My 2007 F-250 (6.0 liter) has a shake in what I think is the drive shaft only under heavy load. When I'm towing my 5th wheel (10,000#) if I get a little heavy on the pedal when starting from a stop, I can feel the truck shudder or shake from what I think is the drive shaft. It gradually decreases as the speed increases, and before it shifts into 2nd, it's smooth again. At speed, it's fine, and when solo, it'll still do it from a stop if you take off quickly. It seems that something is binding up under heavy load. Any ideas before I pull the drive shaft? BTW, it has 207K and I have no idea if anything has ever been serviced on the drive shaft.

 

Trans has 207k? Serviced at regular intervals? Does it shake/shudder in reverse or forward only?

 

I just bought the truck a year ago, but it appears the transmission has been serviced regularly and I can't say if it's original or not. It was serviced by the place I bought it from (Powerstroke Specialty) and they did service it and inspect it. It shifts great and gives no indication of any slipping. I intend on moving the trailer to it's normal storage position on my driveway, and I will check 'reverse' and let you know.

 

When I moved my camper the other day, I tried to get it to shudder in both forward and reverse......I couldn't get it to shudder. Now the truck wasn't completely warmed up, but after I unhitched, I used to truck and got it completely warmed up and still couldn't get it to act up, even with heavy throttle. I think I will pull the driveshaft(s) and make sure the u-joints aren't galled and are well greased.

Hayapower, why did you ask about reverse?

 

How many miles on the lube oil now?

Slip spline shudder wasn't a huge issue but something to consider given its mileage. Joints tend to just squeak/chirp as they fail dry and aren't greaseable units. They could potentially cause a shudder, should be checked,, as well as trans mount, driveline carrier bearing, indexing etc. Is the shudder on a launch while making a turn, or straight ahead from a stop? If on a turn, rear diff clutch pack may be suspect.

Sometimes if all the rear drive rotating components check out, rear diff clutches (if on a turn) , slip spline is ruled out and the shudder persists,, a high mileage trans can suffer from line pressure bleeds, low/reverse clutch frictions loosing their bite, or a rear diode sprag can make for a good shudder if it can't hold.

I just went through a trans issue on my 05 that I knew had a concern for quite some time. The trans shuddered in low/1st only on launch from a stop caused by the reverse apply piston return spring assembly failing causing the frictions to drag and deposited debris in the rear case. Easily showed up in the lube service, shuddering low/1 first and reverse soon followed. Reverse generally not noticed since most times reverse isn't applied under high load. But eventually failed the rear sprag causing a mild at first shudder and soon to follow a unit failure..
Doesn't sound like your situation since generally shift quality will fall off, lube oil will/may show debris, but given its mileage don't rule out trans possibilities..
No OD lamp flash or CEL,, correct?

 

I noticed that the 2 back tires were not equally worn, and that one of the front tires was nearly identical to the less worn rear tire, so I swapped them and now the left and right tires (front and back) are nearly identical. While I had the rear up in the air, I put the truck in neutral and attempted to spin the left rear with the right on the ground. It only took about 30-40# of torque to spin the left in one direction and less in the other. It appears that the limited spin clutch pack is history. When I was researching it online, I see that some have had shuddering because of worn disks. Could somebody please explain how worn disks can cause shudder.

I also saw that the receiver/ring gear weighs about 75# which is probably more than this old man should try to lift in that position. Any ideas where to find somebody to rebuild it for me? I live 70 miles SE of Nashville. I probably should get this fixed because I already found out that it only had 1 wheel driving when I got it into some mud that would have been no problem with a good L/S rear end.

I'm scheduled to take my 5th wheel in for warranty work Jan 8, so I probably won't get the drive line hot enough to have any problem. Without towing, when I drove from Gatlinburg to Cherokee and went up to 5,000' was the only time I've had the problem when not towing a heavy load. I've towed my 2000# enclosed utility trailer long distances over level ground had no noises.

 

I checked the drive shaft, and it looks like the center bearing has had it's rubber mount deteriorate and now there is about 1/4" of up and down play in the drive shaft. My question is where can I find a new rubber boot that's on the center if the driveshaft? My boot looks good, but I'll need new clamps for the ends at least. Also, is the tool to crimp these clamps available at auto parts stores?

 

It's fixed. I purchased the parts to rebuild the drive shaft, and then injured a thumb on a table saw. My thumb didn't have any permanent damage, but it did limit me. I talked to a local repair shop, and they had no problem with doing the job using my parts. When they took it apart, the carrier bearing rollers were mostly gone. This was my notching. All 3 U-joints had some wear, and it was time to replace them, but they weren't the problem. Thanks for all your help.