Differential Unit problems of the 2004 Ford F-150

The whole vehicle vibrates and shudders at highway speed with now warning. It now feels as if the rear axle in moving, give an odd sensation when applying the gas pedal or taking your foot off the gas pedal. I am a technician by trade, so I put the truck up on the lift at my shop and have noticed the pinion in the rear differential has significant up and down movement. After researching a bit, it seems the pinion and ring gear gall themselves, I'm not sure if the pinion bearing failed causing this. Or if the ring and pinion failed causing the bearing to fail. At any rate there seems to be a lot of individuals with my experience, a quick search online may provide a scope of the issue.

80, 000 miles on the truck, and it now needs its rear differential replaced for the 6th time. On top of that , now the cam phasers are going bad. Can't drive it now again as it may leave me stranded in an intersection again. I drive 7 miles each way to work, and occasionally use the truck for vacations.

112,000 and sent the truck in for a humming noise . The whole rear end needed to be replaced. The truck has had only highway driving with no off roading. Differential oil replaced every year.

The rear differential acts up and prevents the truck from accelerating properly. Stutters all of the time and has a mild misfire and what sounds like knocking.

My rear end differential - axle went out and it's making a noise and feels like my rear end is lose when I drive down the highway almost feels unsafe but it is too pricy to fix I feel I should be something Ford should fix or recall.

Malfunctioning differential- when starting from a stopped position, (especially from a turn) vibrations occur and posses a risk of a potential failure when pulling into oncoming traffic.

This is a recurrence, paid for it the 1st time. After driving a few miles and coming to a stop the rear differential chatters really bad until the vehicle has finished cornering.

While starting from a dead stop noticed a rumbling sound coming from the rear end. I had the rear differential fluid replaced, u-joints checked, and brakes inspected. (have had this done 3 times in the last 18 months at a cost of several hundred dollars)I mentioned this problem during a casual conversation with a friend who happened to be a retired Ford mechanic. He told me that while he was with Ford as a mechanic he replaced or rebuilt numerous rear slip differentials, and that it was a major problem especially with the 2004 F-150, and that I should investigate it further. I went on-line and found many many complaints about the 2004 F-150 regarding rear slip differential \with very expensive repair problems. Obviously Ford has known about this problem for a very long time, and has done nothing about except to offer lame excuses and charge exorbitant prices for repairs. I am concerned about the rear end locking up at highway speed and causing a fatal accident. Why hasn't a recall been required?.

The clutch pack in the driven train rear differentials lock up when turning corners and howls when going down the road. These failures are so common on Ford truck that Ford is now adding friction modifiers to the rear differentials to rear the problem and aftermarket suppliers are making replacements for the clutch pack like detroit locker to eliminate the problem. This lock up on winter surfaces cause the wheels to loose traction increasing the potential for accidents. The howling sound is also a drag on the drive train components, reducing mpg and capability of the vehicle to handle adverse conditions. Ford has known about this problem for several years and has done nothing to fix the problem or reimburse owners for the cost of repair. On my truck, total rear end repair costs have exceeded $3700.

Transmission failed and was replaced. Rear differential needs to be replaced.

The rear differential is making a chattering noise at low speeds. It has a posi-trac rear differential, and I can feel a 'stop and go' type action as I am driving in a straight line at low speeds. Even after I added a limited slip additive, the problem is still there. It tends to be worse after a cold start, and when I am going up hills of after I go over a speed bump.

2004 Ford f150. Consumer states problem with rear differential the consumer stated in 2006 the transmission had to be replaced.

I started to get a vibration in the rear of the truck at 45 mph. I had just replaced the tires not long before and thought they might be out of balance. They are not. They have been checked many multiple times and rotated. The problem still exist. The dealer doesn't know what the problem is and claims it's not the differential or rear axle. I have replaced the bearings, seals, gear lube and rear shocks. Now there is a knocking sound coming from the rear end. It is a 4x2 and has not been driven hard. The vibration, which was annoying at first, has progressively gotten worse. The whole bed of the truck shakes when I hit 45 till about 55. ## VIN passed ## Ford f150 2004 ##.

