I am noticing that on my 1997 Ford F150 Ext Cab XLT that during acceleration or anytime the engine is under heavy stress (uphill driving or towing) that I hear a slight ratteling sound that seems to be coming from under the cabin. The Engine still sounds great with a smooth even hum, but recently with the weather changing it has become louder, leading me to believe either something is loose, or maybe a bearing of some kind has went bad. I am not sure where to start with this, as i think it has something to do with the driveshaft. Please advise.

 

The first place to look is to get under the truck and start looking at cables, exhaust, body mounts, transmission mounts, etc. Shake everything down there and look for anything that might be making the noise. A rubber mallet works very well for this!

 

Exhaust heat shields. Rubber mallet is good advice.

 

Thanks... I'll take a look at that this evening after work and let you know what I come up with.

 

Any update?

 

Tried the exhaust shield, did see on the shafter a place where it looks like maybe a sealing gasket or ring was and it looks a little greasy right there. I dont know if maybe something is missing from there. But I checked pretty much everything, even had to spot weld my muffler as I noticed it basically needs to be replaced, but want to make it through winter first. Any other suggestions?

 

Sorry meant, Drive Shaft not "Shafter" that is coming straight back from the transmission to the rear gearbox. The sound is still there and really sounds like it's under the cab, not back by the rear area of the truck. Typing fast at work.

 

You might want to jack the truck up and get all four tires of the ground, put the truck in neutral and see if you slop or play in the drive line, splines and u-joints. How many miles are on the truck?

 

hi, my 2006 ford f150 has same problem, did you ever figure out what the noise was?

 

my ford f150 has a rattling noise underneath truck when going uphill, it drives great while driving horizontal, only noise when uphill, any suggestion