None of the women I have been with say I need a longer front driveshaft but my mechanic does!
Anyway, I noticed some slop in the front driveshaft of my 1999 F250 Super Duty before taking it in for some noises from the drivetrain. The noise wasn’t related to the 4WD system but I brought this issue up to the mechanic. The truck has been lifted and he said that because of this, the splines are pulled out near the end of their travel and this results in this slop and a likely weak link in my 4WD system. It seems like about a 4 inch lift which it came with. He said aftermarket shafts should be available for those who lift their truck and this is what mine should have.
The truck is a 5.4L, 4WD, 5 speed manual, manual transfer case, extended cab, regular bed if that matters.
Your mechanic is correct. If you draw a simple sketch… lifted and stock height… it is easy to see why the driveshaft needs to be longer.
Too many people installing lift kits with no regard for the buggered up driveline angles.
Not sure what system the 99 F250 has in the 4WD front but have him check that, too. Shorter driveshafts and/or very short CV axle shafts make the angles get very ugly, very quickly. Off-roaders discover that the first time they rock-crawl in low range and blow the axle shafts.
When the suspension drops the distance between your front diff and the t-case get longer, when the suspension compresses, that distance shortens, so if it is at the end of travel and the suspension drops fully the splines in the yoke can bind up or come apart and if it does not compress when the suspension compresses, the drive shaft can/will shatter the t-case, and you don’t even have to be in 4wd for this to happen… I would have him/you remove the front driveshaft until you can buy a new corrected length driveshaft…
You can have custom shafts made, or they can even lengthen your… You also need to know the angle so you don’t bund up the u-joint(s), too much angle will also break things…
A buddy bought an F150 4WD. He complained about it being too high (it was!) and he wanted to lower it. I told him to forget about it because the reduced ride travel and buggered up driveline angles in the front would spit CV axles. So he swapped it for a Ranger which is about the size of his first truck and can tow more than enough for his needs… 5000 lb open car trailer with a car.
He was convinced he needed a V8. The turbo 4 in the Ranger changed his mind although he still moans about the transmission skipping second gear at times…nothing is wrong, that’s part of its programming.
Now try to explain why one wheel sticks out further than the other when installing a 4" lift on a Ram 1500 with a live axle front end but not updating the track bar.
Because those silly trucks still have a solid axle…And 5 link suspension.
The front panhard bar runs drivers side frame down to the passengers side of the axle. Jack it up and the panhard bar drags the axle more toward the drivers 's side. A longer bar would re-center the axle but could force the truck to shift left under hard braking more than it already does!
If your truck has a panhard bar and you raise/lower suspension then you need to adjust length of bar to keep axle centered OR change mounting point. Or, install an adjustable bar. It will do nothing for driveshaft “length” issues.
Oh oh oh and and and, when you lift a 4/5 link suspension and use the oem control arms, it also rolls the axle housing and changes the caster angle giving it a negative caster…
I bought it during the pandemic to replace the 1997 that recently blew up and have had quite a few problems so the 1997 stayed around longer than I had planned. The 1999 looks better and has no real rust to speak of but I have been chasing down problems since it was new to me. Because of this many major mechanical components have been changed out. The lift was installed when I bought it so have no idea how long it has been this way. I think I am finally getting to the end of that as the 1997 drives off into the sunset. This truck is going to take the place of the 1997 for harder rougher use. I am also getting a 2018 for use on the weekends for camping, river trips, and daily use when 4WD is needed as well. The 1999 will be for moving firewood, hay, gravel, or hauling scrap metal in from now on.
I think I am going to find a place that specializes in lift kits. The one in town that advertises this kinda messed this truck up as this was the first place I took it. I wouldn’t recommend them to my worst enemy so will avoid this place. They don’t know the difference between a driveshaft and a dipstick if you ask me. They are both incompetent and dishonest and they cannot even change oil. I will ask around and figure out where I should take it and have everything looked over to see what was done wrong and how it should be corrected.
If you are buying another 4wd truck, do you really need the 4wd to work in the 1999 truck?? If not, then just remove the front driveshaft and forget about it, free and will not hurt anything…
Are you going to buy another lift kit?
Perhaps you need a shop that performs suspension lifts, not one that sells lift kits.
I would have returned the suspension to stock height 5 years ago. Trucks with elevated suspension height have a lot of aero drag and get terrible fuel economy; 10 mpg. Return to stock and you could get 14 to 15 mpg.
Yeah, I got it during the pandemic and didn’t have a lot of choice. For the limited use of the truck, I do think it would cost more than I would ever recover by improving the MPG. Yes, I would rather have stock height. Yeah, the mileage is not great as you mention. I took the mud tires off pretty quickly which helped with that and the NOISE. Boy are those tires LOUD. For most of my use, AT is the way to go.
Yes, I do want 4WD to work if needed. For use as a work truck on my property or even to visit some of the river accesses I use, 4WD is a BIG HELP. I was reminded of that just last weekend. This truck was down at the time so I used what I had which was a 2WD S10. I was down a very steep road. It wasn’t real rugged but extremely steep and gravel. I tried leaving once to get ice and couldn’t make it back up the hill. The wheels broke free and started bouncing. I tried getting multiple runs at it but couldn’t make it. At this point the bed of the truck was completely empty and unloaded of all weight.
In the end, I figured that when I finally left, I would have the weight of 3x kayaks in the bed plus cooler, camping gear, etc. I loaded up anything I could to add weight for extra traction on the rear wheels. Any water bottle or storage container was full. Plastic bottles being thrown away were filled with water for weight and placed inside the kayaks. I loaded up 5-6 pretty large pieces of firewood that we didn’t burn as well.
I made it out in one try but could tell it was questionable at times. I saw FWD sedans tackling this same hill without any issues as all the weight of the engine/transmission is over the drive wheels. So in my case, removing the driveshaft might make the truck less useful to me than a basic FWD car that at least gets good gas mileage and is easier to drive and park.
I will get a second opinion on the cost of removing the lift and returning to stock height. The place that told me it wasn’t worth it is the same place I view as grossly incompetent and dishonest at this point so another opinion is probably a good idea.
They probably don’t want to have the thing brought back after they work on it or they are aware of your opinion of them and just do not want the hassel.
