GEN 2 Driveshaft movement & clank @ startup

I am a new 2017 Ford Raptor owner and this is my first post.

I’ve scanned the web and read many other forums until I stumbled across this one. This one has been the most enjoyable, and informative forum layered with experience and professionalism.

I have a mechanical issue with my Raptor I’d like to address that I haven’t been able to find anywhere in this forum or online that addresses my concern.

First, my Raptor has approx 5000 miles on it and my problem started at least 3500 miles ago. My driving habits are 50/50 highway and in town driving and have not been off road yet.

So here is the issue...

I am in and out of my car all day long, and it generally never sets for more than an hour or 2 before I get in it and am off again.

When I remotely crank the vehicle, (when it’s been sitting for less than an hour) the driveshaft moves about a qtr turn at start up, in which I am told by the dealer is not supposed to happen. As a result of that driveshaft moving, it makes a loud clunk or clanking noise while in park.

The dealership was able to duplicate the problem, and has no idea how to resolve it, but knew that it was not supposed to do that. They in turn called the hotline/engineers at Ford and they had no idea what caused it and recommended replacing a part called the valve body. I just picked the vehicle up today from that repair, and it solved nothing. Of course they are going back to the drawing board with the engineers/hotline to figure out what’s next.
I asked the tech working on my car ahead of time if this was a trial and error situation or if this was the fix that would for sure solve this specific problem. He indicated it was a trial and error resolution. What I don’t want to do is tear it apart and replace a half dozen parts trying to find the correct one to solve the issue.

I came across a few posts in this forum about a problem called “the clunk” in which I have that issue too but the tech didn’t think that was related to this.

I’m not a mechanic nor very mechanically inclined, but I did crawl under the truck and observed this noise in which is coming from the rear of the driveshaft

Does anyone have a similar issue or recommendation/suggestion?

Thanks in advance!

The rear end should prevent to driveshaft from moving unless the rear is damaged.
Are you saying the truck moves on start up or there is that much play in the rear?

The clunk is a separate issue that involves the movement of the driveshaft from the front of the truck to the rear of the truck and vise versus during suspension movement. It does not involve the rotation of the drive shaft. That is an oversimplified explanation but I'm trying to make it make sense. Separate issue as I'm not even sure if the generation 2 trucks retained a slip yoke entering the transfer case. In any case it doesn't sound related.

If the driveshaft is being engaged on start up that would indicate the transmission is the issue as when in park the driveshaft/rest of the driveline should be disengaged from the transmission. The clunk you are hearing could be the ring and pinion or the u-joint absorbing that rotation as the truck is stationary. No matter the specific cause they are going to have to listen to the Ford engineers as far as diagnosis. The good thing is that you have a warranty. The crappy part is that you obviously need the vehicle and this could take a while to figure out. Hang in there. It sucks but after all is well you'll be back to hauling ass and having fun.

Famous last words, "if you hit it faster it will smooth out some!"

The truck generally doesn't shake. On two occasions it did shimmy a bit.

The main issue is the driveshaft turning a 1/4 turn and coming to clanking sudden stop.

Have you gone under the truck on level ground not running (and in Park of course) and tried to rotate the driveshaft?
You should not be able to turn it while both tires are on the ground.
If you can then the Rear has major problems, on top of the tranny moving the driveshaft.

MTF said:

Have you gone under the truck on level ground not running (and in Park of course) and tried to rotate the driveshaft?
You should not be able to turn it while both tires are on the ground.
If you can then the Rear has major problems, on top of the tranny moving the driveshaft.

Click to expand...

I haven’t myself, but the master tech did at the dealership and said it moved when it was off.

I’ll give it try tomorrow and see what happens.

Waiting on the tech to find out from ford what’s the next step. Pretty sure they still have no idea where to go from here.

Sorry to here about the issue. I've had a bad issue also with mine but different. Mine is well driving and get a crazy squeling under the vehicle and then some times small or large clunks as if something is t catching and then catches. Comes and goes but got worst for sure. The sound is like a pitch fork dragging under the shifter beneath the vehicle and when I give it gas we'll it's making that terrible noise it gets louder then catches and jerks the truck but goes away. Sometimes it was happening on the highway different speeds pretty scary shit but I haven't heard of anyone else having this issue. Took it to the dealer of coarse they couldn't duplicate but the thought it may have been the drive shaft or something inside of it. They then replaced it under warranty since then I haven't had any issues but they are not sure if this will solve the problem. I thought tranny maybe but they didn't feel that was the issue. Anyone seen anything or heard of any other posts like that? Cheers