Halfshaft Bolts
- Thread starter dbk
- Start date
- Status
B O N Y
MODERATOR & FGT OWNER
Rob,... you did all you need to do,... trust me...
I will be selling my acufab bolts on ebay shortly,... the should bring $5.
My first set where the new Ford replacement bolts and washers, the Accufabs are of much higher quality.
Damn, broke my own rule and discussed half shafts bolts.. on the wrong thread.
Ok, I will move both our postS, bad BONY:biggrin :lol :biggrin
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I'll take them.
I don't want you to get shortchanged brother Boni so I'll take those Accufab bolts off your hands right now for $10. And I've already got two sets! The GT guys will be installing one of those sets next week when they do my pulley, tune, and exhaust. I'll be good to go on that run from Scottsdale to Newport Beach!:banana :biggrin :banana My take on this is quite a bit different than many of the posts here. 4038 cars built over a two-year period. 550 hp supercar's, a clean sheet design, developed in record time and delivered as promised. A very complicated 200 mph race car re-creation. A transaxle designed and built from scratch. And there have only been three significant problems. Two of them already addressed, the speedy sleeve and the front A-arms on early production cars. And this half shaft issue that will be addressed shortly. My GT has been flawless in the year and a half I have owned it. But even if my half shaft bolts had failed twice, I would still consider it a miracle that this car has had so few problems. I used to be the Lotus dealer in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Turbo Esprit had endless major problems. Warped blocks, failed cooling systems, air conditioning problems, leather shrinkage, warped body panels, and I could go on. Every one of my Lotus customers was on a first name basis with our technicians. I have not owned a new Ferrari or Lamborghini lately. But I have owned both marks more than a decade ago and they were both maintenance nightmares. Compared to what I have been through both as a dealer and owner of exotics in the past, this half shaft issue is like a pimple on an elephants ass. I am speaking only for myself, but if Ford's solution was to tell me to change the half shaft bolts every 2500 miles along with my oil and filter change, that would be fine with me and would not dim my enthusiasm for this car one bit. When I first saw pictures of the GT on a magazine cover with the insinuation that Ford might just build it, I thought no way, it'll never happen, I'm not that lucky. Will they did build it, I am that lucky, and the car is damn "NEAR" perfect. Again, that's just my opinion.
Chip
I don't want you to get shortchanged brother Boni so I'll take those Accufab bolts off your hands right now for $10. And I've already got two sets! The GT guys will be installing one of those sets next week when they do my pulley, tune, and exhaust. I'll be good to go on that run from Scottsdale to Newport Beach!:banana :biggrin :banana My take on this is quite a bit different than many of the posts here. 4038 cars built over a two-year period. 550 hp supercar's, a clean sheet design, developed in record time and delivered as promised. A very complicated 200 mph race car re-creation. A transaxle designed and built from scratch. And there have only been three significant problems. Two of them already addressed, the speedy sleeve and the front A-arms on early production cars. And this half shaft issue that will be addressed shortly. My GT has been flawless in the year and a half I have owned it. But even if my half shaft bolts had failed twice, I would still consider it a miracle that this car has had so few problems. I used to be the Lotus dealer in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Turbo Esprit had endless major problems. Warped blocks, failed cooling systems, air conditioning problems, leather shrinkage, warped body panels, and I could go on. Every one of my Lotus customers was on a first name basis with our technicians. I have not owned a new Ferrari or Lamborghini lately. But I have owned both marks more than a decade ago and they were both maintenance nightmares. Compared to what I have been through both as a dealer and owner of exotics in the past, this half shaft issue is like a pimple on an elephants ass. I am speaking only for myself, but if Ford's solution was to tell me to change the half shaft bolts every 2500 miles along with my oil and filter change, that would be fine with me and would not dim my enthusiasm for this car one bit. When I first saw pictures of the GT on a magazine cover with the insinuation that Ford might just build it, I thought no way, it'll never happen, I'm not that lucky. Will they did build it, I am that lucky, and the car is damn "NEAR" perfect. Again, that's just my opinion.
Chip
- Aug 25, 2006
- 4,436
B O N Y
MODERATOR & FGT OWNER
Chip,...
Could never take your money,... your price is n/c + dinner for Charlie, Veronica and you!
Could never take your money,... your price is n/c + dinner for Charlie, Veronica and you!
Red Rocket
GT Owner
Recent failure report
Just FYI, one of my buddys had a failure a few weeks ago. He's an ex-Viper driver who loves to do burn outs. I had warned him to check the bolts but naturally he didn't (he's French :wink - just kidding Mike!). The failure occured when he was pulling away from a stoplight, which seems to be the most common occurence. His car is Blue/stripes. He took delivery in Dec 2006. Probably one of the last ones made - Serial number is # 2024
Just FYI, one of my buddys had a failure a few weeks ago. He's an ex-Viper driver who loves to do burn outs. I had warned him to check the bolts but naturally he didn't (he's French :wink - just kidding Mike!). The failure occured when he was pulling away from a stoplight, which seems to be the most common occurence. His car is Blue/stripes. He took delivery in Dec 2006. Probably one of the last ones made - Serial number is # 2024
Gulf GT
GT Owner
Last week Muscle Motors replaced my axle bolts with the Accufab kit. The original factory bolts were in perfect condition. More importantly, the splines fit and condition were first rate. The transaxle showed no signs of any design flaw or "sloppy spline" fit. I have a mid-2006 year car. I suppose this is one more tiny piece of evidence to support Ford's theory of "bad bolts" being the primary cause. My biggest concern has been the comments about the transaxle design, and I am very happy to learn that mine does not appear to have such a problem.
