2020 ranger. Less than 9k miles. Driveshaft bolts missing

[Mrmonk7663]

Torque is 81ft lbs

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[Delirious]

Looked under truck and found this today. This is insane.

I wonder if a Monday was your build day.

 

[Delirious]

Check lug nuts too all of mine were loose from factory

Was your truck assembled in Mexico or Michigan?

 

[P. A. Schilke]

Looked under truck and found this today. This is insane.

Hi Michael,

It looks like a classic case of never been installed. How this got through inspections could be because the bolt was "top side". Normally in such situations the plant has torque counting guns and flags a uninstalled bolt....would appear this attachment operation did not have such a system installed. I highly recommend you have the correct fastener installed by the dealer and torqued to spec and the other bolts checked for torque. Things like this make me upset. I think Michigan Truck plant suffers with poor assembly quality. Too much of this kind of thing pops up in these forums. Buck stops at the Plant Manager....JMO, he/she needs to go....

Best,
Phil

 

[Mrmonk7663]

Leaving the dealer now. Correct bolts have been installed. All good now but none the less very crazy.

 

[Mrmonk7663]

Fwiw these are the hardware store bolts. They are 10.9. Only difference from factory was the 17mm head and non taper on tip. So if any of you have this problem in the future, ACE hardware had the 10.9 m12x1.75-40

 

[VoodooRanger]

I understand we are all human and prone to mistakes. We have good and bad days, and the really bad days can really take you out of your element.

Now that is completely unacceptable. Ford really needs to focus on their QC. This isn’t a missing tie-down in the bed. A failure with the driveshaft can have horrible ramifications.

 

[Mrmonk7663]

Yes agreed. I am thankful I bought an exhaust to install. If not for that I never would have wen under the truck yesterday.

 

[Mr.Mel]

So let me ask if anyone has exposure in an Automotive plant (Phil) that given this issue is there an ability for back tracking to the build date and identification of the employee at this work station that is responsible for this? If so will that be done? What type of corrective action if any would be possible or performed? I know there are 1,000's of these small issues that crop up and maybe not all can be traced but can they identify trends and common issues to get their $hit quality going the right way?
A disappointing angle on this is did this same employee or another with a lack of caring fill the transmission? Yes the Transmission we cannot easily check the level on to be sure a goofball did not miss the mark and come up short causing issues way down the road.
Very fortunate this was visible and noticed but what do we need to be concerned on our trucks is faulty and hidden to be found another day the "Hard Way?
Ironic these Employees are paid a Kings Wages and give such a poor performance, 4 holes = 4 bolts they should be flipping burgers. Keep up the good work guys getting me riled up on the weekend!

 

[RedDakooter05]

So let me ask if anyone has exposure in an Automotive plant (Phil) that given this issue is there an ability for back tracking to the build date and identification of the employee at this work station that is responsible for this? If so will that be done? What type of corrective action if any would be possible or performed? I know there are 1,000's of these small issues that crop up and maybe not all can be traced but can they identify trends and common issues to get their $hit quality going the right way?
A disappointing angle on this is did this same employee or another with a lack of caring fill the transmission? Yes the Transmission we cannot easily check the level on to be sure a goofball did not miss the mark and come up short causing issues way down the road.
Very fortunate this was visible and noticed but what do we need to be concerned on our trucks is faulty and hidden to be found another day the "Hard Way?
Ironic these Employees are paid a Kings Wages and give such a poor performance, 4 holes = 4 bolts they should be flipping burgers. Keep up the good work guys getting me riled up on the weekend!

Is your last name gibson by chance?

 

[P. A. Schilke]

So let me ask if anyone has exposure in an Automotive plant (Phil) that given this issue is there an ability for back tracking to the build date and identification of the employee at this work station that is responsible for this? If so will that be done? What type of corrective action if any would be possible or performed? I know there are 1,000's of these small issues that crop up and maybe not all can be traced but can they identify trends and common issues to get their $hit quality going the right way?
A disappointing angle on this is did this same employee or another with a lack of caring fill the transmission? Yes the Transmission we cannot easily check the level on to be sure a goofball did not miss the mark and come up short causing issues way down the road.
Very fortunate this was visible and noticed but what do we need to be concerned on our trucks is faulty and hidden to be found another day the "Hard Way?
Ironic these Employees are paid a Kings Wages and give such a poor performance, 4 holes = 4 bolts they should be flipping burgers. Keep up the good work guys getting me riled up on the weekend!

Hi Mel,

Provocative questions... The short answer to can the line operator be id'd...most likely the answer is yes...the plant could probably id the operator on duty at that station. That said it is unlikely this is a systemic issue, done on purpose, operation is not allotted enough time, it was the relief operator on the line so the operator could take a piss...and so on. Line went down for shift change or end of the day and so it goes. The plant is likely not going to do anything to something that is very likely a OneZee.

