Halfshaft Bolt Answers (all threads merged)

[BlackICE]

John,
I will be updating my earlier post on this thread within a few days, sine I had a transaxle seal was damaged during assembly at the factory (Ricardo of course!).

I am also curious as to how the factory attempts to solve this problem...

Jay

Jay, if you have a transaxle seal leak then you have to send it back to the UK for repairs. All that I have ever read about the transaxle is that it is not serviced at the dealers and only in the UK. Of course that doesn't stop you from getting someone here to fix it.

Yikes!

 

[analogdesigner]

Jay, if you have a transaxle seal leak then you have to send it back to the UK for repairs. All that I have ever read about the transaxle is that it is not serviced at the dealers and only in the UK. Of course that doesn't stop you from getting someone here to fix it.

Yikes!

BlackICE,

What I did tonight was put the hub in my lathe and repair the rust damage on the seal surface. The seal is a dual lip seal, so only the outer lip was damaged. Now, when you power wash the engine and transaxle, it had allowed some water to wick into the area between the two lip seals, thereby allowing some surface rust to develop onto the machined portion of the hub. It's very important to get the correct surface finish (roughness) in order to get maximum service life from the seal. You do not want the surface of the hub to be polished! While this may look good, it will shorten the life of the seal, so a surface finish of about 12 microinch RMS (root-mean-square) is desirable. I will post images of this whole mess real soon. Fortunately I have several new transaxle seal kits in stock, so a new one is being installed right now. It's easy to remove and the seal kit for Ford has an installation tool so that it gets done properly. More on this later.

Also, if that damn transaxle has problems after the warrantee period, I am pulling it out and rebuilding myself, as nothing decent has come out of the UK since WW-II. Sorry if this hurts anyone's feelings, but the best cars made right now are from Germany and Japan...

Jay

 

[BlackICE]

Sorry if this hurts anyone's feelings, but the best cars made right now are from Germany and Japan...

Jay

I friend of mine that took early retirement from Ford, told me at every meeting where they spoke about Ford's competitors they always mentioned that Toyota is the company to beat, and were not concerned with MB, BMW, Porsche, etc. So I bought Toyota stock, but I don't think I would enjoy driving any of there cars.

 

[analogdesigner]

I friend of mine that took early retirement from Ford, told me at every meeting where they spoke about Ford's competitors they always mentioned that Toyota is the company to beat, and were not concerned with MB, BMW, Porsche, etc. So I bought Toyota stock, but I don't think I would enjoy driving any of there cars.

BlackICE,

That's interesting since I had bought Toyota stock about 5 or 6 months ago. I knew that they were going to be the number one car company soon. It wasn't performing well enough at the time, so I sold it and bought Exxon. It did well, about +18% in 2 months. My theory was that if oil was only 55-$65/barrel, the oil companies have got to be making sh _ _ loads on money, since the price at the gas pumps were at a record high! I may have been right on this one.

Jay

 

[quick time]

Hi cobrar1339,
Unfortunately all 4000 or so of us are still patiently waiting for a proper and final fix from Ford or someone else. Until that happens I plan on replacing those pesky little bolts on a regular basis with the Accufab bolts.

In reality this may be just putting a band aid on the problem with the disease still festering somewhere within the transaxel. If the issue was just better bolts I am sure we would have heard from Ford by now as that would be an easy repair for them to fund. I do not know if replacing the bolts does anything to solve the root cause of this problem or not. Maybe it is just a placebo and makes us feel good. What would really make me feel good is for Ford to finally come forward with the official fix/repair and let us enjoy driving our cars without the worry that at anytime a half shaft might fall out.

 

[B O N Y]

BlackICE,

That's interesting since I had bought Toyota stock about 5 or 6 months ago. I knew that they were going to be the number one car company soon. It wasn't performing well enough at the time, so I sold it and bought Exxon. It did well, about +18% in 2 months. My theory was that if oil was only 55-$65/barrel, the oil companies have got to be making sh _ _ loads on money, since the price at the gas pumps were at a record high! I may have been right on this one.

