94 f150 rear end ?? problem

I got a 94 f150 4x4 a year ago. It has always had a clunk when shifted into gear and sometimes while shifting. The transmission was rebuilt about 6 months ago because it was slipping very bad. The shop did not say anything about the clunk that was still happening.

I figured that it was the u-joints and that would be a quick and cheap trouble shooting thing for me to do. I changed them today and the clunk is still there.

I had my wife shift the truck from drive to reverse while I looked under it. From what I can tell by looking the rear end is the problem. It moves about an inch or so when shifted.

Is it normal to have some play in the rear end??

If the rear end sounds like the problem are there any easy fixes for it???

Some play is normal but an audible clunk and the drive shaft moving an inch is too much, it is possible to add extra spacers (or swap them out for thicker ones) to bring the ring gear closer to the pinion gear but if you get the gears too close together you risk destroying them.

Unless you know how and have the tools to rebuild a rear end have a shop do the repairs, will save you a lot of grief later.

Also remember to change the gear oil in the differentials when it should be changed (see your shop manual) it will help the gears last longer, most rear ends it is usually not very hard to do. And on 4x4s make sure the tire pressure is the same for the front and back tires or that can cause its own problems with tearing things apart.

Thanks Torch. I'll probablly just bring it to the shop now.

i'd drop rear driveshaft and replace the pinion bearing.take nut off and behind your one nut on
yoke..