Serious Halfshaft Bolt Thread (READ)

[dbk]

Ok, I'm going to start this off by saying this is meant to be a serious thread. If you haven't had the failure, don't chime in. If you want to crack jokes, don't chime in. If you have an alternate opinion or just want to bitch, please don't chime in. If you do, I'm just going to delete it.

I'd like for everyone who has had the halfshaft bolt failure to please post here or private message me if you aren't comfortable with that:

-The year of your car
-The last four of your VIN #
-The date/mileage when the failure occurred
-The circumstances in which the failure occurred
-The city and state in which this occurred
-The action or remedy taken by Ford or your dealer
-The treatment/advice received by the Ford GT hotline if you used it

The specifics on the first four are very important. Without specifics, there will be no action. That I can guarantee. I suppose names would be helpful as well. I know my sample size of owners on the site, and we can at least have a rough gauge of the percentage of failures.

I'm going to let this thread linger for 2 weeks, at which time I will print this, and hand it personally to the people at Ford. At the very least, the gist of the story will reach the new guy. I'm sick of reading about it, and hearing about it happening

Thanks gents...

05 #0498 ~4,397
05 #0991
05 #1172 ~4,000
05 #1243
05 #1245 ~3,800
05 #1380
05 #1516
05 #1526 -1,675
05 #1575 ~1,500
05 #1613 -1,920 ~5,300
05 #1641 ~900
05 #1830 -6,103
05 #1854 ~4,000
06 #0133
06 #0765
06 #0812 -15,387
06 #1023
06 #1120 ~3,000
06 #1166
06 #1860 ~1,597
06 #1861

 

[Cyclenirvana]

Summary of actual failures that I have been able to verify from ONLY this forum accompanied by VIN#s. This does NOT include loose bolts but actual OMG failures. I know there have been more but I was only able to verify these numbers.
2005 VIN 991, 1172, 1245, 1575, and 1641
2006 VIN 765, 812, 1166
But I agree with Dave...we need more info from all of these members and others not listed who have had this failure.

 

[FlagstaffGT]

Barry Levitan
2005
Failed Aug 2006, about 4000 miles
vin#1854
Hwy driving, passing at 75mph
Black Canyon City outside of Phoenix, AZ.
3 hrs. waiting for flatbed taken to Sanderson Ford Phx.
Picked it up following week- all bolts replaced, some steam cleaning. Good service.
Local dealer (purchased in Flagstaff) reimbursed me car rental, did additional cleaning

 

[Hammer]

-- 2006, VIN #1166
-- failure occurred 12/2/06
-- casual driving on city street (approx 30 mph)
-- occurred in Encinitas, CA
-- Approx 2 hour wait for flatbed, towed to local Ford dealer
-- Dealer service personnel very courteous and helpful throughout; fix required approx 10 day wait for parts

 

[Kave]

1) 2006
2)1120
3)1-7-06
4) stopped at a light, car would not move. It would not engage. Stayed in neutral even when I put it in first.
5) he says there is an updated part for this problem, apparently I am not the first
6) 3000 miles on my car

 

[Yogi]

Mark Gerisch
Last four VIN 0133
06'

November of 2006 this happened
Left a stop sign in First. Shifted to Second and nothing. Half shalft seperated.

Green Bay, WI Van Boxtel Ford handled the warranty work. Quickly and without headache!

 

[PHXGT]

VIN 1575
2005
1500 miles (Nov. '06)
North Scottsdale Ford replaced everything under warranty. Done very fast
They were great to work with.
Pulled away from a stop light and as clutch was engaged..."pop". Not an agressive launch.
Occurred in Phx. AZ

Worst part was finding a tow truck that knew what they were doing.

 

[DLKGT]

(1) '05 #1245

(2) 2-Nov-06 ~3,800 miles

(3) city driving / traffic - stop & go - smelled oil and pulled into a parking lot to investigate. Saw oil leak from drivers side transaxle output shaft and saw that hub was moving off the splined shaft. Moved the car about 10 feet and the axle hub fell off shaft and I had to push the car the last 10 ft to a position where a flatbed could load it.

