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Area51BS

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Lol, no it doesn’t
You must

lol, you too….
Yes me too. My states very own website says the same. It may be a fight but you can’t just let a dealer say no warranty. Might even need an attorney. Corporate Americas business model for warranty and other businesses like insurance is to say no! I’m fighting a company now that says my loss is legit and within time frame, just not soon enough. So they say no. We will see.
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BAUS67

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All this talk has made me paranoid. 🤣

Had to go check mine out.


Ford Bronco Update: Rear Axle Tube  - 1200 Miles Warranty Covered IMG_0737


Ford Bronco Update: Rear Axle Tube  - 1200 Miles Warranty Covered IMG_0736


Ford Bronco Update: Rear Axle Tube  - 1200 Miles Warranty Covered IMG_0735


Not exactly pretty. One even looks like a couple are starting to rust. Have been running some forest service roads but have not used the TTA yet. Will have to keep an eye on these. 😁
 
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KyleQ

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Wait, you showed up to the dealership with axle damage on a vehicle with suspension mods plastered all over it with oversided tires and expect them to honor your warranty? lol - I wouldn't touch that thing with a 10 foot pole either.

I don't think the axle should be failing in the manner that it is, but trucks like that make warranty denial very easy.

No I don’t even know why anyone would find that feature useful. I’m not doing switchbacks on black bear pass
Neither am I but I've used the feature a bunch winter wheeling and summer wheeling in the tight wooded midwest trails.
 
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kgolive

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Wait, you showed up to the dealership with axle damage on a vehicle with suspension mods plastered all over it with oversided tires and expect them to honor your warranty? lol - I wouldn't touch that thing with a 10 foot pole either.

I don't think the axle should be failing in the manner that it is, but trucks like that make warranty denial very easy.
The suspension mods on my truck aren’t janky and the truck isn’t abused. It has 1200 miles on it. My post doesn’t say anything about beware of dealers denying warranty because of suspension mods. It says to consider their first reaction and immediate “no” was because of 37’s. If it isn’t covered so be it. I will replace with something better. My point is I wasn’t driving it hard for this to happen. You can expect to see a lot more of this happening. It’s just a matter of people sharing when it does.
 

Defyfate11

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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.

Ford Bronco Update: Rear Axle Tube  - 1200 Miles Warranty Covered IMG_0735


Ford Bronco Update: Rear Axle Tube  - 1200 Miles Warranty Covered IMG_0735


Ford Bronco Update: Rear Axle Tube  - 1200 Miles Warranty Covered IMG_0735


Ford Bronco Update: Rear Axle Tube  - 1200 Miles Warranty Covered IMG_0735
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.
 

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kgolive

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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.
I’m told the axle tube is warped. So welding it will do no good. The welds aren’t blown out, just leaking. The truck is drivable. It’s actually not even noticeable when driving
 

KyleQ

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The suspension mods on my truck aren’t janky and the truck isn’t abused. It has 1200 miles on it. My post doesn’t say anything about beware of dealers denying warranty because of suspension mods. It says to consider their first reaction and immediate “no” was because of 37’s. If it isn’t covered so be it. I will replace with something better. My point is I wasn’t driving it hard for this to happen. You can expect to see a lot more of this happening. It’s just a matter of people sharing when it does.
I wouldn't classify them as janky what so ever, it's a minty looking build to be honest, but it sure makes it easy to give the dealer wiggle room to deny claims. That axle shouldn't have failed what so ever - it's complete crap that these DANA axles are failing. It's an advancetrac D44, same thing that is under the new JL's IIRC. I need to look under our Bronco as I've "used it for what it was designed to be used for" a few times already.

I may just weld the axle tubes up before it leaks now - the question that opens up is if there is further failure and you did weld the tubes then I'm going to assume you are really up sh!t creek.

It's just got to be a manufacturing or design failure - this 30 year old axle doesn't have the tubes welded, has a giant anti-wrap bar welded to the driver side tube setup with a ton of anti-squat with more rotating mass that I even want to think about and it's handled my abuse for over a decade straight. It's a bigger axle, ya, but it still has the same pressed in tubes and plug welds...

Ford Bronco Update: Rear Axle Tube  - 1200 Miles Warranty Covered 1684942144034
 

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While using that as a temp fix I would save up for a Dana 60 full floating axle.
There will be a lot to save up for if planning to run a full float 60. New wheels for the rear that won't match the fronts lug pattern for starters . Throw more $$$$ trying to get the fronts to match (portals maybe) & down the rabbit hole you go.
 

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This has to be a quality issue from Dana. While I am running stock on my badlands, I have beat the crap out of mine. I did super celebration west last year. I used TTA on every switch back. I have used TTA while playing in the mud and dirt in NTX.
 

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I’m told the axle tube is warped. So welding it will do no good. The welds aren’t blown out, just leaking. The truck is drivable. It’s actually not even noticeable when driving
Never heard the term "warped axle tube". Do they mean "out of round"? or as in the RR wheel is toed, throwing axle centering off? If that's what they mean, how much would they charge to hang the alignment heads on it and see how far its off? Below is an example of mine. Very bottom row of numbers would be what we would be interested in:
Ford Bronco Update: Rear Axle Tube  - 1200 Miles Warranty Covered 20230511_163145

And for the record I have aftermarket control arms installed, and use rear locker alot!
 

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Ha, I went out and looked at ours, thankfully it's dry.
 
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kgolive

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Never heard the term "warped axle tube". Do they mean "out of round"? or as in the RR wheel is toed, throwing axle centering off? If that's what they mean, how much would they charge to hang the alignment heads on it and see how far its off? Below is an example of mine. Very bottom row of numbers would be what we would be interested in:
Ford Bronco Update: Rear Axle Tube  - 1200 Miles Warranty Covered 20230511_163145

And for the record I have aftermarket control arms installed, and use rear locker alot!
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

70655521213__7795D711-D4F2-47AD-90A9-CDB3718BF363.jpeg
 

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Is it worth thinking about welding the axle tubes for preventative for someone that hasn’t experienced this?
 

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Didn’t read 9 pages but it was probably a defective axle from the factory to begin with. It’s a 3rd gen dana44 they should hold up to 37s no problem.
 

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I’m told the axle tube is warped. So welding it will do no good. The welds aren’t blown out, just leaking. The truck is drivable. It’s actually not even noticeable when driving
Worst case if you don't get anywhere with Ford, a true offroad shop can fix it for you. They'll bend the tube back with heat.

There will be a lot to save up for if planning to run a full float 60. New wheels for the rear that won't match the fronts lug pattern for starters . Throw more $$$$ trying to get the fronts to match (portals maybe) & down the rabbit hole you go.
You can get 6 lug hubs for a full float 60, but I imagine they are 106mm center bore, not to mention more money.

Is it worth thinking about welding the axle tubes for preventative for someone that hasn’t experienced this?
For sure, but it would be nice to find a root cause before reacting.
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