Adding the new grease that Ford tells you to does not fix the problem of the clunking in your driveshaft. The clunking sound is a manufacturing defect that involves the splines not matching up properly.

If you have access go to a junkyard, e-bay, where ever and buy a 1pc. aluminum driveshaft from a wrecked/totaled Ranger.

 

I am not sure what you mean by 2 piece drive shaft
were any Rangers equiped with a 2 piece drive shaft?

 

Rangers had them a few years ago. Not sure of the last year with the 2-piece but I think it might have 1997.

 

They went through at least 00

 

my friends tacoma has a two piece and i cant stand looking at it. dont know wut it is but they disturb me. carrier bearing is just another thing to worry about messing up.

 

is that what it is that makes my truck sound like its got a small deisel engine in there? it eminates from the farthest end of my transmission. and here i thought it was cause the timing chain.

 

mine sometimes sounds sorta like a diesel when i get going...but thats due to different reasons. but yea, thats prolly wut it is...maybe

 

The 5-speed manual Mazda transmissions "growl" at low RPMs and sound a lot like a diesel. Doesn't matter if it is a Ranger or an F-series. Nasty but there's nothing you can do about it except drive at higher R's.

 

no, the 2 piece driveshaft went through until september of 04

 

The two piece must have been only on certain models or wheelbases. Because my 2003 has an Aluminum driveshaft as did the 2002 4x4 Offroad I test drove before I bought my truck. However my friends 2001 4x4 Offroad has a "two-piece" steel unit. It's rusted to crap and "apparently" is the source of some noise. However I'm not in his truck enough to know if thats what it is or isn't.

 

I'm on my third driveshaft...

****ing aluminum...

 

I know 2 piece driveshafts are on supercab rangers up to 97 at least.....and a 1 piece from a 98-?? will swap in with minor trimming to the gas tank skid plate...

 

I can never tell if it's my driveshaft making a clunk, or if it's just gear-lash. It's definitely a clunking noise coming from underneath the bed. Can anyone shed some light on this?

 

have someone get in your truck and put it in gear and ease out the clutch while you're watching the driveshaft and listening...keep doing it until you re-create your noise...that should help you narrow it down..

 

Mine is a 98 supercab and it's got a twopiece

 

Judging from the posts, there seems to be confusion about what "one-piece" or "two-piece" means.

A two-piece driveshaft is actually two complete short driveshafts separated by a single or, more often, a double cardan universal joint. There is also a frame-mounted CSB (center support bearing) near the central u-joint that is supported by a frame member. This type was used as a rear driveshaft on certain earlier Ranger models such as Supercabs. As far as I have been able to determine, the 2-piece design has not been used on any Ranger after 1997.

A one-piece driveshaft does not have the center joint or center support bearing. It is one driveshaft with universal joints at either end. To make up for the lack of center support, these are usually made from larger diameter tube and/or in heavier wall thickness than the two-piece shafts. The longer the driveshaft is and the faster it spins, the stiffer it must be made to resist dangerous driveshaft whip that causes vibration and can lead to catastophic failure.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two-piece driveshafts are no longer fitted to Rangers. There are, however, two different types of one-piece rear driveshafts on current models. Within these groups, there are a variety of lengths and diameters and the tubes may be made of steel or aluminum.

The two wheel drive version is a single tube with a yoke and universal joint on each end. The differential end u-joint is installed into a flange that bolts to the pinion flange and the transmission end has an internally-splined slip yoke that slides over matching splines on the output shaft within the transmission tailhousing.

The 4x4 shaft uses bolt-on flanges at both the differential end u-joint and the transfer case end u-joints. Unlike the 4x2 version, the slip yoke is integral to the driveshaft itself. I believe this slip yoke is what's causing the confusion - the inclusion of the slip spline in the driveshaft does not make it fall into the "two-piece" driveshaft category.

I wasn't able to find a comparison photo of the two Ranger driveshafts but here is a generic pic that shows the difference. Notice that the one piece shaft is made of a larger diameter tube to resist whip.

 

partially true....the actual two piece driveshaft has been found on rangers as late as 04...ford had tried to get all of them out of the system in 03 but a shipment that was supposed to go to a "re-utilization" area ended up at the assy. plant.

 

Maybe I can shed some more light on this subject. My '02 is showing symptoms of the same problem, which is recurring, and is almost ready for its fourth driveshaft.

Please refer to my response in the following post. When I plug the old computer in, I will dig up my copy of the TSB that covers this topic and post it.

https://www.ranger-forums.com/forum2...d=1#post109625

 

Does anyone have a picture of the aluminium driveshaft or a source to buy one from someone other then the dealer. I would like to keep it to 250.00 or less. I have the thump/clunk on my 2001 b4000 supercab plus.

I have greased it. That lasted 1 day. I am just hard pressed to pay $55 for a boot 2 clamps and a tube of grease.

Thanks,
Dan...

 

There's nothing magic about the aluminum replacement driveshaft. The slip yoke problem is the same whether the DS is steel or aluminum.

 

did that & was redirected from differential area to trani area.

 

EXACTLY. I have an 06 with the 1 piece aluminum driveshaft with the slip yoke in the center and trust me it clunks just as bad. Especially beens I have a manual it especially dose it, and even greasing it still only works for a tad bit. The only real way aorund it all is to get one made for you, but acourse that isn't cheap.

 

You can regrease the slip joint but it is only a temporary fix. Sooner or later, the clunk will return. Every Ranger I've owned has done it.

The [relatively] cheap fix is to install a set of James Duff traction bars and control the slip yoke bind problem by reducing the axle wrap. The JDs also do a decent job of reducing wheel hop.

Ford Bronco II, Ranger Traction Bars

 

have these totally solved your clunking issue?

 

It worked great on mine.