So lets get rid of the inflammatory remarks like this "catastrophic failure" There is a piloted joint and three fasteners likely would be shown to be adequate up until one more loosens up and a vibration or rattle etc occurs such that the dealer or customer would investigate. If critical, the Ford CCRG (Critical Concern Review Group) would get involved but not on something like this.

These forums are but a small part of the Ranger Population and this is the first time a driveshaft bolt has been flagged as I can remember.

For critical systems, there are measures taken to insure integrity. Example of which I am familiar, The 4G Ranger single point crash sensor.... This critical sensor is bolted to the transmission tunnel under the dash. It is held in place by three fasteners. It is critical these three fasteners are torqued to spec. Now on the trim line an operator through the passenger door opening, places the crash sensor on the tunnel and installs two right side fasteners. A few stations down the line on the left another operator installs the left fastener. A few more stations down a third operator hits all three fasteners with a COUNTING electric torque wrench...this is where if the count each time is not 3, the portion of the line shuts down and believe me, there is a scramble to correct and get the line running....

My take is that the driveshaft attachment is not deemed critical and of need of this type of system. This is not a systemic problem. Now, on a non critical operation where the operator continually misses, the plant will send plant engineering out to study the problem, which may necessitate a time study and in many instances the process is revised to give the operator time to complete the task. This usually occurs during new model launch...

Yikes...looks like I started writing War & Peace...

best,
Phil

 

[Trigganometry]

It’s fixed now. Bolt head is 17mm on the ace bolts and factory is 15mm

Did you do all 4 of them? Do you know the grade temper and torque spec? That’s just as important as having them there.

Edit: got to the end of thread and OP got er done! My bad ?

 

[BladeRanger]

Looked under truck and found this today. This is insane.

Ohh shit, I had mine for a about 1.5 years and going to check it soon.

 

[janitorjim]

Hi Mel,

Provocative questions... The short answer to can the line operator be id'd...most likely the answer is yes...the plant could probably id the operator on duty at that station. That said it is unlikely this is a systemic issue, done on purpose, operation is not allotted enough time, it was the relief operator on the line so the operator could take a piss...and so on. Line went down for shift change or end of the day and so it goes. The plant is likely not going to do anything to something that is very likely a OneZee.

So lets get rid of the inflammatory remarks like this "catastrophic failure" There is a piloted joint and three fasteners likely would be shown to be adequate up until one more loosens up and a vibration or rattle etc occurs such that the dealer or customer would investigate. If critical, the Ford CCRG (Critical Concern Review Group) would get involved but not on something like this.

These forums are but a small part of the Ranger Population and this is the first time a driveshaft bolt has been flagged as I can remember.

For critical systems, there are measures taken to insure integrity. Example of which I am familiar, The 4G Ranger single point crash sensor.... This critical sensor is bolted to the transmission tunnel under the dash. It is held in place by three fasteners. It is critical these three fasteners are torqued to spec. Now on the trim line an operator through the passenger door opening, places the crash sensor on the tunnel and installs two right side fasteners. A few stations down the line on the left another operator installs the left fastener. A few more stations down a third operator hits all three fasteners with a COUNTING electric torque wrench...this is where if the count each time is not 3, the portion of the line shuts down and believe me, there is a scramble to correct and get the line running....

My take is that the driveshaft attachment is not deemed critical and of need of this type of system. This is not a systemic problem. Now, on a non critical operation where the operator continually misses, the plant will send plant engineering out to study the problem, which may necessitate a time study and in many instances the process is revised to give the operator time to complete the task. This usually occurs during new model launch...

Yikes...looks like I started writing War & Peace...

best,
Phil

I think from one of the pictures he actually had 2 of the bolts missing leaving just 2 actually installed

 

[Floyd]

Does anybody think that dealer prep bears any responsibility?
Does anybody think that there might be a bit of over reaction to it ?
During the seventies, on rear drive new vehicles it was important to have their front wheel bearings repacked as a part of dealer prep...In fact I would not take delivery without a thorough inspection including time on the lift. I usually spent several hours at home after delivery checking every detail and fluid. After all that I still had a pathetic 12000 mile warranty.
Ford should and did take responsibility for this mistake, that's why there is a warranty.
Some chastisement may be in order here, just not the death penalty for "Jaywalking"

As "serious" as this seems, it is just a minor mistake (not systemic) which was easily corrected.
It is fortunate that it did not result in significant down time, towing, or damage.
There is , of course, simply no limit to the possible "what ifs"
Let's not loose sight of the fact that the OP still has the best vehicle of its type available and got the problem corrected in a responsive and timely manner.

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