Update: Rear Axle Tube - 1200 Miles Warranty Covered

[V1Rotate]

I find it almost impossible to believe you bent an axle tube strictly by adding 37’s and going soff(t)roading. Either a defective axle to begin with or we didn’t get the whole story.. my money is on the former.

I’ve left my motor and associated parts alone to have a chance at a warranty should the need arise but we’ve operated under the assumption from day 1 that we’re pretty much on our own when it comes to anything driveline and chassis after mods. Anything that I can actually get warrantied is just gravy

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[The Driving Viking]

It's just fantastic that even a reputable big name company like Dana can't supply quality components, Ford gets the black eye for it, and people get to talk smack to us about our rides.

Does anyone that keeps tabs on Jeep circles know of an uptick in broken plug welds? It's the same rear end more or less.

Exactly what I was thinking. How is this a Ford issue more then it is a Dana axle issue?

Also any 4.7 Sasquatch Bronco’s having this issue? Maybe it's just a 4.46 batch?

 

[Mrnobody]

Just by looking at that plug weld, there should be no reason it broke that smooth/round at top.
For what it's worth I was a welder for over 15 years.

 

[jwysopal]

Something is amiss here. We are in the third MY and I’ve never seen this until at least 4 or 5 stories in the last month. Has this happened to any MY21 or MY22 broncos?

I was thinking the same thing, maybe it's just me, but these axle problems are just now spouting up recently when some of us have been wheeling our modified Broncos since mid or late '21 with no issues.

 

[Justb211]

Hey guys, just thought I’d post this so anyone else considering running 37’s at least knows the risks going into it. I just passed 1200 miles on my 23 Bronco, took it out Sunday only for the second time on some mild trails. I came outside Monday morning to oil dripping from my rear diff. I immediately took it to Ford for diagnosis since I thought maybe it was a bad seal. It turns out (Ford claims) my 37” tires caused too much torque on the rear axle and caused it to twist, breaking the plug welds and bending the axle tube by the wheel.

I am an open book so for sake of clarity, I have never used the TTA function. I have however engaged the rear locker on the trail. I wouldn’t have even known there was a problem with the truck if I didn’t see fluid on the ground under the rear diff. As of right now I’m told warranty won’t cover the repair so just a heads up to anyone else with high expectations for off road performance and durability, this isn’t the truck. I’ve attached some photos for reference.

This can be expected from the dana 44. This also can happen to jeeps and is why when upgrading tire size on the 44 you should be adding a axle truss to prevent this from happening. But then the next weakest link is the R&P.

 

[Bmadda]

They’re saying it’s bent. That torque caused the tube to break at the welds and that it’s bent close to the wheel hub. Not sure if you can see it in the photo. It was more noticeable on the ground

Still think it would be worth hanging alignment heads on it to see. If one trailing arm is out of adjustment that can cause centerline to be off, but cant cause actual toe change...only a bent housing can cause that...which is what they are claiming. Looking at just one wheel doesn't prove that to me

 

[Justb211]

Hey is that Pilot Rock?
No I think it's Dana quality control issues.

Any time you go up in tire size for offroad vehicles that are gonna be pushed a axle truss needs to be added. This is why there are so many axle truss options for jeeps that run dana 44's and go bigger than a 35" tire.

 

[flip]

Hang heads.

 

[Owl]

Has anybody seen (in print) what size tires are acceptable for the warranty? My dealer said no more than 10% over what was stock... but then that was just a local dealer's call. I'd like to see in writing what the boundaries are... especially since I've seen Ford dealers installing 37s themselves.

37s might be out-of-bounds... but then again if it doesn't say anything in writing you might want to take them to small-claims court. What would you have to lose?

 

[ERock62]

I’ve had a few other people say the same and it just doesn’t make sense why this happened. Here’s some trail photos. Nothing a Prius couldn’t handle.

Pilot Rock is easy. My parents (in their Rubicon) had their friend in a Subaru follow them.

 

[JBlanco]

It's just fantastic that even a reputable big name company like Dana can't supply quality components, Ford gets the black eye for it, and people get to talk smack to us about our rides.

Does anyone that keeps tabs on Jeep circles know of an uptick in broken plug welds? It's the same rear end more or less.

Ford is responsible to the buyer as the end product seller, then Ford can go against their supplier. Ford engineers have qualified the axle for the designed and intended use of the vehicle and run frequent audit test on the supplied part to ensure quality through time.

Let's say the brass hammer on your tie rod repair kit keeps snapping in half on the first use. You will take the reputational hit instead of the manufacturer of the hammer. Same thing goes for Ford and the axle.

 

[JBlanco]

If it were me, for a temporary fix, I would remove the diff plate, drain gear oil, and then attempt to weld it. The metal is it cast or nodular iron? Carefully heating it up to about 500 degrees increases the success rate of such a repair. While using that as a temp fix I would save up for a Dana 60 full floating axle. You could also try a shorter-duration fix that is much easier like J-B Weld 8277 WaterWeld WaterProof Expoxy Putty. Due to flexing though, I don't think the JB Weld will hold up for long. JMHO.

How about threading in a plug and a crush washer, similar to a drain plug?

 

[flip]

Has anybody seen (in print) what size tires are acceptable for the warranty? My dealer said no more than 10% over what was stock... but then that was just a local dealer's call. I'd like to see in writing what the boundaries are... especially since I've seen Ford dealers installing 37s themselves.

37s might be out-of-bounds... but then again if it doesn't say anything in writing you might want to take them to small-claims court. What would you have to lose?

Nothing in writing regarding tires as the any modifications from stock. Yes, there's MM but that's getting into a different discussion. If the dealer believes a failure is directly caused by a modification, they can deny coverage. This does not "void" your warranty, it simply means that dealer is not willing to stick their necks out to cover the repair due to the likely hood Ford may charge the claim back. It turns into a slippery slope from there determining what is or isn't Ford's responsibility. If someone wanted to push the issue Ford may capitulate but at that point it's the customer dealing directly with Ford. Ford tells dealer to fix and issues an approval code, I'm sure most would be willing to repair. Outside chances are they just don't want to do it at warranty rates and still decline but you would likely be able to find another that would do the repair.

I know a lot of the discussion has been tires since some of the reported failures have been on the larger tire but at least one has been completely stock.

 

[Owl]

The other thing I'd try... go to a different Ford dealer. Its not like you're required to go to the dealer you bought it from. Preferably... a dealer that has installed 37s on a unit in stock.

 

[Jimmiee]

Call John Currie and get a professional opinion on this failure. We would all be interested in his reply.

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