ENHRider14

As much as it sucks to say I had an 18 f150 and my brother has one as well and both trucks have a slanted receiver like yours, looks ridiculous but I think it is "normal" on the 18s. Anyways no issues here now that mine was bought back for other issues and I now have an f250.

Phyer Phyter

Does the new dealer have picture of the truck with the 2 dirt bikes hanging off the hitch? Roughly 500lbs of dirt bike unsupported bouncing 4 feet from the fulcrum (aka receiver). I am not surprised that the hitch angles down a little bit.

JCR 56

The hitch is fuct up, dirt bikes didn't bend the hitch.

Syngen Smythe

the bikes didn't bend the receiver. this rack was installed long after this issue was discovered. maybe you need a job at the dealer; you will fit right in.

ReaperHWK

Syngen Smythe

Update::
Hitch:: I got the second dealer to put a new hitch on. See picture above; no comment necessary.
Slipping/stuttering transmission:: "Normal"; "we were not able to replicate" but also "your transmission gets confused..."
Noise in transmission and/or transfer case:: "We were able to replicate on a new vehicle on our lot, therefore normal" . When I asked to have them demonstrate that to me, I got the same response as the previous dealer - "Uhhhh, well, uhhhh, that truck isn't here anymore"

I am wondering two things here:
1. What is going on under there? Is it "fixable" by me maybe, or is it just a poor design? Good luck trying to get the dealer to answer that BTW.
2. Does this really happen on other 5.0 s-crew lb 4x4?

To find out (if you want to possibly hear some gnarly noises): Put your truck in 4wd on a hill. Pointing up or down does not seem to matter. The steeper the hill the better; but just something you might park on, not extreme. Put it in park and put the weight on the parking pall. Now I know that taking it out of 'park' here will make a thunking sound, heard on every 4wd truck and most cars ever made. That is not what I hear, and it is progressively getting worse. There is a repeated banging and now you can feel the truck shuddering for a couple seconds or more. If anyone wants to try it let me know how it goes!

Gene K

Just to double check. You are not loading the parking pall when you stop on the hill correct? You are loading it against the parking brake then.putting it in park.

I've tried to replicate with a 3.5EB and I can't.

Syngen Smythe

I AM loading the pall. I am not suggesting this is good practice; the first time it happened was by accident and is what alerted me to this. I was at a boat launch and just put it in park real quick to get out and check the boat position and trailer.

elptxjc

Hey OP, you should NEVER load the tranny with the parking pawl, especially with a freaking boat behind, and on an inclined ramp. Always use the parking brake, then P, even without a boat. You're probably damaging the transmission that way. As far as the 4L noises, it shouldn't make any after switching to 4L and making a quick 'bang'. Once in 4L, you can switch to N, P, or whatever you want, since the transfer case is already in 4L. I used to do exactly what you do when pulling my ex-boat out of the water, since I only had to touch the throttle to get it out (about 1K rpm), vs slipping the crap out of the tranny (at high rpm) if you do it in 4H. I also stopped in the middle of the ramp to open the rear drain, but always left tranny in 1st (truck didn't move backwards), with the parking brake as a precaution, then quickly removed the drain plug and continued up. Once nearly flat (before having to turn), switched out of 4L in N, then continued to my house.

Finally, that hitch is just not right. Something is wrong either with the hitch itself (badly welded... again), or the frame holes are crooked. I've never seen a hitch like that. Mine is perfectly straight, and it's a 2018 truck... but I have maxtow, so it's a beefier and different hitch. Good luck man.

EDIT: You know, folks who 'level' their trucks, are going to have a slant. Don't know if as steep as yours, but definitely more than stock. Did you level yours??? Just thought of that now.

flyflotr

Be sure to document everything in writing. Your letters to the dealerships and their written responses. These issues are not normal.