Wow! That's terrible. Doesn't the state care about anyones' belongings? I'm glad they don't use salt here. It seems like every state has downfalls; when I lived in S Dakota the hail was so bad it would total out your car in 10 minutes, when I was in Oregon they were so broke the crooks and crazy people were running rampant on the streets and now were I live in California they are going broke and letting half the crooks out of jail also not to mention they are cutting everything they can think of. Our Governer didn't like it when we refused to pay more taxes so he cut everything in sight, not to mention the unemployment has been steadily increasing for months.

 

Thanks Furian, ur post didnt show on my laptop... after seeing that price tag repairing what I got seems a whole lot more appealing!

Also, in regards to the rust picture... that puts things into perspective for all you non-rustbelters... however all of us up here have seen WAY WAY WORSE. The average lifespan for a truck body up here is about 5 years... I don't care who makes it. I've already seen the brand new body style chevy's with rusted out bedsides and the bottoms of doors.

My only advice, and the reason I believe my truck's body is fairing so well is spray your truck off at least twice a week during winter. Including the underside.

Well if yall could because I'm on the complete broke, please keep an eye out for a used passenger side hub with ABS. Once I can gather the parts I need I'll start digging into her.

 

We wish they use sand instead salt. That explained why I junk lot free trucks I got because rot frame.


This pictures was today. First picture was in June. See how fast it grow. Forgot we replace exhaust system 2 times because they rot fast.

 

That's WHY they salt the roads, to get rid of the hard pack snow and ice, to prevent accidents and loss of life and property. We salt commercial parking lots like crazy because everyone is so sue happy. If they slip and fall, they dont think, "gee, maybe I shouldn't be wearing 4" heels right after an ice storm", instead they blame the property owner and sue for injuries. I just replaced the rear bumper of my 2005 this summer, it was completely rusted out, but not just from the roads, but from the salt getting spread from the back of it... The 05 has rusty rear quarters, the bottom of the tailgate is rusty, both rear box sides are rusty, rust spots on the roof, and a couple good bubbles under the third brake light. The 01 has the same plus tons of rust underneath, axles, etc, and the rear fenders are just starting to open up, not nearly as bad as Mil's, but it shouldn't be too long.

Kinda the nature of the beast, we have to plan to replace them alot sooner than if we were in a nice warm ice free climate...

 

But my point is that why do they use salt there and here in the West they use sand. I guess you get it from Utah but it is about the same distance for us and sand is no rare commodity. Here we don't crash (much) and don't have rust to contend with.

 

If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me that... LOL...

Without getting too technical on ya, sand does nothing to remove the ice, melt the ice, or otherwise get rid of the problem. It's a band-aid, and provides temporary traction for vehicles. Many studies have shown sand to be ineffective after only 10 vehicles have driven over it, because it gets pushed down into the ice and hard-packed snow. Sand on top of asphalt/concrete can also be very dangerous for pedestrians once the snow/ice has melted and the sand is left behind. Sand also creates alot of extra clean-up costs in the spring time as it has to be swept up. Lastly, the environmental concerns, sand creates a tremendous amount of sediment in bodies of water, streams, and rivers, and sandy soil conditions have a hard time growing grass, washes out easily, etc. Many municipalities and contractors are figuring all this out, and switching entirely to chemical deicing, as it improves road conditions faster, and as a contractor, allows me to provide better service to my customers for all the reasons mentioned above. The downside, is we get to deal with more corrosion.

One other possible reason why they use more sand there, and more salt here: Temperature. I could be wrong, but out there, doesn't it usually warm back up pretty quick? Perhaps they figure the ice will melt quickly enough on it's own, that sand works as a temporary traction aid. Here, it seems like we stay below freezing for about 4 months out of the year, so once ice forms, it generally doesn't melt itself, so we salt it to get rid of it, before it becomes a bigger problem. Just a guess, I'm not real familiar with your climate where you live.

Whew... Hows that for off-topic... Sorry guys...

 

Yes I think the fact that it warms back up pretty quick has something to do with it. They just add more sand when it freezes again until it becomes a gritty, high friction mess and they wait 'till spring to clean it all up.

 

This kit will do it. Lot's of $$$$$ though

http://www.dynatrac.com/products_freespin_ford.html

 

Hey guys just an update, the repo man has been evaded and my loan for the truck is current And I have procured repair funds for this job.

Right now I have this thread floating around with an insider or 2 at ford to see how they diagnose this failure... when I took the truck to Fox Ford in Grand Rapids they recommended I call the 1800 number to ford to complain considering this is NOT a common failure and this solid front axle is the main selling point of their trucks. Hopefully I'll be able to get some restitution for this, otherwise I'm going to think very long and hard before getting a new SD when this one's days have faded.

But I plan on dropping the diff cover tomorrow and taking lots of pics. I also have found 3 junk yards in the state with parts I need at a MUCH cheaper price than the stealership. So hopefully I can have my 4x4 functional before the first big snow! In my personal experience this truck is useless in the snow without 4x4 this repair is of utmost priority.

 

Ive read this post a few times and here are my thoughts.
The truck in question has 150,000 miles on it and the owner states the truck has had ball joints replaced prior. In the superduty section when replacing ball joints, this area in question gets a disassembly and a regreasing and new seals as part of the process, so possibly something started going amiss during that process.Also Ive seen a few times where a bearing gets damaged during an accident from the impact and does not show up till months later. The cause of failure is subjective and could have better been determined if when it happened the vehicle had been parked immediately.
When the failure occured, instead of parking the vehicle immediately and calling a flatbed the owner instead kept driving the truck with the area squealing for help until the area was smoking and red hot. When that happened, there was no possibility of replacing a few parts, it then needed a whole assembly used axle .
Unless you have an extended warranty, ford had drawn the line in the sand on warranty work long ago and you certainly crossed that line years ago.
That said, the only cost effective option is a lkq complete front end axle assembly in the same gear ratio as what the truck had. Also keep in mind that I believe an 04 assembly would have different thread pitch on the wheel studs, and 05 switched to the coil spring assembly.
When I used to have a automotive repair shop, there were basically a few different types of customers, and the one I think of today was the one where the vehicle was driven until there was no possible way it could roll anymore, and then it would get sent to me with the quote " do whatever the cheapest way possible".

 

pics of the damage are in the 'stumped with my dana 60, please advise' thread. Check em out! I wish the axle bearings gave you some sort of heads up when they decided to head south.

 

Why stop at just the Free Spin hub kit? The Combo Kit has knuckles and more!!

Dynatrac

As to the magnesium comments earlier in this thread, have you ever seen the magnesium fire starters with a flint rod on one side? I have one and just to see how it worked I shaved some off and sparked it. WOW Bright and hot, it left a small heap of glowing hot slag. Not only is it used for aerial illumination flares, it's also used as a missile decoy by jet fighters to fool IR seekers it burns so hot.

 

I had a similar issue with my WARN hubs. I contacted them and they instructed me to return damaged hubs and they sent me new ones for FREE!!!
my hub on passenger side failed due to a bad axle seal. I ended up replacing both and it centered the axle shaft correctly and all is well with my hubs and bearings(main 4x4 bearing was shot as well)
good luck!

 

So I contacted Warn today regarding hub failure... gave them very minimal information aside from the fact it was obviously broken and described to them how so. They're response was 'the only time we have seen one of our hubs fail on a ford is if they've been smashed into a rock or there is a unit bearing failure... in both cases it is not covered by warranty"

Furthermore they said I had to have a Warn certified dealer receipt, and i bought my hubs off of ebay. Do you think its worth mailing it in over or should I just give up and buy a new pair?