[/img]

corgi1 · 08-25-2006, 11:08 PM

Thanks for the replies, sounds like it is nothing to worry about.

earnhardtfan55 · 08-25-2006, 11:27 PM

[ QUOTE ]
It is officially called a "clunk". It appears most often when you are backing up then start to pull forward the driveline will clunk. It can be a noticeable sound and feel or just a thump felt in the seat. mark

[/ QUOTE ]

Gotta take my poke at this one! Sounds like a "feature" copied from the old Dodges. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif[/img]

Had several friends that had old Dodges (hate to admit it) and all theirs made a loud clunk when shifting from reverse to forward (or from park to reverse for that matter).

I thought only Dodges had this special "feature"! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img]

Now that that is out of my system - back to lurking mode since mine doesn't do it and I have nothing constructive to add. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smokin.gif[/img] Must be the margaritas! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/phoney.gif[/img]