Not fun - Page 2

Nomadcat · 08-03-2011, 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ford_6L_E350

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nomadcat

Quadvan got me a full floater that they pulled from a wrecked Harley Davidson F350. It had 10,000 miles on it, but looked new when they installed it.

That only works if you are using the F-Series bolt pattern. The pickup axle is wider and will replace a van axle that has adapters to the pickup bolt pattern.

For most van owners, an E-350 SRW Cutaway axle will work better.

Mike

yeah, that works for me because both my front and rear axles are from 2009 F-350s.

I believe the rear diff is sterling 10.5, but I could be wrong and should really check that and make a list of exactly what's down there.

SierraHawk · 08-05-2011, 04:26 AM

Mike; This is the second posting of a rear axle failure that I have seen. Can you talk to Alan at SMB West? It sounds like Ford needs to conduct and investigation and determine if the axles on the vans should be replaced.

carringb · 08-05-2011, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SierraHawk

Mike; This is the second posting of a rear axle failure that I have seen. Can you talk to Alan at SMB West? It sounds like Ford needs to conduct and investigation and determine if the axles on the vans should be replaced.

They probably should be, but only because they are being used in an application beyond what they are designed for. SMB should be doing a VSO (vehicle special order) for the Dana 70 in their base vans.

woodbee · 08-06-2011, 05:19 PM

I am thinking about upgrading to a full-floating rear end after reading this post. I have a limited slip right now.
How many members of the forum that have had limited slip and do moderate to heavy 4 wheeling have had an axel snap?
It is a big concern, what a mess it would be to have an axel snap out in the boonies.

Thanks,
Woody

Silver350 · 08-10-2011, 06:16 PM

Sierra Hawk: I'm pretty sure the problem is spacing the wheel 2 or 3 inches further out (doubling the distance from the bearing and then loading it to the max) has a lot if not everything to do with this and if Ford investigated it they would come to the same conclusion.

pjpvi · 10-13-2011, 10:46 PM

I recently swapped out to a Dana 70 full-float. Some bad noises had been coming from the rear-end of the stock Dana 60 semi-float (sounded like bad bearings). When I jacked up each side of the rear, I found some lateral play at the axel ends (worst side was the passenger side). That combined with reports like Badger convinced me to go axel shopping for the full-float.

So, tonight I finally tore down the old Dana 60 to remove the LS differential for another forum member and found that the outer axel bearings had been chewing away at the axel shafts. I'm afraid I was not far off from a failure similar to Badger and others. I'm so glad to have a full float under the van now!

BTW, this is with only a little over 60,000 miles on the van.

Phil

winvest · 10-14-2011, 11:38 AM

How can you tell which axle you have? When I was ordering my SMB, I was warned by SMBW about this problem with the stock Ford rear axle, and if I didn't upgrade to the Dynatrac I should have my bearings repacked and inspected often.

Ford_6L_E350 · 10-14-2011, 12:09 PM

It is not a bearing issue. It is a problem with CorrecTrac's (wheel spacers) and non-stock wheels. Both the spacers and non-stock wheels move the load further out and put more bending force on the axles. Stock vans are probably not going to have the same issues as heavy SMB's with spacers and bigger wheels.

Probably a good reason for SMB to install FF Dynatrac axles on most 4wd vans.

Mike

etbadger · 10-14-2011, 12:48 PM

Probably should update:

Here's the axle that broke:

Picked up a ~2001 full-float D60 from an EB E350, upgraded to aftermarket 35 1.5" spline shafts to fit our old 35 spline ARB, cleaned, set the gears, new shock mounts, painted:

And here's our van now:

-Erik

pjpvi · 10-14-2011, 02:20 PM

Looks like I was headed for that exact same failure. I'm so glad I swapped axles prior to a failure!

I like the ARB cover and wanted to get one for my D70, but ARB doesn't specify one for the D70 even though the cover bolt pattern / footprint is the same between the two. I'm guessing the larger ring on the D70 wouldn't clear the shape of the cover. I like the red cover and axle ends you did from a pure aesthetic standpoint.

Not to get off topic, but I am having a sever binding problem with my new powr-lok limited slip when accelerating into a turn. Since I didn't see exactly what went in for fluids, I'm going to drain and re-fill with known correct fluids tomorrow and hopefully resolve the problem. It's acting more like what I would expect a Detroit locker to act like.

Quote:

It is not a bearing issue. It is a problem with CorrecTrac's (wheel spacers) and non-stock wheels. Both the spacers and non-stock wheels move the load further out and put more bending force on the axles. Stock vans are probably not going to have the same issues as heavy SMB's with spacers and bigger wheels.

Mike, I think your assessment is right on the money.

Phil