Jay

I have a Toyota position, ready to raise a Sapporo with a Midori chaser?

 

[Empty Pockets]

BlackICE,

That's interesting since I had bought Toyota stock about 5 or 6 months ago. I knew that they were going to be the number one car company soon. It wasn't performing well enough at the time, so I sold it and bought Exxon. It did well, about +18% in 2 months. My theory was that if oil was only 55-$65/barrel, the oil companies have got to be making sh _ _ loads on money, since the price at the gas pumps were at a record high! I may have been right on this one.

Jay

+ 41% on my oil sector positions in 5 mo.
'Not much mystery in it... The deck is pretty much stacked.

I'm wondering when/if the gov't at some point is going to require oil co's to build "X" number of refineries (under 'nat'l security blanket) based, say, on each co's volume/profit like it dictates gas mileage to car co's?
There hasn't been a refinery built in the U.S. in the last 30+ years, and oil co's arn't GOING to build 'em on their own and cut into their record profits by increasing fuel supply. (And they can't use the "nimby" and "tree hugger" excuses anymore either since the all knowing U.S. Supremes have said eminent domain can be used to build anything that'll increase TAX REV to gov't.)

...But, it's pretty much a moot question when one considers all the oil muny pumped under the dome in D.C.

 

[BlackICE]

Jay I pick up some E instead of XOM, it pays a higher dividend. Both are doing well. I always read about that no refineries were built in the US for over 20 years. This statement while true, is misleading, in that refineries capacities have been increasing due to plant updates during this period.

You can blame the eco nuts in the US for our energy problems. Let's see, we can't build nuke plants, refineries, hydro electric dams, and should lessen our carbon emissions. How the hell do you do that with increasing an population (immigration!), and thus increasing energy demands all the while competing in the world markets against countries without any of these restristion to hold them back!

 

[Empty Pockets]

Jay I pick up some E instead of XOM, it pays a higher dividend. Both are doing well. I always read about that no refineries were built in the US for over 20 years. This statement while true, is misleading, in that refineries capacities have been increasing due to plant updates during this period.

You can blame the eco nuts in the US for our energy problems. Let's see, we can't build nuke plants, refineries, hydro electric dams, and should lessen our carbon emissions. How the hell do you do that with increasing an population (immigration!), and thus increasing energy demands all the while competing in the world markets against countries without any of these restristion to hold them back!

Now, WATCH IT, ICE! You're talking logic & common sense here! You oughta know more gooder than that! What are you - an IDJUT???
You KNOW we can offset our carbon footprints just by payin' "AlGore's" outfit $4K! COME ON!!!!!
An' as to your other foolish stmts - WE ALONE MUST SET AN EXAMPLE FOR THE REST OF THE WAYWARD WORLD!!! If we're destroyed economically as a result, it'll be but a small price to pay. We can at LEAST "feel good" about what we did for the planet as we go down the john!

Bony! Do sum moderatin'! These fools are takin' this thread waaaaaay off subject!:rofl:rofl :rofl

 

[Gimbal]

The only thing I hate worse than tailgaters, besides politics are people who drive slow in front of me.

 

[Indy GT]

Hijacked!!!

Hey.....has this tread been HIJACKED?????

The bolt problem guys....

The bolt is not the issue. Plenty of strength in the M8 condition for the loads recorded by Ford during development. I believe it is the unforseen bolt head bending issue (confirmed by FEA posted earlier). Hind site is always 20/20. The ford team is working the problem....

 

[Gimbal]

We gotta talk about something as we all patiently wait for Ford to do something. It would be nice to hear an official word from Ford on the progress.

 

[quick time]

We gotta talk about something as we all patiently wait for Ford to do something. It would be nice to hear an official word from Ford on the progress.

Amen Brother!

 

[somelee]

maybe they're waiting for all the warranties to expire first:wink

 

[BlackICE]

maybe they're waiting for all the warranties to expire first:wink

That would is a smart move for Ford. Turn a liability into a asset. They need to do more of that to turn the company around!