B O N Y
MODERATOR & FGT OWNER
sr71
GT Owner
midnight blue/white stripes 06 vin 1fafp90s86y401887 approx 3900 mi. half shaft story with a new twist. i was driving on a particularly rough section of our local freeway (deerfoot tr) moderate speed, bounced up an exit ramp (barlow tr) and coasted to a halt at the intersection. end of go. It's a really ill feeling when you put baby into gear release the clutch and go nowhere. flat deck to dealer thank you to alan summers at metro ford for giving up part of his sunday afternoon to come down & open the service bay so she didn't have to spend the night unprotected outside. inspection on monday revealed that the half shaft was sheared just at the edge of the splines, and two small looking bolt stubs in the center of the shaft broken off. the outside ring of larger bolts that have been causing others problems seem intact. i will post further when parts arrive and disassembly is completed.
Gulf GT
GT Owner
sr71, Sorry to hear about your problem. Get those Accufab bolts on right away. Don't use the current Ford solution.
Empty Pockets
ex-GT Owner
'Far as I know, '71, the two 'bolts on the end of the 1/2 shafts are the ONLY bolts anyone has had pblms with. Those outer bolts you mention (6? I don't recall) have never been a pblm for anyone to my knowledge - but I could be wrong.
However, the 'shaft ITSELF breaking IS a new one!
eek:eek
BlackICE
GT Owner
This is the 1st time I heard of the half shaft being sheared. Do you mean the output shaft of the transaxle, or the half shaft that connects the wheel hub to the CV flange? If it is the output shaft of the transaxle it will have to be shipped to the UK! What is the turn around time?
Red Rocket
GT Owner
bad luck. Hey, since this is a late production car, did you find out if the washers were the 'hardened' kind or the soft kind? It would be good to know.
I don't think you're wrong EP. I try to keep current at least on all the halfshaft related threads. The outer 6 bolts have never been a problem. The only "issue" with them is that they are TTY bolts and Ford advises to discard in favor of new ones after un-torquing them.
- Aug 25, 2006
- 4,436
It would appear that what happened is that the 2 inner securing bolts sheared; on first inspection I can see how one might believe that the half shaft sheared however based on what was described I do not think that this was the case; furthermore the likelihood of a stub axle shearing would be IMO slim and none.
Having said this the fact that it happened it terrible and I hope he follows the advice and has AccuFab 's hardware installed.
Takes care
Shadowman
Not 4N
Tungsten GT Owner
Sorry to hear about this John - that sure sucks. :thumbsdow
I look forward to your update and hopefully you will be back on the road before we run out of summer.
:cheers
Trent
I look forward to your update and hopefully you will be back on the road before we run out of summer.
:cheers
Trent
B O N Y
MODERATOR & FGT OWNER
Washers are not part of the problem, it is bolts.
Until the gentleman advises if he has snapped half shafts lets let this matter rest.
Thanks gentlemen.
Bony
moderator
sr71
GT Owner
accufab to be ordered monday. Thanks to Empty Pockets and nota4re for clearing up which bolts have historically been the problem. I had seen pictures of the accufab kit and made the assumption that it was the 6 bigger bolts you can see looking in the engine bay. You sure pay a lot more attention when the problem concerns your own baby. Thanks for the sympathy. Work won't let me get into the dealership until friday, at that time I will take and post pictures.
sr71
GT Owner
further on the broken half-shaft.....shadowman correct, dealership didn't realize shaft made in two sections, leading to the appearance of a broken shaft. upside...a half-shaft was obtained within four business days (which will be returned to ford) downside...dealership not familiar enough with the car to inspire a lot of confidence. admittedly with only one to three dozen cars in town and none before 2006 (canada eh?) they haven't seen a lot in for service yet. the dealership was slightly hesitant about justifying the change to the second side to ford, with no apparent problem, but agreed to disarm the ticking time bomb when i put it that way. lo, both bolts on the second side had cratered as well. accufab being installed, with a minor wait for a new seal which was damaged either during the break, or during the heating process necessary to free the locktighted stubs of the broken bolts. racing is life, everything else is waiting. steve mcqueen, lemans the movie. and waiting...
- Aug 25, 2006
- 4,436
I for one appreciate the update and you sharing the chain of events.
Very soon you and your gal will be fit-as-a-fiddle and soon thereafter you will forget this frustrating event.
Hang in there
All the best
Shadowman
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