Could this have damaged my front Dif?

[Mitch65]

Hey guys!

I posted a thread a few days ago about having a front axle seal leak. Well I took it to Ford and they fixed and returned my truck. The needle bearing was missing completely from factory assembly and they replaced it and told me everything is fine. Truck is a tremor with 1300 miles on it. Has not been offroad yet.

i need someone to chime in here that’s smarter than me with this stuff. Could this cause damage to my front dif? Truck drives fine and shifts in and out of 4wd with no issues.

what the hell is a needle bearing anyways?

to the engineers or people who know this stuff that chime in thank you in advanced.

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[Tracy Bowman]

@P. A. Schilke can you help?

 

[JoeDirt]

They go around the shafts and the housing. Could cause massive damage to the axles or input shafts.

 

[Scooter]

A needle bearing is a pin, basically. Small diameter with a longer length. Multiples stacked into a circle where a shaft rides inside it. I am not to happy with the problems I am hearing with the 2021 Tremor. That's poor quality if they missed a pin from the factory. Dana builds the Diffs.

 

[Mitch65]

A needle bearing is a pin, basically. Small diameter with a longer length. Multiples stacked into a circle where a shaft rides inside it. I am not to happy with the problems I am hearing with the 2021 Tremor. That's poor quality if they missed a pin from the factory. Dana builds the Diffs.

they missed the whole bearing. There was no needle bearing that’s why it was leaking

 

[Mitch65]

They go around the shafts and the housing. Could cause massive damage to the axles or input shafts.

Is there a way to tell if damage was done. I don’t feel anything odd when driving it. 4wd feels ok too

 

[jss81258]

If it ran without long enough, then yes. I would guess that not using 4wd allowed it to run as long as it did. The seal most likely kept it centered well enough until it wore as evidenced by the leaking. The axle spline and carrier internal spline might also see wear but it was probably caught before being damaged.

The old dodge dakota front axles had bronze bushings and know of one that wore to the point where the bushing was destroyed and the housing was damaged. The owner epoxied a new bushing in place and the truck is still going strong.

 

[Mitch65]

my opinion, is that the mechanics hopefully did a cursory look for secondary damage.
seeing they changed nothing else I would assume nothing else was damaged.

with no bearing there, the seal would be the only thing keeping the shaft aligned.
misalignment would allow the shaft(s) to contact the housings, especially under load.
if there was contact, there would be wear marks on the shaft where the bearings are supposed to run, or to the housing itself.
wear or damage to the housing would affect the proper fit of the outer race of the bearing. wear/damage to the shaft would cause a bearing failure down the road. Small needle bearings don't survive long if that's the case.
Put the trust in your mechanics that they did the job correctly.

this makes me feel better. I spoke to the tech and he told me just that! He said he is very experienced and didn’t see anything abnormal. Maybe the fact I didn’t use 4x4 (except once just to make sure it worked) and the fact it only had 1300 miles saved me. It’s under warranty another 59k miles so we will see lol

 

[dtech]

Ok a needle bearing story from long ago, removed the driveshaft from my 1959 pontiac bonneville 389, cannot recall why but needle bearings fell out of the u joint and I lost some or didn't have the time to put them all back, had a hot date that evening and had to get ready. Pick her up and she was really cute, we are driving and there is some rumbling and vibrations happening, she asked if the car was ok, I said yes it does that once in a while. Then heard kind of a thud, I'm pressing on the gas and the car isn't accelerating, glance in the rear view mirror and see something long and skinny lying a ways back in the road. So much for my aspirations for that evening.

 

[IdahoRanger]

Ok a needle bearing story from long ago, removed the driveshaft from my 1959 pontiac bonneville 389, cannot recall why but needle bearings fell out of the u joint and I lost some or didn't have the time to put them all back, had a hot date that evening and had to get ready. Pick her up and she was really cute, we are driving and there is some rumbling and vibrations happening, she asked if the car was ok, I said yes it does that once in a while. Then heard kind of a thud, I'm pressing on the gas and the car isn't accelerating, glance in the rear view mirror and see something long and skinny lying a ways back in the road. So much for my aspirations for that evening.

Can't do much without a driveshaft.

 

[P. A. Schilke]

Hey guys!

I posted a thread a few days ago about having a front axle seal leak. Well I took it to Ford and they fixed and returned my truck. The needle bearing was missing completely from factory assembly and they replaced it and told me everything is fine. Truck is a tremor with 1300 miles on it. Has not been offroad yet.

i need someone to chime in here that’s smarter than me with this stuff. Could this cause damage to my front dif? Truck drives fine and shifts in and out of 4wd with no issues.

what the hell is a needle bearing anyways?

to the engineers or people who know this stuff that chime in thank you in advanced.

Hi Mitch,

Amazing that Dana could produce and ship this front diff assembly. I really think you are okay based on the inspection of the mechanic for additional wear. As others have stated, the seal likely held the shaft in place to a degree and I would trust the mechanic that it is good to go.

That said, I recommend you call Ford Customer Care and log a formal complaint. Demand a new diff. It will likely not be granted but then asked for an extended warranty for the current diff in the vehicle...hold their feet to the fire and see if they cave at all. This will be charged back to Dana as it was their mistake which should help your case....If nothing else....you have now documented the complaint on the front diff.

Best,
Phil

 

[Mitch65]

Hi Mitch,

Amazing that Dana could produce and ship this front diff assembly. I really think you are okay based on the inspection of the mechanic for additional wear. As others have stated, the seal likely held the shaft in place to a degree and I would trust the mechanic that it is good to go.

That said, I recommend you call Ford Customer Care and log a formal complaint. Demand a new diff. It will likely not be granted but then asked for an extended warranty for the current diff in the vehicle...hold their feet to the fire and see if they cave at all. This will be charged back to Dana as it was their mistake which should help your case....If nothing else....you have now documented the complaint on the front diff.

Best,
Phil

Thank you for comment on this Phil! I have read a lot you have said here on the forum and I wish I had the knowledge you did.

I was shocked when they told me too! I’ll contact Ford customer service and file a complaint and do what you told me.

 

[Cmar]

That diff was obviously assembled Monday morning, or Friday afternoon! How could they leave out an entire bearing!
So the clamshell front diffs were made by Dana, I did wonder who made them or if they were in house Ford.

 

[Mitch65]

It makes me nervous about the future for sure. I’m surprised I didn’t catch it earlier. I’m sensitive to any kind of vibrations and the dam truck drove perfect. It still does.

I mean I didn’t feel a thing!

 

[P. A. Schilke]

@P. A. Schilke can you help?

Hi Tracy,

Thank you so much for sending this alert....not sure I helped much but am familliar with design concept...Fellow should be okay, but Dana should be ashamed for not having a process to flag this glaring omission of hard parts.... Dana ran hot and cold during my days at Ford... Lost a lot of respect for them with the Dana 44 axle...seem the saga continues...Ford Sterling Axle was no picnic either, but heads above Dana...

best,
Phil

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