I too live in Saskatchewan and would be more than interested in who the actual dealer is. Some of my friends have been getting good service from Naber Ford at Shellbrook, west of Prince Albert.

It is my belief that dealers have a considerable amount of discretion when it comes to warranty matters and it might still be worth looking into a dealer that will go to bat for you.

Interestingly enough I have an 04 F150 HD sitting in Cold Lake, Alberta with about 58 000 km on it and which I would guess is over the limit on the 3 years. The differential cover has obviously been off as there is white sealant showing all around the cover. Before I ever turn a wheel I will be doing everything possible to get that dealer service department to tell me exactly what has been done with that differential and by who. Unfortunately, I did not pick that up until after I had already made the deal on the truck.

Of course the worst case scenario is that I will replace the differential components with aftermarket ones that work properly. I just talked to an owner/mechanic at a transmission shop here in Saskatoon yesterday and he certainly gave me a positive feeling that he could get me a substantially improved system for under $1000.

One of the interesting things that he said is that he drives the vehicle and takes a gear pattern before he does anything else. As long as the system works and sounds OK , even if the gear pattern does not look right, he tries everything he can to replicate it. He says in the long run this has worked very well for him. Of course if the new install does not sound or work right he will then start to change the pattern to a more conventional one and more than likely replace the ring and pinion as well.

He also told me that properly setting up a rear end is a bit of an art and that some of the mechanics that he hires have the talent and some don't. Pretty unlikely that a dealership would even notice something like that as most dealer mechanics are just part changers.

 

the only time i've seen rear ends taken out like that (in relatively few miles) is on a mustang where the axle housing was messed up. i'm with everyone on here, ford rears are pretty much bullet proof, clutches may wear out but other than that they're great and hard to break. I've yet to hear anyone breaking rings and pinions that were installed correctly and something else didn't give first (axle tubes, housing, etc)

 

Yes, exactly. That is why I'm curious. I'm talking about new, untouched, from the factory units that seem to pile up. Is it inproper set up from the factory? or parts failure? plain and simple. Anybody find out yet?

 

I took the parts to my local mechanic today to let him have a look, and he couldnt find any obvious problem. He got on the phone to a big gear supply center he deals with in the states to ask if they have heard anything of a problem. He was told that there was a problem with the way the gears were machined. He also said that they 're the most replaced gear set they handle. As far as the dealer it was at Melfort Sask. I still can't believe that in this day of such tightcompetition of sales that they wouldn't even tryed to phone one of their warrenty people to try to help. I would have probably not been so hot if they would have shown some good will,and at least tryed to make an effort to help, rather than hang me out to dry.I guess they don't need my buisness and if thats the way them & ford canada want to be, they won't be getting any more.

 

Some of my friends were dealing with Melody Motors for a while. They have now, like you, quit for the same reason, poor to nonexistent after sales service.

 

Dont dealers/manufacturers understand that if they look after the customer theyll come back, even after the warrantys up? Many of the small independant shops in my area arent small anymore. They provide better customer service and have grown like crazy because nobody wants to deal with the dealerships anymore. I live in a booming town so the dealers are still busy selling trucks, but when things slow down and they arent selling, they wont have any customers.

 

Lets notforget about ford itself. They obviously have no quality control over their dealers, or choose not to. Either way I talked to them one more time yesterday to give them (ford canada) one last chance to redeam themselves and they still said no, so I went down to my local chev dealer and traded it off, which to me & my family was very dissapointing because I really loved my ford,but because ford &the dealership wouldn't support me I can't support them. That was their choice. There is no reason in the world that I can think of that either of them would not want to know why that second diff. went out after 10000 kms (6000 miles) other than they just don't care, so why then should I care about their prduct either.

 

Sorry to hear about your misfortunes. It sounds like the dealer really should have cared enough to rebuild it on thier dime. There is no reason why a fresh rebuild should fail in 6K miles. It sounds like someone was rebuilding a rear that didn't know what they were doing.

One of these days, people will realize how much customer service means. My mother bought her first Lexus years ago and continues to buy them from the same dealer, time and time again. She states that sales and service are top notch. A free loaner on any warranty repair or repair requiring more than one day and a first come first serve "rental" for same day service.

This is the same reason my father has purchased 3 Fords from the same dealer. A 98 Taurus, 99 F-150, and 05 F-150. All of them required warrany repairs and service was always first class.

Personally, I'd rather pay a little more for good service than a little less for poor service.