(4) Failure happened in Seal Beach, CA

(5) Had car taken to Ken Grody Ford in Buena Park, CA. After waiting for 2 weeks for parts the dealer told me that Ford could not provide any date for the delivery of the parts. I got very lucky and was contacted by a forum member/GT owner in San Diego who had an "extra" set of the needed parts and offered them to me. I drove the 90 miles to SD and was at his house the next morning at 7am, bought the parts and delivered them to the GT mechanic at Ken Grody Ford. The repairs were completed the following day. Everything aok so far (now about 5,500 miles)

(6) Contacted the Ford GT "Hot Line" the day of the problem and provided the requested basic info (Location, nature of problem, vin #, dealer where car taken etc..) Was advised that I would hear back. Several days later I called the "hot line" again for an update and the girl I spoke with had no knowledge of my prior call nor my problem!!! More than 2 months now and still have never heard back from them.

Dennis Keck "DLKGT"

 

[STORMCAT]

Mamzer's car broke about three weeks ago. I don't think he checks in much. Here's the info from his post. For the record his is the latest built car that I have seen to have the problem:
Yr: 2006
# 1861
Date Broke: 12/19/ 2006
Broke leaving stop sign
Lives in S. E. Florida
Car Taken to Maroone Ford in Ft. Lauderdale ( Brian Stahl ) 11 days to fix
He called hot line here's his post:
http://www.fordgtforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=46077&postcount=19

 

[PL510*Jeff]

Half Shaft Surprise

2006 Vin 0812

Blt Feb. 2/06

Bolts/Washer failed 9-16-06 @ 15,387 miles

Happened in Renton, Washington
City driving 15 m.p.h ,downshifted into first - no more go
No Noises No Fluid leaks - a touch showing

Called dealer, then Ford Towing, Flat Towed to dealer, 90 minute wait(Saturday)

Monday, problem found, Tech. called GT hotline, Tuesday repair parts arrived, Wednesday parts installed - On The Road Again

Good service from all concerned - Dealer, Towing Service,Hotline, Parts Depot all did exactly what they were supposed to do. No problems at all.

Jeff Larson

 

[Mamzer]

Thanks stormcat...you got it right.

 

[Nardo GT]

2005
#1613
1920 miles
Aug. 24, 2006
After being parked for a few minutes with engine off.....started the car and placed it in first gear...would not move....shaft fell out.
Temple, Texas
Local Ford Dealer repaired it under warranty

 

[Specracer]

2005

#1641

July 3rd 2006, approx 900 miles on car

Running along at constant highway speed, go for exit ramp, blip throttle to down shift to 2nd (or 3rd can't remember), nothing, coast as far as I can to try to get out of harms way.

Plymouth, MA was site of failure, I drove by the site last week, and still can make out the stains in the road, from the trans oil.

Dealer replaced both sides with revised design washer and fasteners.

Did not call GT hot line, called dealer directly, got me an EXPERIENCED flat bed with in 30-45 minutes,, towed it to my garage, as their GT tech was going to be on vacation the following week, came and picked it up when they were ready, car stayed there for the week, and also got a steering pump, or it would have been back sooner. Very happy with the dealer experience.

Original post: http://www.fordgtforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2069

 

[RedGT]

Halfshaft

2005 VIN 1526 Feb 12,2006 Mileage 1675
I was 2 blocks from the house on a Sunday afternoon and tried to leave from a stop and nothing. I called Ford and after an hour or so they advised me that they couldn't assure me that the tow truck would keep the GT inside until Monday.
I called my son and he came to tow me home. When we raised the clam shell he saw the axle hanging there. He slid it back in and I drove home very slowly. Ford sent out a tow truck Monday and took it to Burt Ford in Centennial Colorado. They fixed it and called and asked if they could keep it few more days as they had ordered the bolts for the other side and wanted to do it before I picked up the car.
I can't say enough about the service from Burt Ford, the towing company, and Ford Customer Service.
On my invoice, they state they were replacing the axle retaining bolts per TSB 05-10-13 if that helps. Let me know if you need a copy of the invoice. They finished it and I picked it up on the 22nd so they had it 10 days. Had they replaced just the side that broke, I would have had it back in 2 days.

