Rear axles/bearing on order

[drobin]

Guys,

Dealer ordered kit to replace bad axles and bearing on my baby at 12k miles. Seems like anything built prior to Jan 03 is probably involved. TSB is #03-5-5 and don't expect to hear anything unusual with the on going problem until its too late.

I inspected mine and both axles were gaulded real bad because the metal apparently was too soft from not being tempered correctly.

What's up with that?

Donald
"drobin"

[jspradii]

Guys,

Dealer ordered kit to replace bad axles and bearing on my baby at 12k miles. Seems like anything built prior to Jan 03 is probably involved. TSB is #03-5-5 and don't expect to hear anything unusual with the on going problem until its too late.

I inspected mine and both axles were gaulded real bad because the metal apparently was too soft from not being tempered correctly.

What's up with that?

Donald
"drobin"Mine's a May '02 build. I haven't had eny problems with it except the factory just forgot to put the axle vent in place (all that was there was a plastic screw-in plug), so when I noticed weeping out of my SVO rear housing, and it was properly gasketed and torqued, what's when we discovered the lack of a vent in place. I thought quality control was Job 1? Hmmmm.

[EbonyMarauder03]

Oh...I wouldn't be too sure about that. After the gas tank thing on cop cars the NTHSB is looking into complaints about the rear axles of all the big cars. The Crown Vic, Grand Marquis and Town Car are in on this one. I saw the article at BlueOvalNews. I can see why Ford would want to hush this and the head problems up...they're still paying for the Explorer tire disaster, and it's starting again with the Excursions. My place did it's first tire replacement last week. The new BFG's this lucky customer got weigh more than the rim, tire and air that came off of the Excursion. Just like last time the recall hits at a time when these people need new tires.

[Petrograde]

I inspected mine and both axles were gaulded real bad because the metal apparently was too soft from not being tempered correctly.



Where exactly did you see this? Maybe I should take a closer look.

Also, I apparently have a missing or defective axle vent plug too. :rolleyes:

Tom

[carfixer]

http://www.mercurygallery.net/mmnet/watermark.php?file=500/1190Axle.jpg
The vent for the rear end assembly is #22 and #41 in the picture. #22 is a fitting that screws into the rear end and #41 is a rubber hose that attaches to the fitting.

Note that if your car is built before 1/03, you may have defective axles. Not all axles were defective, actually a small percentage were defective. If your's are defective, they will make bearing type noise from the rear end at all speeds. All of the bad axles we've seen were well before 20k miles. Hope this helps.

[Petrograde]

Thanks Carfixer!!!
The next time I'm at the dealership I'll have them check it out. I hear noises on occation, I'll have to keep the tunes turned down so I can figure out where/what they are.

I only have 12K miles, and never noticed any abnormal sounds until about 10/11K.

thanks again!

Tom

[TAF]

Your the BEST...glad to have you around carfixer! :up:


P.S. I put a little "sumpin, sumpin thank you" in your Rep points for this^^^:rock:

[Kelly]

Thanks Carfixer!!!
The next time I'm at the dealership I'll have them check it out. I hear noises on occation, I'll have to keep the tunes turned down so I can figure out where/what they are.

I only have 12K miles, and never noticed any abnormal sounds until about 10/11K.

thanks again!

Tom


Unless the dealership can duplicate the noise it will be a non-issue to them.
Been their done that, I must have better hearing.

[Petrograde]

Unless the dealership can duplicate the noise it will be a non-issue to them.
... :rolleyes: figures.

I must have better hearing.
LOL,.. prob'ly! I've worked around helicopters for 10 years. Not to mention I tried to peirce my brain with a Q-tip a few days ago,... :depress: Right now I have almost no hearing in my right ear. I see the Doc tomorrow, I'm gonna feel like a dumb a$$ explaining what happened.

So,.. in the meantime I'll have the wife take a test drive.

Tom

[frdwrnch]

I See This Problem Regularly Among Town Cars And Grand Marquis. I've Only Got 6500 Miles On Mine But Run Out Of Warranty In 14 Months. I Hope It Happens Before Then If It's Going To. You Can't Tell Until It Starts Making Noise And Even Then You Have To Take It Apart To Tell.the Kit That Ford Offers Is Cool.it Contains 2 Axles, Silicone Gasket Maker, Bearings, Seals And Even Rear End Lube. This Is Currently At A Relatively Good Price Compared To All Pieces Priced "a' La Carte". After Ford Figures They Fixed Most Of The Units Under Warranty They'll Probably Discontinue The Kit As They Won't Have To Pay For As Many Repairs And Offer It Piecemeal So They Can Make More On Parts.

[drobin]

There were no unusal tell tale noises coming from the rear end whatsoever. I discovered this when I was having the 410's installed. The left axle was extremely pitted badly but the right one was just beginning to show signs of same. Vehicle has 13K miles. Had to get a statement from gear people, then took same to dealership. Two days later I brought vehicle in and the complete kit was intalled.
I do have a word of advise for everyone and that is to make sure the emergency brake cable doesn't become detached from its attaching point because now I do not have emergency brakes and the car has to go back for this correction. What a BUMMER!

Good Luck Guys----------

Donald
"drobin"

[STLThunder]

What type of noise was it? Mine makes a "clicking" noise coming from the left rear. I only notice it when I'm in the garage at work where it's relatively quiet.

My hearing's pretty good, although I do have Tinnitus leftover from too much exposure to loud noise in Vietnam, so I always wonder if I am hearing things.

[Matto]

I have a 300A with 3600 miles. I bought it with 1200 miles on it a month ago. I noticed a slowly oscillating whirring sound (almost like tire tread sound) at 70mph or higher. The oscillation gets a little faster and the pitch gets slightly higher as I increase speed. It is not really loud but noticeable and somewhat annoying since I do a lot of cruising at 80mph. It has nothing to do with throttle, so I thought it might be the defective axle issue but the noise isn't there at all speeds. Does anyone have any idea what this could be? Thanks for the words of wisdom.

[drobin]

The only noise from factory stock gears came on around 65 MPH and disappeared at around 70 MPH. This was a whinning noise and not a clicking or growling noise which at the time seemed to be coming from improper backlash setting at factory. At 12k the axle damage didn't cause any other noticable noises etc., but it wouldn't have been long before bearing failure had resulted. I was just lucky that I had decided to change to 410 gears and discovered the on going situation.

Hope this helps!

Donald
"drobin"