F450 Rear Axle Failure

[BigRedF450]

All the bolts in rear end have sheared off and my dealer says it will not be covered under warranty because of larger tires.

[first_ford]

Which bolt's? If you are talking about the lug bolts, I can see many reasons that they would ot cover them. I have seen in your sig that you have 22.5 inch wheels. This can happen if they are not hub centric wheels or the wheels where not torqued properly. It is possible that they did not mount to the hubs properly.you may need to look at the seller of the wheels.

[bogg]

What caused the shearing can you tell?

[BigRedF450]

It's the bolts that actually hold the chunk in. There are 4 bolts and the 2 lower ones are broken off at the heads and also bent the ABS Ring. Dealer is quoting $7,000 to repair. Don't know why they sheared but Ford will not warranty because of larger tires. I would hate to think larger tires would cause this and if so I am leary of this rear axle. Still fighting with Ford and the dealer.

[Deeregreen]

Are those your larger tires in your pics? Got any new pics of the larger tires?

[BigRedF450]

No the ones in the picture are 35" Toyos on the factory 19.5" rims. Now I have 255/70/22.5 Michelin XD2s on Alcoas. I havn't been able to take pics since the new tires and wheels were added. I will post new pics when truck is fixed.

[guardrail22]

the F450 with 488 is rated for 24000# trailer wieght and 33000# GCWR. What larger wheeels and tires do is effectively lower the rear axle to an equivalent of something like 440 or 430, which lowers the GCWR according, possibly back to the 20000# rating of the 430 truck. You could have been overloaded.

Having said that are you saying the center chunk is only held into the axle housing with four bolts? 10-12 would be more typical.

[Deeregreen]

Good luck, sounds like they aren't being very lenient. That is a very good looking rig. How do you like your Gear Vendors?

[toalpi]

Exactly what did the dealer do when they were "in" the rear axle fixing the tone ring one week ago?

[BigRedF450]

The gear vendors unit is great. Fuel economy unloaded at 70
MPH is 15+ and when it is turned off 10.5

[BigRedF450]

I am not sure what they did a week ago.

[toalpi]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: 1BigRedF450</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I am not sure what they did a week ago. </div></div> In the other thread you mentioned a problem with the ABS ring (tone ring). That problem and/or fix is clearly relevant/related to these bolts. Did they open the differential up? Did they remove the differential? Did they replace the tone ring? Get the paper work. IF, and that is a big IF, they removed these bolts during that repair AND then these same bolts broke a few days later, then they have a problem. If these bolts were loose and that is what caused the ABS light to come on but they didn't find this, then????? How many miles were driven with the ABS light on? How many after the repair? Lot of variables here. The tires AND the GV unit combined do not help your case if they did not touch those bolts.

[BigRedF450]

They diagnosed it as ABS Ring and ordered the parts under warranty, once they opened the diff found the two lower bolts were sheared off. Tech classified it as neutral shock. Ford regional rep is looking at it today and will decide warranty status. This dealer has always been modification friendly as all my trucks are heavily modded. I have had in the last 9 years 110,000 in warranty repairs on powerstroke vehicles per the service manager at Alexander Ford in Franklin TN.

[jhughd]

Was that $110,000 in repairs in 9 years? Man that is a lot, like $12,000 per year, and you still have a ford. That's Loyalty with a capital L. Don't think I've had that much warranty work done in my life time. Oh, GM did replace two engines in my 90, 6.2.

JD

[BigRedF450]

Yes I thought it was high as well, but I did go through 3 2003 6.0 all with major problems befor I got a good 2004. The loyalty part is because the other trucks feel too small inside.