 

[Black GT]

1172 4000 miles just turning left to go home. Happened about a month ago. I was just cruising home. Left oil everywhere not fun. Oh yea it is an '05.

 

[FLY GT40]

Half shaft bolt failure:

Year: 2006
Vin: 1860
Date and milage: 1/12/2006 , 1597miles
Circumstances in which failure occured: Broken half shaft bolt discovered when disassembled by dealer to change half shaft bolts.
City and State: Santa Paula California.
Actions taken by Ford Dealer: After reading the post by 1861 about his half shaft bolt failure I asked Steve at Santa Paula Ford what he thought I should do. He said He would order the parts and change them and he would deal with Ford. When my car was in at Ford of Santa Paula for the first oin change they changed the bolts. When the disassembled the half shafts one of the bolts was already broken. They replaced them. Ford of Santa Paula with thier attitude fixed the problem before I had a problem on the road. Thanks.
Experience with ford gt hotline. none

All in all the proactive attitude of Ford of Santa Paula fixed the problem and saved me from a bad experience and left me feeling good about my dealer and my car. Thanks
FLY GT40

 

[MAD IN NC]

Half shaft bolt failure:
Year: 2005

Vin: 1830, Build Sept 2005

Date and milage: 11/2006 , 6103 miles

Circumstances in which failure occured: Broken half shaft bolt discovered when disassembled by dealer to change half shaft bolts.

City and State: Fuquay Varina, North Carolina

Actions taken by Ford Dealer: After reading the post, I had the dealer Don Jenkins and Son's proactively check the half shaft bolts. Both washers were cupped and distressed by bolt heads. Washers cupped as much as .060 and scorring from heads evident. It was only a matter of time before failure.

As peace of mind insuranec - I paid parts - Don Jenkins/ Ford paid for labor.

All in all the proactive attitude of Don Jenkins and Sons Ford fixed the problem and saved me from a bad experience and left me feeling good about my dealer and my car. To bad it went this far in time where I had to take proactive personal measures for peace of mind.

MAD IN NC

[Posting format plagorized from FLY GT40 but true story. Thank you Don Jenkins, Ford and Glenn Duvall]

Awaiting the final fix with wired bolts.........

 

[gwbartlett]

Year-2005
VIN-0498
Date-June 8, 2006
Miles-4,397
At the first oil service I had McCoy Ford in Muncie, Indiana check the axle flange bolts. The technician found that on both sides the bolt heads had sunk into the silver (soft) washers and were loose. One or both sides would have failed if they had not checked and replaced them with the updated parts. The GT hotline told them the remedy and sent the parts via next day service. The work was covered under warranty.

 

[analogdesigner]

Additional info?

Knowing that cars were not produced in VIN sequence, I wonder if it would help if the s/n of failed transaxles were also posted with the other info. Maybe also posting the build mm/yy that is found on the build sticker affixed to the car.

Dave,

It may help Ford if you also asked the following:

1. Which side failed?
2. Did the passenger's side have an uneven gap compared to the driver's side?

Jay

 

[Nardo GT]

Failed For The Second Time!

Axle Failure for the SECOND time

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My half shaft fell out for the SECOND time today. First time was a few months ago at 1920 miles and now at 5300miles. First time was repaired by the Ford dealer and it is there AGAIN. DBK, do you have another serious thread for owner's with a SECOND failure? I love the car, but am one really unhappy camper right now. Here are the parts that they used on the first repair that now failed......2 4G7Z7B368BA Output shaft flange washers /
12 4GZ7Z4529AA bolts / 2 4GZ7Z1s177BA seals / 1 4GZ7Z4851AA flange / 1 TA16 adhesive Anyone know if these are the latest parts for the "fix"? PS: They "fixed" both sides last time!

Today, 07:45 PM