2022 F150 Rear Axle exploded... Ford tech said "3rd one this week"

[Snakebitten]

It's sad that doing the right thing for the customer, as well as the Brand on their shirt, isn't incentive.
But not surprising either, since we're living in the age of an upside down world. ??

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[fordtruckman2003]

I sometimes wish we could just deal with Ford directly on warranty work. Give me the parts I'll fix it myself...

 

[Snakebitten]

I sometimes wish we could just deal with Ford directly on warranty work. Give me the parts I'll fix it myself...

I absolutely DO fix things under warranty if it's an option within my capabilities. I am very reluctant to watch a porter drive off with my beloved vehicle and dissappear behind the veil.

 

[fordtruckman2003]

I absolutely DO fix things under warranty if it's an option within my capabilities. I am very reluctant to watch a porter drive off with my beloved vehicle and disappear behind the veil.

I mean I can't go to dealer and say hey this is broken and leave with the parts to fix it at home.

 

[Gros Ventre]

Well, I've found my dealer, Lithia Ford of Idaho Falls, ID, to be very good to work with. Their Service Advisors actually talk with you and if something's under warranty they do not hesitate to fix it and turn it around to Ford. Their parts guys will work with you to identify what you need. The only thing about fixing it yourself is don't install other than Ford Parts while still under warranty. I do much of the work on my truck.

 

[slanker7]

The techs that worked on my truck fixed a recall item as well (wiring harness issue) and offered to fix the wiper recall if I wanted to wait a few days. I needed my truck, so will get that fixed closer to home. I couldn't be happier with the speed and service at this particular dealership. I'll buy my next truck there, even though they are 90 minutes away. It was repaired at Hilbish Ford in Kannapolis, NC.

 

[hotrodmex]

I don't remember the grade off hand.
M18 258ftlbs

It's a beast -- a 3/4" grade 8 has a proof load over 20 tons for an idea of the force that's breaking that damn thing.

We sure that's not written as an M18 hex? Looking at the picture and the bolt is smaller than the dudes fingers (my index finger is about 18 mm Ø ), and the head is about as big as his thumb. An M18 bolt would probably have something like a 25+ mm hex size, and the hex on the bolt doesn't look that much bigger than the M14 wheel studs.

If the axle shaft is about 1.5in, and the bolt looks like it's about 1/3 the diameter, I'd guess an M12 bolt. It was originally specd as torque to yield, after all.

 

[Nighsight]

In another thread I saw a comment by someone hinting at the possibility that there has been a failure of the updates parts as well. Anyone know if this is true and who it was?

 

[astro_fusion]

We sure that's not written as an M18 hex? Looking at the picture and the bolt is smaller than the dudes fingers (my index finger is about 18 mm Ø ), and the head is about as big as his thumb. An M18 bolt would probably have something like a 25+ mm hex size, and the hex on the bolt doesn't look that much bigger than the M14 wheel studs.

If the axle shaft is about 1.5in, and the bolt looks like it's about 1/3 the diameter, I'd guess an M12 bolt. It was originally specd as torque to yield, after all.

My eyechrometer agrees with your observations here. It's a M12-1.75 bolt with maybe a preload washer on it and a 18mm head. The 258 ft/lbs of torque spec seems way too much. Axles twist and grow/shrink constantly, why would you over spec torque on a tty bolt here? Pretty curious about this axle, semi float and full float axles are nothing new. It's just a retaining bolt and has loc tite. The procedure has to be wrong if this keeps happening.

 

[HammaMan]

We sure that's not written as an M18 hex? Looking at the picture and the bolt is smaller than the dudes fingers (my index finger is about 18 mm Ø ), and the head is about as big as his thumb. An M18 bolt would probably have something like a 25+ mm hex size, and the hex on the bolt doesn't look that much bigger than the M14 wheel studs.

If the axle shaft is about 1.5in, and the bolt looks like it's about 1/3 the diameter, I'd guess an M12 bolt. It was originally specd as torque to yield, after all.

Good catch. I don't have the axle in my truck and an simply observing its components from afar. If I had that axle I would have already removed a bolt and taken a closer look at it all. Seeing that it's in-fact substantially less material than originally glanced at and its torque value is what it is.... wow.

Seems a more intelligent choice for this application would elongated and threaded the axle to accept a nut as has been common practice on half shafts. The snap happy bolt saved them a few pennies up front on paper at least.

 

[Polo08816]

Good catch. I don't have the axle in my truck and an simply observing its components from afar. If I had that axle I would have already removed a bolt and taken a closer look at it all. Seeing that it's in-fact substantially less material than originally glanced at and its torque value is what it is.... wow.

Seems a more intelligent choice for this application would elongated and threaded the axle to accept a nut as has been common practice on half shafts. The snap happy bolt saved them a few pennies up front on paper at least.

Manufacturers have been doing since ... the beginning of automobiles. Not sure why Ford felt the need to change the design. Hopefully they went back to this tried and true design for 2024.

 

[Emmittfan22]

The fact Ford acknowledges that there's ~17,000 trucks built at both plants, within a specific date range, that are affected by faulty axles, implies they have identified that something is not right about the axles in those trucks. Which also implies that trucks before and after those aren't expected to have axles with the manufactured defect.

They also instruct the mechanic to verify the part number of the replacement to make sure it's the later (newer?) design?

Just conjecture on my part, but that bolt looks more than sufficient to do the job of "locating/holding" the axle in position to the hub. There must be something that took place during machining or assembly that injured that bolt, rather than the truck injuring it during use?

Do we know the date range for sure yet?

 

[Snakebitten]

Do we know the date range for sure yet?

According to the CSP
(I don't know if this is the most recent document, or if it was expanded date wise)

 

[Nighsight]

Yeah, that doesn't cover all of the affected units. Mine is built before and just got out of the shop after 2 months waiting for an axle.

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