Broken drivers side axle to leaf spring u-bolt - good service story

[_nelsonc]

We were heading out for a 4 day trip last Wednesday night when I heard a terrible scraping noise come from the rear of the coach less than a mile from the campground. I climbed out of the coach and found that the rear u-bolt holding the rear axle to the leaf springs was broken on the drivers side. The bolt was so long that I could not remove it without jacking the unit up. I got the broken piece out and then parked the unit till the next day when I hoped to get the unit repaired to hopefully salvage the weekend.

My unit is a 2013 Coachmen Mirada 35DL bought in April 2013. In looking through the warranty manual for the chassis I found that Ford supplies free roadside assistance for 5 years. Since all the shops were closed for the day I decided to call roadside assistance for help. The person I spoke to was very helpful and promised that they would get me in for service at the closest repair facility as early as they could the next day. I hung up thinking that my weekend was going to be shot.

When we got up the next day I started calling around myself. The only dealer I found that would work on the unit said I could bring it in on the 18th and they would look at it. I also found a transmission shop that would look at it, but I would have to pay for it and they would not commit to having it repaired on Thursday. At this point I am getting pretty bummed out.

About 9:00am I got a call from Ford saying that they were able to get me in to Ganley Ford at 9:30am and that they would do all they could do to get me back on the road. I had the unit to them by 9:30 and the fleet service manager Kevin said they would look at it ASAP and do all they could to get me back on the road that day even though he knew he did not have the right parts. I left thinking that there was no way I was going to be back on the road that day.

I got a call from Kevin at 1:00pm saying my unit was ready to go. I went to pick it up and Kevin told me that they had replaced both of the u-bolts on that side if the axle. I asked why it had broken, but Kevin had no explanation other than it was a bad u-bolt. Kevin gave me the old bolts and I have attached pictures of them. We hooked up the Jeep right in the lot and were on the road about 2:30, a day late, but grateful that I received such good support from Ford and from their dealer, Ganley Ford.

In looking at the u-bolt it had been broken for some time. The unit has been sitting in a campground on a level seasonal site since the beginning of May. Before that I had the unit in Florida over the holidays and one outing in April. My advice: Crawl under your coach and take a look at your u-bolts.

[partsman01]

Remember to have it re-torqued.

[_nelsonc]

Originally Posted by partsman01

Remember to have it re-torqued.

What do you mean? Have it retorqued by the dealer? They just installed it. When would it need to be retorqued?

[bailiff]

Axle bolts use lock nuts. They do not re-torque the crimped nuts.


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[DieselTech39]

Spring Ubolts should be re-torqued after 500 to 1,000 miles. See this document, especially pg 3. The nuts used on ubolts are called high nuts and do not have a locking feature like a nyloc nut.

http://www.suspensionspecialists.com...nformation.pdf

[partsman01]

Retorque the U-bolt

Retighten U-bolts after the first 500 to 1,000 miles. As new or repaired springs wear in some settling of the spring stack will occur. Even a minor amount of this settling can cause a dramatic reduction in U-bolt clamping force. If possible, retorquing of U-bolts should be done with the vehicle under load.
Torque U-bolts Evenly

Follow these guidelines when installing U-Bolts:

• Lubricate U-Bolts and washers with oil or anti-seize compound to reduce nut friction.

• Tighten all U-Bolts until they are snug only.

• Tighten in the sequence shown to approximately 1/3 of recommended torque.

• Repeat, using the same sequence, gradually increasing the torque through a second and third stage until the recommended final torque is attained.

Suggested Torque values for U-bolts

Grade 5

Grade 8

Size

(Diameter x Thread)

Torque

(Ft. lbs.)

Size

(Diameter x Thread)

Torque

(Ft. lbs.)

3/8-24

30

5/8-18

170

7/16-20

45

3/4-16

300

1/2-20

65

7/8-14

480

9/16-18

90

1-14

740

5/8-18

120

11/8-14

1300

3/4-16

215

11/4-14

1780

7/8-14

345

[terry735001]

Originally Posted by _nelsonc

What do you mean? Have it retorqued by the dealer? They just installed it. When would it need to be retorqued?

think of it as tires on a big RV right on the door it says after install 50 to150 miles

[_nelsonc]

Ok, I'll have them re torqued after a couple of hundred miles.

I do want to stress that I am very pleased with Ford RoadSide Assistance (which I didn't know I had) and Ganley Ford. They turned a bummer if a weekend into a great one.

[aauummm]

Originally Posted by _nelsonc

Ok, I'll have them re torqued after a couple of hundred miles.

I do want to stress that I am very pleased with Ford RoadSide Assistance (which I didn't know I had) and Ganley Ford. They turned a bummer if a weekend into a great one.

Just curious; where is this Ganley Ford located at? Norton, OH?

[_nelsonc]

Originally Posted by aauummm

Just curious; where is this Ganley Ford located at? Norton, OH?

Barber Rd in Barberton just north of I-76.

[bailiff]

I guess this company just went out and recruited an engineer to tell you to retorque u-bolts. When truck axles are attached to a new vehicle, it goes to delivery, to the consumer, then the junk yard without ever being retorqued. I guess they do it right the first time.


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[hochmuth1957]

The condition in the closeup pic appears to be hydrogen embrittlement. This is generally caused by improper heat treatment or improper baking after the plating process. At my work we use alot of fasteners and experience this on occasion. It is generally confined to a particular batch of parts that were processed together so there is more of these out there. Unfortunately unless you conduct a test there is no visual way to see the condition ahead of the part failing.

[_nelsonc]

Originally Posted by hochmuth1957

The condition in the closeup pic appears to be hydrogen embrittlement. This is generally caused by improper heat treatment or improper baking after the plating process. At my work we use alot of fasteners and experience this on occasion. It is generally confined to a particular batch of parts that were processed together so there is more of these out there. Unfortunately unless you conduct a test there is no visual way to see the condition ahead of the part failing.

Question: Should I report this to DOT? I would not forgive myself if there were a batch of these bad and they break on someone going down the road and someone gets hurt as opposed to what I experienced.

Also, should I ask the repairing dealer to replace the other two on the passenger side?

[hochmuth1957]

If it is what I suspect (mind you I'm just looking at the pic and do not have the actual part to do further analysis) and it was my rig I'd replace the other side as well because chances are all four came from the same batch. I'm also the kind if person that if something fails on one side I replace the other side while I'm at it (alot of people disagree on that). No opinion on starting a panic by contacting dot yet but if you happen to have either an industrial heat treat plant or a manufacturing plant near you I'd give them a call and see if they are willing to give the failed part a closer look.