Transmission failure, driving to work, transmission shift into neutral , again and again, lost of power in traffic while driving ,all fluids were normal, will not shift into 3rd gear, slips into neutral at 34 mph, 80,176 miles on od. I drove to Ford dealer in 2nd gear, $450. 00 just to look at, 3- rings +valve body need replacing, total of $2,468. 00 cost of repair. Safety issue == loosing all drive power in traffic, this should have been a recall after seeing all the complaints on this website this is my second big repair with drive train. At 60,000 mile a had to replace the rear differential at $1,600. 00+ , I do not tow anything and do not use the truck for work, 4. 6l , 2-wheel drive.

2004 Ford F-150 4. 6l v8 regular pickup truck, 39,000 miles on odometer - driving 50 mph and the truck starts vibrating horribly like driving over a washboard road. Nothing will cause the vibration to stop, even throwing the vehicle into neutral. Must stop completely, and sometimes put the transmission into reverse for a moment, then put it back into forward drive, to make the problem go away. This happens periodically, about once every couple of weeks. Search on google reveals hundreds of others complaining of the exact same thing with their 2004 F-150 trucks. Most claim it is an expensive differential problem, and caused by some tooling error at the manufacturing plant. Ford has not initiated a recall, and this is an expensive and dangerous problem. The problem just happened again today, September 17, 2010, and I now have 43,000 miles on my truck. It's used for getting groceries. No heavy use, ever. Also, the dozens of complaints from other 2004 Ford F-150 owners said their trucks only had 35,000 to 45,000 miles on them when the problem surfaced.

Rear differential was chattering/shuddering on slow take off turns. Problem is well known and documented by customer complaints. Issue faulty clutch pack in the positraction rear. Vehicle had 39,000 miles so out of warranty. Both dealer and Ford gave some on repair. About $400 toward $900 repair. Helps some but still can't get past why a mechanical failure on a part that should last 100,000 miles.

The contact owns a 2004 Ford F-150. The contact stated that the differential pressure sensor (dps) has melted and burned up on her engine. While driving 50 mph uphill, the vehicle began losing speed, making a hissing noise, and the check engine light illuminated. The vehicle restarted and she was able to drive home. She stated that the vehicle was driving normally when driving straight, but the engine failed when attempting to drive uphill. The current and failure mileages were 86,226.

Grinding in rear axle assembly, differential needs rebuild,57k. . .

The brakes began to shimmy and shutter and there was vibration from the rear when driving. The problem started three months after the vehicle was purchased and recurred every three, four or five months. Four repairs did not eliminate the problem so a fifth repair was required on Jan 25, 2006 with 32040 miles. During the five repair the rotors were resurfaced twice and replaced three times. The brake pads were replaced three times and the front brake calipers were replaced once.

My 2004 Ford f150 vibrates. The dealer has mad e four attempts at repairs with no success. Currently, the vehicle will suddenly start to vibrate severely at freeway speeds, and the only way to stop the vibrations is to slow down to 20 to 25 mph. Slowing down this much on the freeway is unsafe it could cause an accident. When this severe vibration starts, it's as if something is about to fail in the driveline. As it is now, I have no confidence in this vehicle, and am reluctant to drive it. Vehicle was purchased new on 7-10-04, and now has 6770 miles.

Rear end shudders or slips when accelerating from stop and turning. . . There is also a whining sound coming from the rear end. . . From reading nhsta complaints this seems to be quite a large problem with this truck. . . Seems like Ford would step up and fix whatever it is. . . . Worst truck I ever bought.

The 2004 f150 and I assume expeditions had undersized front brake rotors and calipers and were outlined in a service tech bulletin for the purpose of diagnosing the front end shaking/shimming during braking. This is my opinion should have fallen under a mandatory recall due to the serious nature of poor engineering. No recall and out of pocket $$$. The same holds true for the rear differential which in my case has been replaced (3) times and again Ford published a tech bulletin outlining the fact that the '04 rear differential housing was subject to faulty machining causing rapid wear on ring/pinion and bearings. I believe these two defects should have been addressed due to the fact that failure of either component could result in a serious accidents. I truly believe Ford tried to cover up/white wash these defects. I still have this '04 and still have issues with the brakes and rear differential not to mention a host of other issues that have plagued this particular year model. I look forward to hearing from someone and would like to know the extent of Fords involvement and any accidents involving '04f150's. Best regadrs.

