EViS

Around 35 miles from home today the rear end of my F150 started to judder at low speed (traffic, junctions, etc). To get through the judder, I gave it some power every time and it smoothed out. Once I got above 15mph, it didn't feel too bad and the highway didn't feel any different. Got home to find that the bracket from the Center Support Bearing on the driveshaft had snapped (corroded) on one side. This pushed the shaft down and off-centre towards the petrol tank, thankfully only rubbing on the heatshield and not having got to the plastic tank just yet.

What are the chances that this may have bent the driveshaft or at the very least damaged any bearings? Or is the chance pretty much nil and all I need is a new bracket?

Was the judder likely to have just been the shaft scrapping along the heatshield? Or was that a sign of one of the bearings having also failed?

BadFish523

I would get a new bearing and replace it and very carefully test it to see how it reacts. Most likely the rubbing on the gas tank was from after the bracket broke.

EViS

Oh yeah, the rubbing was definitely from after the bracket broke.

Am I right in understanding that replacing the bearing isn't a driveway job (requires specialist tools to get the old bearing off and new on)? Or even it's impossible to replace (see here)?

BadFish523

I cant answer those questions for you. From reading that you may be right that you can not replace it and you will have to buy a whole new drive shaft assembly. Hopefully someone with some experience in this area will chime in.