2002 f150 4.2 auto transmission. 125k miles.

When driving the truck and coming to a stop, there is a single clunk sound right before the truck stops. This happens in both drive and reverse. It sounds like it is coming from the rear end, and seems to happen more when I'm stopping and turning at the same time such as when I am pulling into a driveway or parking space.

Has anyone had this issue or have any idea what it could be? It is just a single clunk, doesn't happen over and over again. The truck seems to be driving and stopping fine besides this noise.

 

Sounds like the rear universal joint.

 

Is that a common problem on these trucks? Is there any way to grease these?

 

regular maintenance type of stuff if it is a universal joint. swap the joint it's a straight forward job.

-Kirk

 

Is there a way to test for a bad u joint? Such as trying to see if there is play in the drive shaft when it is in park?

 

Yep. Take off the bad ujoint and replace with a good one. Then you can test it and the clunk will be gone. Done

 

You can try and move the drive shaft and check for play. You don't want the trans in park because the driveshaft won't turn, so block the wheels. Sometimes you can see movement, sometimes you can't. There haven't been any grease fittings on American vehicles for years.

 

Lol okay thanks guys. Should I go ahead and replace both u joints while I'm at it?

Also, is it pretty obvious my problem is with the u joints?

 

It wouldn'y hurt, They're pretty cheap. I'm not 100% it's your u joint, but odds are it is.

 

Common problem? LoL. The truck is old enough to have a Facebook account and troll Xbox live.