The contact owns a 2004 Ford F-150. The contact stated that the vehicle began to violently shake while driving 35 mph. The vehicle was maneuvered to the shoulder and the contact noticed that the rear differential failed. The dealer made three attempts to duplicate the failure. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. No repairs were performed. The failure mileage was 4,000 and the current mileage was 62,000.

I purchased a new 2004 Ford F-150 supercrew. The rear differential made a "whining" sound between 45-50 miles per hour from the day I purchased the truck. My truck now has 7000 miles on it and the whine has become extremely noisy and now makes the whine from 45 mph to 70mph and above. My Ford dealer will not make any repairs on the truck becasue they are told that Ford motor company is "investigating the problem" . Ford motor company has been investigating this "problem" since 07-04. It is not 01-05 with no progress to this problem and it has become so severe that I get headaches just from commuting every day listening to the constant "whine" sound. There needs to be a recall or something to make Ford fix his problem as I can't even sell my truck as no one would even consider owning it.

Continuing problem with the truck, there is a vibration from the driveline. It has been in and out of service since 11/25/04 until present for the same issues. Ford orginally did not know the problem, and went down the TSB list replacing different parts such as transmission mounts and differential bearings until the last service on 1/27/05 finally fixed the problem by replacing the ring and pinion in the rear differential. However, on 4/15/05 I noticed a vibration and grinding noise from the rear end when turning from a stopped position. Vehicle wikk be back in service on 4/25/05.

Noise in rear end abount 60 to 70 miles a hour. Whinning noise.

2004 f150 with the 4. 6 liter v8 engine and limited slip differential. When the truck is running @ 2100 rpm at highway speeds something in the rear end makes a strange "warbling" type of high pitched noise. It only does it @ 2100 rpm. Local dealer tried to tell me it was exzhaust resonance. They replaced my exhaust system and the problem persists. They are investigating to determine true cause.

Takata purchase our 2004 Ford f150 4x2 supercrew from kings Ford. When going to tenn. Pull off to get gas and when leaving the gas station making left hand turn real wheel lock up had to back up to unlock the rear wheel, called kings Ford and was told not to make sharp turns. Returned home with the rear end making banging noises, king Ford repaired on Aug 24 2004 replace the traction lock clutch pack part#4947 2151 miles. After the repair we notice a whining sound coming from the rear end was told to bring the truck back, droped the truck off on sept 30,2004 and to pick it back up on oct 2, was told by service rep no work was done. Caller service rep the flowing Monday and was told Ford would not pay for the fix because engineering is currently investigation this condition and for us to call every month. Called Ford many times finely was told to take our truck to Lincoln Mercury garage in fairfield, ohio had a person that would rebuild the rear axle with 4205a differential carrier. Assemble, Ford did take care of this. After leaving the garage notice a whine in the rear turn around went back to the garage and was told they may have the parts to tight and will need to loosen then up. This has been going on for the last 15 years with still no fix we have now 95800 miles and with another fix for $3000. 00.

The brakes began to shimmy and shutter and there was vibration from the rear when driving.

Ford f150 ex cab 2 wheel drive at 1400 miles loud noise from rear end during turns or acceleration. Dealer replaced parts in differential. Since dealer fix, loud "humming" noise from rear end over 35 mph. Vibration from rear end while going 40 mph+.

Rear end differentials make a loud noise when driving at 50+ mph.

At speeds of 52, 54 mph the rear end makes a "wining noise" like the pinion gear is bad. Took truck in for serivce to dealership and they said Ford says the noise is normal engnieering. I don't agree and am very annoid with the dealer and Ford.

Tires replaced at less than1,000 miles. Rear end replaced at less than 5,000 miles steering whille vibration at high speeds reported from day one. Tires rebalanced and front end checked more than 3 times and still have vibration at high speeds. Rear electric slideing glass motor bad at 6,000 miles.