Broken Axle Bolt

[Skier167]

I got the same treatment. They assumed I put a wrench on it to break it while I changed my wheels. And once the bolt breaks, the wheel bearing is also bad, but the dealerships around me are too “experienced” to know what it means to have a broken hub retaining bolt.

I pulled up the f150 group on Facebook for them and searched axle bolt and started scrolling through all the pictures

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[RossRR]

I took my truck in this morning for an oil change and tire rotation. One of the bolts fell off when the removed my driver side rear tire. I’m leaving for a trip first thing tomorrow morning pulling a 6k boat. Am I basically screwed for my trip cause of this bolt?

See link below for NHTSA.gov and go online and file a complaint:
https://www.nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem#index

State that your dealer warned that it is a safety concern and that you were advised to not drive any long distance. If they get enough complaints, hopefully NHTSA will recognize this as a safety failure and it will rise to the level of a forced recall and fix from Ford.

 

[Skier167]

See link below for NHTSA.gov and go online and file a complaint:
https://www.nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem#index

State that your dealer warned that it is a safety concern and that you were advised to not drive any long distance. If they get enough complaints, hopefully NHTSA will recognize this as a safety failure and it will rise to the level of a forced recall and fix from Ford.

I completed the form so hopefully enough people will do it to force ford to correct this.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

I completed the form so hopefully enough people will do it to force ford to correct this.

Hopefully that will come to pass soon.

Makes me nervous about mine since I just bought the truck a couple weeks ago and it's got the same axle with faulty parts.

 

[SuperRaptor]

Does anyone have part #?

 

[RicD]

I live in the Mountains about 3 hrs from the closest dealership. I have had a rattle in my truck for a couple months. Local dealership got closed by Ford for embezzling. I havent had any symptoms other than the rattle. I have an 8000lb camper that i have towed MULTIPLE times with the rattle. I also regularly throw a couple dirt bikes in the bed. I don't drive aggressively. Brought it in for the recall of the wipers and regular maintenance. Asked about the rattle and they had never heard that before. After the took the wheel off they found the sheared bolt below. It has obviously been driving around like that for a long time....it's been smoothed out. Left it with them....hope the part comes in at some point. They said Sept 30 but we will see.

 

[renffurt]

Have you reported this failure to the NHTSA.GOV stating the the dealer is holding the truck because "it is unsafe to drive"? If enough people report the failure, Ford will have to deal with it proactively. (Another failure was reported on the other forum after you reported yours)

I reported the issue. It’s currently October 3rd and still waiting for parts.

 

[renffurt]

That sucks.. Trust me I know all about Ford's " Parts are backordered until " line all too well.


Curious, what were you doing when it sheered off. Also what's the build date for your truck? Maybe we can get an idea if it's from a bad batch of parts or a model specific issue.

There is a huge thread on the f150 forum. It’s up to about 49 pages. They have someone logging all the build dates, miles etc.

 

[Buyer2021]

what's the build date for your truck? Maybe we can get an idea if it's from a bad batch of parts or a model specific issue.

There is a huge thread on the f150 forum..... They have someone logging all the build dates, miles etc.

That's me. That forum allows post updating forever so the table of failures with build-month when provided is here in post #208, I updated it a few hours ago (that's rev #16 since I first posted the table).

FWIW as of now the reported build-months range from May to December 2021 then March and May 2022 (51 total reports, 20 providing build-month, with only two having build-months in 2022, the latter being a delivery date because the owner didn't know their build-month, his truck is parked at a dealer awaiting repair). Make of it what you will.

If you want your failure data added to that list (which would be appreciated) please join and post on that forum thread providing all of the requested data for your failure. I'm not maintaining that on this forum and can't / won't try to cross-reference failure anecdotes between forums because of risk of double-dipping due to different usernames.

Please do not copy that table to this forum, it won't be updated / will be rapidly obsolete; instead link to that post if you want. Thanks.

 

[Mvan]

Same problem just occurred with my truck. 2021 PB max tow. 22k miles. Not certain of build date but summer of 2021. Mine squeaked noticeably. Actually thought I was hearing the brake wear indicator. Dealer said they’ve had at least three others and that Ford would “probably have to do a recall”.

 

[justinmp10]

Same problem just occurred with my truck. 2021 PB max tow. 22k miles. Not certain of build date but summer of 2021. Mine squeaked noticeably. Actually thought I was hearing the brake wear indicator. Dealer said they’ve had at least three others and that Ford would “probably have to do a recall”.

Does anyone know of this is a problem with the 5.0 max tow on a recently built 22?

 

[jflottawa]

For those reading this thread prior to encountering the issue. Spoke to a good friend of mine who is a Master Ford Technician.

Turns out the solution is to replace this bolt (same material, part number as original) but install it with less torque (IIRC it's 140ft/lb vs 165ft/lb).

EDIT: new spec is 52ft/lb + 90 degrees - not 140 (that's why I put IIRC)

So basically the original specs called for a torque too high for the capacity of the part.

Hope this helps someone.

 

[AAWhyte]

For those reading this thread prior to encountering the issue. Spoke to a good friend of mine who is a Master Ford Technician.

Turns out the solution is to replace this bolt (same material, part number as original) but install it with less torque (IIRC it's 140ft/lb vs 165ft/lb).

So basically the original specs called for a torque too high for the capacity of the part.

Hope this helps someone.

If this can be verified, maybe it would be good for those of us that have this setup to loosen the bolt and then retorqued to 140ft/lb

 

[jflottawa]

If this can be verified, maybe it would be good for those of us that have this setup to loosen the bolt and then retorqued to 140ft/lb

I've just texted him and he said that the bolt is likely "torque to yield" (my Googling says that means it's a one-time use bolt) so it wouldn't be safe to reuse.

From my Googling:
What is a torque-to-yield bolt? It is a one-time-use fastener that is designed to stretch during the torquing process (installation). Because of this stretching, the integrity of the bolt is compromised. These bolts cannot and should not be reused due to the stress caused to the bolt during its first installation.

 

[jflottawa]

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