2009 F-250 - Snapping Axles...

[X6StringerX]

My dad is driving me crazy.

He works for a large natural gas company and has a company issued 2009 F-250 5.4 4x4 Super Duty. The truck only has around 9000 miles and it's been in the shop 3 times for snapped front axles. He came in from work this evening and said it's headed back to the shop Monday with another one. What's the deal? He had a 2006 F-350 4x4 Dually diesel before this and he never had any problems with it. In between the two Fords, he had a 2500 Silverado. All he talks about now is how he wishes he had it back, but all he talked about when he had it was how he wished he had the F-350 back... he's wishy washy when it comes to brand loyalty, lol.

Anyway, does anyone have any info on problems with axles for this truck? I've Googled it and haven't come up with anything, but he swears the dealership says they get them in all the time. Surely this problem would spread like wildfire on the net...

 

[dogfriend]

How is it loaded? Is there a possibility that the front axle is overloaded? You could have the truck weighed (weigh front axle and rear axle separately) to be sure.

 

[Dannyboy]

Is this snapping axle yokes or is it just the auto hubs? The autohubs are notorious for not working, they'll work on some mild 4wd needed situations, but really should be locked in manually when the going gets tough.

I for one don't like the concept, why not lock/unlock vs. lock/auto which kinda works and kinda stays locked in killing fuel economy.

 

[IZwack]

How is it loaded? Is there a possibility that the front axle is overloaded? You could have the truck weighed (weigh front axle and rear axle separately) to be sure.

Front axles are full floaters - there is no weight on the axle shafts.

If its snapping shafts on the road (not on the trail), then maybe its in 4wd and the drivetrain is binding around turns? Or the differential is seized and the spiders arent able to "walk" around each other.

 

[X6StringerX]

They're snapping offroad. Some of the well roads are pretty gnarly. When he took delivery of the truck, it had A/T tires and he said it was all he could do to get to some of the locations when the weather was bad. He convinced his boss that he needed M/Ts after it happened the 2nd time on the A/Ts, but now it's happening with the M/Ts as well. It's snapping the actual shafts, not the hubs.

 

[lifeguard379]

shaft or u joints?

 

[X6StringerX]

Shafts.

 

[mrboyle]

I understand the situation you dad is put in. He has to get to the job site (well) or he'll loose his job. The roads are not maintained and when wet should not be driven on at all, but he has no choice. In all reality the truck isn't going to make it to the job site but he has to, so its 4low foot to the floor, bouncing off the revlimiter, in and out of ruts, catching air, whatever it takes. Of course something is going to give. The current weak link is the front axle shafts, make those stronger and something else will break. Strengthen that, something else becomes the week link. Would he rather have a front axle shaft break and be able to get towed to dry ground and still drive home, or should Ford strengthen everything to the point that something serious (like the t-case output)breaks?

Ford's likely using some cheap spec axle shaft material in the new trucks to cut production costs. I'm sure that if the problem continues there will likely be a re-spec on the shaft material and TSB will be issued. For now he is just going to have to live with the knowledge that the axle is weak and drive a lot more careful. Or just keep breaking it. I've see and worked on plenty of gas/oil field trucks and know they are not being driven by little ol' ladies. The fact is, the trucks are being used a lot harder than Ford ever intended them to be and they just will not hold up. I see it on a weekly basis.

 

[X6StringerX]

I spoke to him about it again this morning. He said that one of the times, it was indeed the u-joint. The other times, it was the shaft. He's been with the same company since 1979 and has had a company truck since the early 1980's. I have all the confidence in the world that the issue isn't his ability to drive the truck. He drives like a grandpa... well, he IS a grandpa. He's had probably 30 different trucks and this is the ONLY one that has suffered from this problem. In fact, the only other problem I can ever remember him having was with an early '00s Dodge Ram that had way too much frame flex and caused the cab mounts to break numerous times. His company no longer uses Dodge trucks.

For what it's worth, he told me this morning that there are 9 other trucks at the same dealership with the same problem. He said the dealer admits there is a problem, but Ford will not acknowledge it.

 

[Dannyboy]

that's interesting, I've used my '06 superduty on stock axles and 37" tires in 4 low quite a bit with no problems. One time included slipping all 4 wheels climbing a long rutted uphill in truckhaven WITH my disabled explorer on a flatbed in tow!

Only other thing I could think is to make sure those hubs are in the "unlocked" position after he gets back on the highway to make sure they are spinning/binding any more than they need to. That should be a Dana 60 in that thing, IMO it's very rare a stock truck should be snapping stock running gear. Keep us updated, I'd be curious to hear about any changes Ford made to weaken the super duty. I wonder if the 6.4 is heavier or making more power that the 6.0 or 7.3 never produced?

 

[X6StringerX]

Keep in mind that this is happening on a 5.4 truck. He never experienced these issues with the 1-ton diesel he had before. He also had an '03 F-250 5.4 at one point and never had any problems with it, so they must have changed something for '09.

 

[Dannyboy]

my bad, I was thinking 6.4 powerstroke.

 

[lifeguard379]

5.4? is that a dana 44? im just guessing i really know nothing about these trucks.

 

[95exploderboy]

5.4? is that a dana 44? im just guessing i really know nothing about these trucks.

As long as its a F250, it doesn't matter what engine is in it, its still gonna be a 60


Can he have the shop put in aftermarket shafts? Convince his work its better to pay a big chunk of change now then to keep having all this downtime down the road.

 

[dkchrist]

As long as its a F250, it doesn't matter what engine is in it, its still gonna be a 60


Can he have the shop put in aftermarket shafts? Convince his work its better to pay a big chunk of change now then to keep having all this downtime down the road.

Actually, I think the 5.4 F250's use a Dana 50 which is essentially a Dana 60 case with 44 internals.

Is the truck experiencing any auto locking hub problems? If they engage and disengage at random, that may contribute to the problem.

 

[Fabbed4d88]

Actually, I think the 5.4 F250's use a Dana 50 which is essentually a Dana 60 case with 44 internals.

99.9% sure you're right....It's a D44 in wolves clothing.(Dana 50)

 

[Joe Dirt]

Wow- I was thinking 6.4L as well. If he's snapping axles with a 5.4L, although a torquey engine- there is definitely something wrong there. But, as was also said- there are built in weak points. If he's in some nasty stuff, something will break... But yeah- something is definitely up.

 

[X6StringerX]

Something HAS to be up. He's been doing the same job for a long time and this is the only truck that has ever experienced any of these problems. He went through the chain-of-command at work and was ultimately told to keep driving it and each time it breaks, they'll send it back in for warranty work. It would be in the best interest of Ford to make things right with them. The company buys hundreds of trucks a year.

 

[924dr4x4]

personally,if its been back to the shop numerous times for the same thing,and there was 9 trucks there gettin the same thing done at the same time,wouldn't they consider that a 'recall'? tell him to have the truck turned in for lemon law,when i worked for gm,,after 5 cars for the same problem it became a recall,and if it still had the problem after the recall was fixed,and it happened more then 3 times its a lemon and you get the money back or a new car

 

[dkchrist]

Front axles are full floaters - there is no weight on the axle shafts.

If its snapping shafts on the road (not on the trail), then maybe its in 4wd and the drivetrain is binding around turns? Or the differential is seized and the spiders arent able to "walk" around each other.

I would second this ^... a locked or binding front with the wheels turned can spell bad news.

Also, the lemon law as mention above would be a good thing to check