I bought this truck in September of 2012 and have only put about 21k miles on it. About 7 months I noticed a clicking noise while I was rolling to a stop. I took it into the dealer and they said they couldn't duplicate the noise(of course). So I left and decided to bring it back when I had time. I then was placed "on call" at work so I had no specific time to go into work and no specific days off so I was unable to schedule another appointment. Finally took it back into the dealer about 2 weeks ago and made sure they heard the noise by driving with them. Well just got back my truck earlier today and drove it for about a mile when I realized the noise was still there, or just came back. They ended up replacing both rear axles because they were bent and that was causing the noise. I haven't mentioned yet that I put a lift kit on it and bigger tires. The dealer obviously is saying the noise is because the lift kit and they cant authorize anymore work because my warranty is voided on the suspension now. Could the bending of the rear axles be caused by oversized tires and rims with possibly too much backspacing on the wheel, or just to big of a wheel and tire. Not sure if I should press this to be fixed at the dealer or try and take care of it myself. Let me know, thanks guys.

POSTED THIS IN WRONG THREAD FIRST, PLEASE DONT MARK ME AS SPAM OR SOMETHING. Not sure how to delete other one.

 

I'll delete the thread you started in the 2015 F-150 forum.

Welcome to FTE.

 

I know some people who have bent the Raptor axles, but they are actually a little wider than the regular F150. But the tubes were bent, and it almost sounds like you are talking the axle shafts. I have jumped and beat on my Raptor, and have not bent, even with offset wheels. If the axle shafts were what you are talking about and those were replaced, I would think maybe the axle housing is bent and caused all of the problems. As far as Ford saying the lift may have contributed to this issue, anything is possible and their right to deny warranty. But would contact the lift company and see if they can help.

 

Ok, I will send out a message to rough country and get their opinion also. Yah my bad I meant axle shafts is what the dealer replaced not the entire axle assembly. I've never jumped or beat my truck up, the one and only time I was able to go out to the desert was months ago and I had fun with it but no jumps or crazy rock climbing because it was still stock at the time. What could have caused the axle housing to have bent, because that's what it all sounds like so far. That's the only explanation I have to why the new axles have possibly bent only after maybe 2 miles of their test drive and the one mile I drove down the road. The dealer said they will have a differential guy take a look at it on tuesday when I take it back in to see if he has any ideas.
Thanks for your response, let me know if you have any other ideas.

 

I think your dealer, and Ford, are on the right track with your oversized tires being a probable cause. Your suspension and driveline components are designed for wheels and tires of a certain size. When you put a lift kit and big tires on you are magnifying the stress on the axle, wheel bearings, and brakes. It's pretty tough to do damage to these axles, but when you modify them in a manner that exceeds factory specifications stuff can happen.

I think you're fortunate that Ford covered the repair the first time.

 

I too thought I was very fortunate, thats why im not too sure I wanna press the issue with the dealer much longer. Do you happen to know of any aftermarket axles that might be stronger and less likely to bend like that?

 

There are a variety of axle shaft makers, many of which advertise their shafts to be higher strength than the stock parts. Which axle is under your truck? It's either the 8.8" or 9.75". Here's a cheat sheet:

 

What brand lift? I think some of them come with a suspension warranty (Pro-Comp)? Don't know to what extent the warranty covers. I'm sure some of these folks that have experience in this area will know. Did you install the lift, or was it done by a 3rd party dealer/shop?

 

The lift is a Rough Country 4inch, I installed it myself. Did everything but installed the tires and rims and aligned it. I worked in a custom lift shop for a few years installing lifts so I'm fairly confident in my work that I didn't do anything wrong. Still waiting on a reply back from Rough country though.

 

Just got out there and figured it out, its the 9.75.

 

Something just doesn't sit right with me on this. I've done some searching around, and it's darn hard to find anyone who bent an axleshaft on a 9.75. I sort of assumed you had the 8.8 which has significantly thinner shafts.

How sure are you that the axleshafts are bent? Did the dealer show you?

 

Sounds a bit far fetched to me. I don't see how a lift and larger tires would cause axles to bend. Maybe if you were out in the dunes jumping it like a prerunner but not from normal driving.

 

I was thinking the exact same thing as NASSTY. Also is it the axle shafts or the axle tubes that are bent? If it's tubes that's usually a sign of being overloaded or jumping. I honestly can't see how installing a lift would cause either parts to bend. I'm thinking there is more to this story. And for the record I'm not trying to make it sound like your trying to hide anything from us. Just that I thought you said you bought this used. I'm thinking maybe to po did something that caused this issue. Then tried to get it fixed under warranty. The claim denied so he then traded it in, you know to pass the buck so to speak.

 

Ok, after getting off work this morning around 9am, I did some more inspecting myself. I put the truck on jack stands and put it in neutral and duplicated the noise but with my stethoscope thingy I couldn't pinpoint where the noise was coming from. I saved the original tires and rims when I did the lift so I decided to try those back on it again and the noise went away. I rotated the tires from front to rear after putting the bigger tires back on and the noise still continued to come from the rear axles. I have a feeling the rims are just too much weight on the axles and or the bearing and are just causing some strain. Not sure though and not sure if that's even a possibility. Should I try and swap out my rims for some lighter ones and see if that does the trick or what? I have BFG All Terrains, had those brand tire on every truck I've owned and never had any noise so by process of elimination its gotta be the rims right? Oh and yah I bought it brand new with 11 miles on it, and havent done anything extreme with it. The dealer showed me the axles shafts they took out and by the visible eye I couldnt tell if they were actualy bent or not.

 

Eh, I don't think so. The weight of the wheels should have nothing to do with a clicking noise. After all, a ~75-100 lb tire and wheel is NOTHING compared to the 4,000 lbs of weight the axle is rated for.

With your big wheels on the truck spin them slowly taking a good look on the inside and outside of the rim. If the axle shaft is bent it'll wobble in and out as it rotates.