tater.salad

Ok, so this has been like a 6 week odessy...

So I had an unrelated issue with my Ford, and had our mechanic do the work. He's a sharp guy. GM master mechanic. Has done a bunch of other work for us. He's good and very fairly priced. So as he completed that other job, he heard this screeching sound while backing the truck out of the shop. He knew what it was - a $30 U-joint. Except it's not that simple. As I'm sure some of you have found, Ford made this a 'maintenance-free' part that is semi-permanently fixed to the drive shaft. You actually have to replace the whole drive shaft. Now I've dug into this, and there are some folks with some methods of disassembling these things. I wasn't into it - seemed to sketchy. So my buddy starts calling about parts, and He can get good pricing since he works at a dealer by day. He can get me a genuine Ford part (that may have the same problem down the road) for ~$900. But he found he could get an after market Dorman drive shaft - with a serviceable U-joint - for about half that amount. So we went with Dorman. Long story short, they kinda led us on about the availability, then it was back-ordered, then it was going to be shipped from another warehouse... but they didn't know where. It was a mess. I haven't had my truck in 6 weeks between the two repairs. I'm trying to be patient.

So that brings me to the call yesterday. He got the part. He said it was an easy replacement - wouldn't even charge me for labor. Two hours later, the holes won't line up between the mounting flange on the shaft and the rear diff. They both have 4 holes, but they are off by like a 1/4". He's about ready to concede defeat and suggest just getting the Ford part, but I'm not ready to drop another $500!

What are we missing??? Anyone come across anything like this?

Really appreciate the help

BareBonesXL

I've never heard of a bad u-joint screeching. Usually there's some vibration or clunking, but no screeching. But, it looks like you're already in the middle of a mess, whether your guy was right or not.

Your guy, friend or not, has already got you the wrong part, apparently. Matching bolt patterns is not rocket science.

You haven't told anything about your vehicle except that it's a Ford. Might matter. I would probably get a wrecking yard part myself. Drive shafts don't fail commonly unless they've seen a hard life. $50 at a wrecking yard and you'll probably be fine for another 100,000 miles.

tater.salad

Well, there's no need to be an ***.

Dorman claims this is the right part for this truck. Which is a 2011 F-150 XTR Super Crew, 3.5L EB, 6.5' bed 4x4. What he's currently looking at is
A: Did they send the right part (right part, wrong box)?
B: Does the part match the print - did they make it right?

Going to a bone yard may be the next step as it would at least give me a usable part - albeit not one that I want given that it will have the same non-serviceable U-joint. Currently, uneedapart.com shows none available, so I'll have to keep looking.

In the meantime, we have what is supposed to be the correct part. So if anyone else has experience with this, then that would be great to hear about.

BareBonesXL

You mean the "rocket science" comment? That's not being an ***, just stating simple fact. Realizing that the holes don't align in two flanges that are supposed to match is a two minute thing, not two hours. It's just two pieces of metal with holes that need to match, at the simplest level. Has he confirmed that the old u-joint is "bad"? Is it dried up, rusty, ruined seals, loose? Might be that you'll get your new driveshaft installed and still have the screech.

And staked in u-joints have been around since at least 1975, for other OEM's. I have an old Datsun with a staked in u-joint. Nobody should be surprised to find a staked in u-joint. It's more shocking to find a replaceable joint.

I was just giving my opinion as somebody who probably would have bought a $50 driveshaft from a wrecking yard to get me by while I figured out a long-term solution. Or used a needle to squirt some grease in to the screechy joint. To get by, again. A half-day's work probably,including the trip to the wrecking yard.

raski

This is the first I have heard of a non serviceable driveshaft. Almost every u joint failure I have had, started with a screeching, varying pitch noise prior to a severe vibration. Once they strart making noise,it's too late. At this point, you will see powdered rust around the joints. You might want to check out, Rockauto sells u joints for your vehicle, which might help. I remember some past fords of mine. Ford said you have to replace the whole control arm when the lower ball joint wore out, I always was able to change just the joint. They have been known to blow smoke.

http://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/f...sal+joint,2392

tater.salad

Well, you're opinion seems to be worth exactly what I paid for it. And from what I'm seeing so far you would have gotten laughed out of the wrecking yard with your bids of $100 and now $50 as the lowest price I have seen thus far is $385.

tater.salad

I'm sure they do sell U-joints for this vehicle. From what I'm reading, at some point Ford reversed course on these non-serviceable shafts (which also seem to be limited to 4x4s). There are also folks with aftermarket shafts that will need a u-joint at some point.

It's a real thing. I think the first info I found about them was on this site.
https://www.f150forum.com/f4/non-ser...eshaft-206189/

Looks like perhaps it was limited to models from 2004-2011?
http://shaftmasters.com/ford-f150-20...iv1502004.html
http://www.mdsdriveshaft.com/ford.html

I was hoping that perhaps someone had specific experience with these, esp with a Dorman part, who could perhaps shed some light on what we are missing here.

BareBonesXL

You're missing the point entirely. No reason to get mad at the messenger. The part that you're working on is one of the most simple parts on a vehicle. It shouldn't have taken you this long to have a solution in-hand. Sorry if you're not up to speed on things like that. And your friend, who is a "tech" might be great at being a tech, but he'd be a poor mechanic. It's just the way it is. You should have taken the truck to another shop with a mechanic and they'd probably have it done by now, for less money and less time. I get that you're working on something with a friend but you'd probably do him a favor by going somewhere else.

Also sorry that you don't have inexpensive wrecking yards, like I do.

BareBonesXL

Here's something helpful though - take some measurements of the flanges, either the Dorman part or the Ford part it's not matching and post them up. Somebody out here might be able to tell you which part is not right, and maybe which part to buy that is right. The basic question you're asking in your first post, that won't really help you, is "has anybody had a Dorman drive shaft that didn't fit?". Yes or no as an answer won't really help you get the right part. You haven't even provided the Dorman part number. Numbers, either measurements or part numbers, will be something that a person can use.

tater.salad

And I'm sorry that you're such an ***. You may be right. You may not. You see, I just don't care about your opinion at this point.

Since you can't seem to get the message and move along, I'll be shutting off notifications to this post. So keep talking - you'll just be talking to yourself.