Of course, if there is a real safety issue. Ford would still cover the cars out of warrantee, because one serious injury, or death caused by the failure would wipe out any savings received from non-action. They wouldn't do it out of the kindness of their hearts, but a based on a cold calculated risk assessment.

 

[SYCO GT]

Of course, if there is a real safety issue. Ford would still cover the cars out of warrantee, because one serious injury, or death caused by the failure would wipe out any savings received from non-action. They wouldn't do it out of the kindness of their hearts, but a based on a cold calculated risk assessment.

Hopefully the faulty gas tank type analysis is long gone...

From the internet, and not to be taken as factual, but as someone else's mere opinion/interpretation posted as a potential topic for discussion...

At the time, arguably, that particular manufacturer's "cost-benefit analysis," which placed a dollar value on human life, [apparently] determined it wasn't profitable to make any changes to that particular model of vehicle.

 

[Gimbal]

Here's my take...the A-arm problem got fixed right away because the car was new and they had not sold all the cars, not the case any more. The cars are finished, relatively few occurance of the axle problem, no one hurt (yet), Ford financially in a bit of trouble.....all this equals no hurry on Fords part. Ford deisgned the whole car in about the same time this axle problem has been a problem. Clearly this one problem could be quickly fixed if Ford really wanted it fixed quickly. I'm sure it's all politics or upper management of Ford that is putting this axle problem on a lower tier of problems to solve. I believe the people on this forum when they say Ford is working on it, I'm sure we all would like word and progress report officially from Ford. If all 4000 of us chipped in $100 we could hire a competant 3rd party to design a fix for us. For another $500 each I would think the fix could be implemented. Besides the time thinking and worrying about this problem I have spent more than $600 so far and feel only slightly better than doing nothing.

 

[analogdesigner]

process for repairing the excessive clearance

Here's my take...the A-arm problem got fixed right away because the car was new and they had not sold all the cars, not the case any more. The cars are finished, relatively few occurance of the axle problem, no one hurt (yet), Ford financially in a bit of trouble.....all this equals no hurry on Fords part. Ford deisgned the whole car in about the same time this axle problem has been a problem. Clearly this one problem could be quickly fixed if Ford really wanted it fixed quickly. I'm sure it's all politics or upper management of Ford that is putting this axle problem on a lower tier of problems to solve. I believe the people on this forum when they say Ford is working on it, I'm sure we all would like word and progress report officially from Ford. If all 4000 of us chipped in $100 we could hire a competant 3rd party to design a fix for us. For another $500 each I would think the fix could be implemented. Besides the time thinking and worrying about this problem I have spent more than $600 so far and feel only slightly better than doing nothing.

John,

I feel that I have come up with a reasonable process for repairing the excessive clearance between the hub and axle splines. To prove it can be done, I would need a pair of hubs for about two weeks. After they are processed, the fit would be very nice, with minimal slop, in other words a "German fit".

Thanks to you John, I have a stiffer washer design that needs some FEA done to prove that it has even less flexing that other design attempts out there. Less washer distortion means less "tilting" stress on the heads of the fasteners.

If someone has a car out there with chronic fastener failures, due to sloppy spline engagement, I could test this process and create a good, intended fit. Alternatively, does someone have access to some hubs off a totaled car? This has been the problem trying to make progress, as Ricardo is too pompous to talk with anyone, after 4 phone calls.

Good weekend to all,

Jay

 

[MRFMAN]

just bought an "05 GT40. Had the Ford dealer run a service record search and found that the half shaft bolts were replaced at 3189 miles. My sn# is 1141.

 

[quick time]

FORD needs to isssue a TSB/Service Bulletin on this issue in my opinion. The "
fix" should come officialy from them. My Attorney and I a drafting a letter to
FORD that will put them on notice about the potential "issues" that could come from a failure. I am not waiting any longer for Ford to do the "right" thing.