I bought this truck used, in 2013, as an off-lease vehicle. At that time it had 72000km on it, with 1 year left on a maintenance package. Since I had the vehicle, it had a small "clunk" that occurred when I started from a stop, or vice versa, and sometimes when I had to accelerate or decelerate.

Took it into the dealership in Burlington Ontario just before the maintenance package expired. Had them look at the drive train, complained about the clunk. Was told that the spline was lubricated and the "yoke" looked at. The problem was reduced.

When I was a passenger in other, newer, F150's, their trucks were much smoother.

Then this year, while driving on the highway from a relative's home back to my place (400km trip) at night, the center bearing failed (see photo) just as I was transferring from one highway to another. Got off right away - the truck started to vibrate and made huge noises - my kids thought that the truck was going to explode. Managed to limp to a strip mall (could not drive faster than 20km/h without the severe vibrations and noise returning. Luckily we purchased CAA with a long distance towing option the month previous. They had to flatbed the truck 75km to Burlington directly to the dealership.

The repair for this was the complete replacement of the drive shaft, the universal joints at each end and the center bearing, as well as a repair of the bearing mount, as this was half torn off as result of the bearing failure. Cost was $1680 CAD. Was told by the service rep who took the vehicle in that he had "never seen this happen before".

Based on the complaints on this site and on others, I find this hard to believe. I am also convinced that the clunking was the start of an issue with the center bearing starting to fail over time, and partially masked by the lubrication of the spline by the dealership a few years ago. The truck drives a lot smoother now. The design of the drive shaft and center bearing assembly is much different also - it still has the center bearing, but now the shaft is actually two shafts with an additional universal joint close to the center bearing.