Grinding and and clunk when coming to a stop.

[andrewj]

Recently I have been feeling grinding/friction and a clunk just before coming to a stop in my '99 5.4L 4x4 Expy. My neighbor said it may be transmission related and might be time to change the transmission fluid. Another friend vaguely mentioned greasing a joint..?

Do any of these symptoms ring any bells?

Thanks in advance.

 

[toms89]

Have you ruled out your brakes?

 

[andrewj]

Have you ruled out your brakes?

Yeah, for the most part. I rotated my tires about a month ago. The rotors and pads looked fine then. Then, about a week ago I started feeling the grinding and clunk.

Obviously, I thought it was caused from something I did when rotating the tires. I checked the rotors again and there isn't any damage and all the wheels are properly torqued.

So I'm looking elsewhere now.

 

[Canadian Expy]

Maybe wheel bearing

 

[FordandPolaris]

Could be a caliper too. I know whenever I do work on the front end where I remove the caliper, the first couple times i brake afterwards it makes a loud clunking sound. It stops though and I just assume its the one of the plungers on the caliper getting momentarily jammed or something. Can you tell which side it is coming from?

 

[98EXPY 5-0]

Perhaps your parking brake is hanging up or something. I know mine made a weird noise and it turned out to be the shoes actually separated from the backing and were kind of sliding around.

 

[andrewj]

I'll look into the calipers and bearings, but to answer you question FordandPolaris, it doesnt seem to be coming from either side. It feels like its coming from roughly dead center of the vehicle.

I imagine this is why my neighbor said it may be tranny related and my other friend said i may need to grease that joint. I spoke to him again and he said he was referring to the slip yoke.

 

[stamp11127]

One way to test if it is trans related would be to get up to speed, shift to neutral and then stop normal.
To test the brakes, don't apply them when coming to a stop. Let the car slow down on its own. Empty parking lots are a good place to do this.

Usually when trans start going bad the fluid may change color, smell burnt. Shifting isn't smooth as before-can be slow or harsh. Loss of gears, especially OD. Shuddering from the torque converter etc. If you blow something internal - you'll know it. Nothing quite like the sound of breaking gear teeth.