Any Ford Mechanics out there?
 

The carrier bearing (drive shaft center support bearing) in my 06 F150 went out today.

The bearing itself isn't bad so much as it has come out of the rubber that surrounds it. The auto parts house guys say they can't find it in their books...

Did some poking around on the net this evening, a driveshaft company in Texas says that the carrier bearing/driveshaft is not servicable, and Ford wants $800.00 - $900.00 for it... The drive shaft place has a "better" replacement (theirs does look better, it can be repaired anyway) for a mere $675.00 plus $50.00 for the ride here...

Anyone know if any of this is true???

My neighbor may need a new drive shaft in the morning...

Sounds right. I go through this with my police cruiser every now and then.
But there's always more to it than just selling parts. It may be that designing a way to do it that is serviceable would cost more than it's worth for them, or it could be that the part gets so beat up that when itgoes, you need to replace the whole shaft.
Or, most likely, it's a safety factor.
They can't risk the cost of lawsuits if it's not repaired correctly, and fails.

Ever see someone lose a two pice shaft?
Or a straight shaft come loose at the rear?

I't wild! Seen a car flip at the track once...no driveshaft loop.

I too am parts man, anyone try dimensions and a spicer book?, get major dimensions and will try to help.

rmunro, Very kind of you to to check, thank you.

grampascub, thank you too. We have always measured driveshafts from "weld to weld" two pc. shafts are a little different, especially this one. The welds are "friction welds" and are quite wide (about 3/4") I'll go take some pic's. How do you want this one measured?

Whenever I had a shaft made, I always went from center of cap, to center of cap. Because some times the yoke used during fab is a different length.

The first three pic's are as I found it, with the bearing in place and the rubber and mounting collar "slid" off of the bearing.

When this happened the front section of the shaft moved rearward pulling the front yoke partly out of the trans. and collapsing the rear slip yoke (on the rear shaft) about 2 inches.

I pushed it all back together and got home with it (about 25 miles) with everything intact.

The last pic is of everything in it's proper place. I know its hard to see from the pic's but the rear u-joint flange on the front shaft is welded to the shaft with the carrier bearing "trapped" in between.

Not a "better idea" and not "tough" in my opinion. If a carrier bearing is only going to last 60,000 miles then it should be replaceable without having to buy a new drive shaft.

AAAAH, im with you now, yoke doesnt come off,,,btw i drive a chevy, lol for certain reasons,,what part ot il you from, anywhere around nw indiana line?, let me make some calls here, see what i can do for ya.

Ive got pics on the way to my driveshaft guru,, he thinks there is no reason a local driveshaft builder cant cut the yoke off and install bearing and reweld,, says thats common driveshaft edicet,,get back with ya

I can't find a photo, and don't know it so well that I can picture it, but I vaguely remember changing the center bushing on the 89' chev ramp truck we had. It wasn't an issue. A driveshaft place may be able to modify your shaft and the whole assembly.