Cracked Front Diff Housing

[Gros Ventre]

This has to be a design issue. Either they have so thinned down the case in an effort to shave pounds or they somehow screwed up the mounting layout as to cause some forces on the case it wasn't designed for. These castings are not thin metal, but maybe thin in the wrong places...

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[halbritt]

These castings are not thin metal, but maybe thin in the wrong places...

Hard to tell in the photo that I posted above, but it looks like the wall thickness where mine broke was well over .250" and looks like it was right through a pretty substantial flange.

Took it into the dealer today. In their words, "your front diff is dee-stroyed!". They'll fix it, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do next. Maybe try one of the braces.

 

[Rippy]

After two differential housings failed on my 21 F150, the gears went out on the third (under 25k miles). I replaced my front differential, chassis, body, and interior with a Toyota Tundra. The white flag came out on Ford Motors…..

 

[Snakebitten]

After two differential housings failed on my 21 F150, the gears went out on the third (under 25k miles). I replaced my front differential, chassis, body, and interior with a Toyota Tundra. The white flag came out on Ford Motors…..

It's not like you didn't give them 3 strikes before you called em out.

That's amazing. Man would it be interesting to know what really is the cause of such.

Good luck with the other Ecoboost.
I have a ton of respect for their engineering prowess. The cooling stack and intake temp management look impressive. (Although they take a lot of heat ? for the grill that is necessary for that cooling layout)

I wish they were a little less conservative with features and options. A ProPower Hybrid Tundra would have a lot of takers regardless of what they claim.

 

[HammaMan]

It's not like you didn't give them 3 strikes before you called em out.

That's amazing. Man would it be interesting to know what really is the cause of such.

Good luck with the other Ecoboost.
I have a ton of respect for their engineering prowess. The cooling stack and intake temp management look impressive. (Although they take a lot of heat ? for the grill that is necessary for that cooling layout)

I wish they were a little less conservative with features and options. A ProPower Hybrid Tundra would have a lot of takers regardless of what they claim.

Don't forget a different chemistry battery. NiCd hasn't faded away because it's special, or good...

 

[Gros Ventre]

As to the crack going through a thick web... Once a crack starts, the concentration of stress continues to open it because the head of the crack means the stress concentrates in a very small area. If you could you might stop a crack by drilling a round hole at it head... This spreads the stress over a larger area... of course that then put a hole in you differential wall :-( so unworkable. The point simply is once the crack begins it'll readily propagate thru thicker parts. This means that the design of something (case or mounting method) lays the groundwork for initiation of the crack.

 

[krazyankee321]

For what it’s worth, my 22 PB has had rear axle bolt issue, rebuilt rear diff, brand new front diff, and as of last week ford sent a complete new rear end due to rear diff issue. According to dealership there has been serious issues with the pinion gear manufacturer and there is now a shortage of pinion gears.

Lucky for me, the service foreman and manager are awesome and feel terrible of my luck and do anything they can to fight on my behalf (second problematic F150). They always let me go back and look at things with them and I made sure to check for cracks in the diff with the foreman but we never found any.

Oh and they have to replace the front driver wheel bearing. 30k miles.

 

[Gros Ventre]

This thing about cracking bothers me, alot. In this day & age of computer assisted design we know how to spread stress and beef up high stress areas. So the idea of a design flaw seems remote. But the emphasis of saving a few pennies here & there causes me to conclude that Ford's subcontractor had a casting flaw or perhaps there's a gear flaw of some kind. Remember that the propellor shaft is spinning at a much higher RPM than the axle shafts. So a repetitive pounding can also start a crack. But once begun that crack will propagate relentlessly. It just doesn't make sense that there's a design flaw... But who knows, the powerful emphasis on weight reduction might mean a strenthening web was misplaced or reduced enough to concentrate stress.

 

[amschind]

I had a chat the other day with a great Ford tech, and when I brought this issue up he asked if all of the incidents were occurring in reverse. I asked how he knew that and he mentioned that 1) Reverse has the shortest gear ratio that a 10R80 can provide AND 2) the pressure within the transmission is astronomical in reverse. Essentially, it is built to go forwards, and reverse is added on as a unnatural state, kind of like walking backwards. The transmission amps up the fluid pressure to essentially disengage everything else while engaging the reverse gear, which also happens to amplify torque more than any other gear. The end result is that if a driveline component is going to fail, it is likely to do so in reverse.

While that doesn't directly address the likely issue of Ford contracting with Jimmer Bob's Finest Smiling Dragon Aluminum Company for their diff housings, it may provide a way to avoid grenading a marginal part.

 

[Pedaldude]

Other than the monthly act of exercising the 4X4 as recommended in the manual; I only use 4X4 in reverse and with a trailer. Usually it’s also at night, so I left foot brake to keep the tires from hopping and to smooth everything out.

The last time I used 4X4 was after I learned about this issue, it was a medium equipment trailer and it had surge brakes; so to back up, I was probably at what felt like 50% throttle and I still have the skid marks from my front tire and the trailer tires as I maneuvered into position. I must admit that I was not as comfortable as the numerous other times that I’ve performed the task and braced for unhappy sounds!

Generally, I’ll press the diff. lock first and if I spin both rears backing up; then it goes into 4X4 and I try to keep the steering wheel straight but it’s not always possible.

I checked a few times under the truck for any fluid leaking and even peeking as best I could at the differential.

I also have the 3.73 gearing, so the differentials are seeing that much more leverage.

It’s too bad there’s no ‘proofing’ procedure that can’t be done to make sure that the differential housing isn’t defective!

 

[WhiteLightningnshitshadow]

I'll take a recall or extended warranty at no cost. One guy going through 3 of these is enough proof.

Tbh, the only time I would absolutely NEED 4x is trying to get unstuck, usually by way of reverse. I really think 2wd would've done fine for me with a locker.

 

[HammaMan]

I'll take a recall or extended warranty at no cost. One guy going through 3 of these is enough proof.

Tbh, the only time I would absolutely NEED 4x is trying to get unstuck, usually by way of reverse. I really think 2wd would've done fine for me with a locker.

Nah, your front end is much heavier than your rear. I've had the mistake of owning a 2WD 4 door cab 2WD w/ a locker. That locker doesn't buy you much. You can mimic a locker to a point by putting a little e-brake into the equation. Not possible on new E-ebrakes. They're on or off.

There's no substitution for being able to drive the front wheels though.

 

[amschind]

2WD with a locker is better than 4WD IF you own a diesel parts company and a crane that you use to prophylactically drop a Detroit Diesel block into your bed whenever snow is forecast. My neighbor growing up did that and never once got stuck. Now, he wasn't a big off roader and his planning didn't stop us from getting a wide variety of vehicles stuck which he was then compelled to recover using a tractor.....but it got him to and from work.

 

[JBHBILL]

Hello all, I'm new to this site so sorry if I fumble around figuring it out. I have a 2021 and my front differential blew apart. I was in wet snow in my flat driveway trying to back up in 4WD. When the tire started slipping. I put it in low range for better control and tried to back up and POW, differential blew. Been driving 4WDs for 49 years and I have never had an issue like this. I has less than 18,000 miles on it. Ford denied the warranty claim. They said outside influences caused the damage. That is completely untrue. Anyone else had this happen to them?

 

[Snakebitten]

It's not a unique thing to just you and it's been covered by warranty multiple times reported on this forum.

I'm surprised by that. Seems odd since Ford is obviously aware of the issue.

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