Axle/Bearings

[MitchB]

Bringing the 03 with 2 weeks left on warranty to dealer tomorrow for noisy rear end. They say they will have to confirm defect. For those of you who have been here with this issue, any tips you can pass on? I'm pretty sure the axles are wiped, but has anyone had anything else fail/replaced when brought in for warranty work?

Thanks

Mitch

[Marauderjack]

They will probably replace only the axles and outer bearings but if it were me I'd have them do all bearings since there has been a lot of metal circulating in there if the axles are trashed!!:rolleyes:

Mine made it 177K miles before rebuild and we did everything except the gears and spider gears...they were A-OK!!!:beer: Amazingly the posi unit was still virtually new so we didn't do that and she still leaves :burn: :D

Good Luck!!

Marauderjack:burnout:

[CKMustangCobra]

I did mine in my driveway for under $200. If they don't replace it, it's easy enough to do.

[bigmerc2003]

Make sure that they do a full inspection, they were not going to on mine even after they took a road test in it. Mine was very noisy at 50k. they ended up doing all bearing and found out that the pinion bearning was gone as well as the axle bearings and axles shafts. I also ended up with everything nex except the gears

[JamesHecker]

I've had the axles replaced twice before 65,000 miles. Hope I don't have to do it again!

[blazen71]

When i changed to 4.10s the pinion bearing needed replacement and the outer axleshaft bearings. The axleshaft bearing journals were also wiped out. The car only had 48,000 miles :(

[cruzer]

Have the tech put the car on the lift (body lift--not wheel lift)--turn off traction control and ABS--start car--put in gear and use a stethascope to listen to rear bearings--heard noise==pulled wheels--all new axles and bearings---worked for me

[HITEKBALANCER]

My axles on my 03 GM were wiped at 35,000. The car was more than 3 yrs old they sold me the axles at "cost". Remember it's 3-36 whichever comes first. Your warranty is over. Ford's finances are worse now. They won't do squat. You will need new axles and bearings. Probably close to a grand if ford does it. You could buy the axles as cheap as possible and have a trans shop do the work and maybe throw in a set of gears that you want at the same time. Synthetic lube and limited slip friction modifier. The particles made are not enough to hurt the rear brgs in the diff area.

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

Edit I see you have a warranty still. Hopefull they cover it. When I had my extended warranty (for about 2 months before I got fed up w/ dealers and cancelled it), the one thing they did do without a hassle was the TSB kit. I had to tell them the # and then they just did it.

A lot of others have said differently re: metal in the gear oil pitting the bearings and the spiders. The axle tsb kit was only around $250 from an online dealer last time I checked. If all you need to do is the tsb kit axles/bearings/seals, go get the loaner wheel hub puller from advance auto parts, which comes with the correct size swivel bearing puller and a large slide hammer. Get 2 qts of lube and a bottle of friction modifier while you're there, and some RTV. Shouldn't take more than a couple hours in the driveway to install the TSB axle kit. Nothing difficult about it.

[MitchB]

Car is at the dealer, so I'll see what they have to say. I hate to have someone other than myself work on my car! The only other time I handed my car over to someone else was about ten years ago when Kenny Brown did some work on my TBird. Hopefully, this will be a positive experience.

Mitch

[Blackmobile]

Car is at the dealer, so I'll see what they have to say. I hate to have someone other than myself work on my car! The only other time I handed my car over to someone else was about ten years ago when Kenny Brown did some work on my TBird. Hopefully, this will be a positive experience.

Mitch

:shake: I feel ya on that one, but sometimes you just have to have faith.....and an eagle eye, for inspecting their work. :D

[justbob]

When i did my brakes the other day i had alot of play up, down, side to side on the right rear. Still no leaks. I had carmax install new clutches under warranty about 5000 miles ago under warranty(may?) i'd have to look for sure. You would think that they would have caught this! This work was done before my trilogy install so i was thinking about trying to sneak it thru warranty again saying that its still making a noise from the last fix and if questioned about the s/c tell them it was there when they performed the last repairs so what the difference now. After all these axles didn't wear in the last 5000 miles. I actually do less burnouts now than before. (trying to save tires and also have nothing to prove anymore).

[MitchB]

Dealer installed new axles, bearings & seals as outlined in the TSB. Diff is quiet. No mention of the diff bearing - I was told they checked it. However, I had changed the diff fluid at least once that I can remember, so this probably reduced the likelihood of any damage. I'll have to get under the car to see how things look. They had a hard time getting the rotors off the car. Had to heat, then use a mallet...

Mitch

[TAKEDOWN]

(trying to save tires and also have nothing to prove anymore).[/QUOTE]

NO W@y! Already Bob?

[Marauderjack]

I did my axles and outboard bearings but still had a whirring noise that could only be heard while driving and up on stands, in gear with my trusty stethoscope......this is the pinion bearing and yes.....it was the culprit!!:cool:

The work was done at 177K miles and now new axles, all new bearings and I'm ready for another 100K++ miles!!:beer:

Marauderjack:burnout:

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

Jeez marauderjack, 177k miles? Are you using your car as a taxi? ANd damn that pinion bearing had something fierce going on with it

[Joe Walsh]

It looks like the individual roller bearing and the pininon sleeve bearing were aligned and stationary for some period of time while in contact with moisture...:dunno:

[bigmerc2003]

that same failure happened to me, it was the pinion bearing that was causing the bulk of the noise they said, almost like snow tires! but i also had the bad axles and bearings. I actually went back a few days later and in the scrap pile were my axles were so i grabbed them, there was significant wear at the bearings and for only 60k miles i was really upset! Get everything done at once, pinion bearing, axles and axle bearings and have them inspect the posi unit just to be safe. It was a $100 job for me all covered under my premium extended policy that so far was great! replaced one headlight for fogging problems, the radio and the rear end was one incident so only the $100 deductable for a total bill of over $1900 or something un-real like that??

[Marauderjack]

Jeez marauderjack, 177k miles? Are you using your car as a taxi? ANd damn that pinion bearing had something fierce going on with it

I have 184K+ on it now and over 100K with the blower!!:beer::bows:

Attached are my axles at 176K+ and I was really surprised how GOOD they looked but as expected the passenger's side (first Photo) was on the way out!! :shake:

Marauderjack:D

[darkvader1]

very expensive to fix 1300.00 dollors later entire rear endswaped out! warrantied for 1 year or 2600 miles. the trouble was leaking axile bearings out of driver side. all new enternals an seals.