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Last year I got the recall done on my F-250, and they changed the steering damper. Yesterday I walk to the truck and I see from a distance that there’s something dangling underneath, and it turns out that the bolt fixing the damper to the frame flew away leaving the damper hanging only on the other side:
I called the dealer that did the installation (Corwin Ford of Reno, NV) and the advisor was quite dismissive, he told me that the job was done over a year ago and that there’s no more warranty. This sound totally unacceptable, you install TWO BOLTS and do not torque at least one of them, and it’s like it’s not your problem?
What is even worst is that he told me that they fix me an appointment for the end of November to “take a look”, or if I want to drop off the truck for “a couple of weeks” they will maybe be able to look at it…
C’mon man, is that even close to be reasonable???
Any case, this seems really a single bolt missing, which if I’m not mistaken should go in the place circled in red:
Is that correct? Can anyone suggest me which bolt/part I need to get to fix it?
Thanks in advance. It’s getting more and more frustrating to deal with the dealers nowadays… :-(
It was found by my son-in-law while checking out my truck after a fender bender. The body shop foreman thought it was not caused by the accident, but maybe the bolt was not torqued correctly from the factory and just fell out. We had recently returned from a 7000 mile camping trip out west with plenty of rough highways.
That's infuriating when they just completely deny any responsibility for the work they did. It's less than a $4 part and would take a tech less than a minute to install. Even an independent shop will usually put a 2 year guarantee on the work. Anyway, try this for that bolt part # W714596S439.
I swapped my steering stabilizer the same time I did my shocks… the steering stabilizer was very easy… however this thread made me go out and recheck mine…lol! It’s still good!
Last year I got the recall done on my F-250, and they changed the steering damper. Yesterday I walk to the truck and I see from a distance that there’s something dangling underneath, and it turns out that the bolt fixing the damper to the frame flew away leaving the damper hanging only on the other side:
I called the dealer that did the installation (Corwin Ford of Reno, NV) and the advisor was quite dismissive, he told me that the job was done over a year ago and that there’s no more warranty. This sound totally unacceptable, you install TWO BOLTS and do not torque at least one of them, and it’s like it’s not your problem?
What is even worst is that he told me that they fix me an appointment for the end of November to “take a look”, or if I want to drop off the truck for “a couple of weeks” they will maybe be able to look at it…
C’mon man, is that even close to be reasonable???
Any case, this seems really a single bolt missing, which if I’m not mistaken should go in the place circled in red:
Is that correct? Can anyone suggest me which bolt/part I need to get to fix it?
Thanks in advance. It’s getting more and more frustrating to deal with the dealers nowadays… :-(
not worth the aggravation....go to a auto parts store..buy the bolt (or rquiv) and locktite, install,. be done.
I have the same problem you do......if I get an appt, its 90 days out...and a week before..they reschdule for another 90 days out...this contiunes untill a year later...after the 3rd reschedule...they tell you your on a wait list and they will call if they have appts...and they never call.
Thanks for all the suggestions. Of course I’ll now do it myself, so I only have one question and I beg everybody’s understanding if it seems naive, in case it wasn’t already evident I’m a rookie at this (but I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty and learn): is there any washer/insert beside the bolt? If positive, do they came with the bolt?
Thanks for all the suggestions. Of course I’ll now do it myself, so I only have one question and I beg everybody’s understanding if it seems naive, in case it wasn’t already evident I’m a rookie at this (but I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty and learn): is there any washer/insert beside the bolt? If positive, do they came with the bolt?
I went to autozone (a chain of auto parts and supply) and bought a bolt and a washers for each side of the damper.
mine kept coming out ...even with lock tight....so I bought a clevis bracket to rotate the rod end 90 degrees that way the rod end could rotaionally pivot instead of being jerked from side to side as you hit bumps.
Thanks for all the suggestions. Of course I’ll now do it myself, so I only have one question and I beg everybody’s understanding if it seems naive, in case it wasn’t already evident I’m a rookie at this (but I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty and learn): is there any washer/insert beside the bolt? If positive, do they came with the bolt?
It's just the bolt, nothing else needed. You may have noticed when searching the part#, based on photos, it appears to come with pre applied red thread locker.
Socket size 15mm, 59 ftlb torque.
I would also inspect the threaded portion of the bracket, make sure it's not wollowed out from being loose for awhile. (I doubt that it is)
Thanks again everybody. I went to the dealership and got the bolt, the suggested # was correct. It went on easy peasy and I gave it the 59 PSI torque. The bolt came with the central part of the screw with some kind of thread locker already “painted”, so I did not use another thread locker to avoid any possible reaction with the OEM one.
I was planning to go to the service dept and have a face to face conversation, but when I was there I just wasn’t in the mood for a fight and just got my bolt from parts, really I’m sick and tired to have to tell people something that should be obvious. I only know that I retired just last year from over twenty years of managing a company, and if any of my people would have screwed up a client for something worth maybe $10 time it would not have been an employee for much longer. But that’s it, I guess… I’m just happy it was a quick and easy fix ( Btw, they had only ONE bolt in the inventory…)
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