DMac
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #1
I have found a safety issue with the rough country 2.5" leveling kit though. I contacted rough country about it and then called back this morning to see what the engineers had said/found.
I had my leveling kit installed last Monday at a local shop who has a very good reputation, and who does good work. I drove the truck back and forth to work (30 min. Drive) for the week with no issues I noticed.
Saturday I drove the wife to Birmingham (1.5 hr. drive) and just as I exited the interstate, luckily slowing from 80mph to 20mph on the ramp, my front end went crazy, trying to pull left into oncoming traffic as I was making the right hand merge turn. I fought it over to the right hand side of the road in a construction zone and got it stopped.
When I looked at the front end, the passenger side tie rod had worked loose and came free. The threads on the ball joint were a little marred, but no damage had occurred. Of course I had a short stomping/cussing fit, then I walked the 45 min. in a thunderstorm to AutoZone and bought enough nuts and lock washers to insure I had the proper thread style, then walked back and repaired it and went home.
I took everything apart once home and checked the torques on everything, and paid close attention to the surviving tie rod end. Everything was up to spec's. Also, I inspected the tie rod that came loose for signs of faulty install (stripped threads, cross thread, etc.) and found nothing. But I did find the flaw.
The mechanic followed the install instructions from rough country to the letter. The problem is that whoever wrote them specified that you "retain the hardware" for the reinstall. Back in the "castle nut/cotter pin" days that was fine, but the 2019 Ranger front end doesn't have those, they use a version of a Nylok nut, which has the nylon retaining ring at the top.
A Nylok nut is a one time use nut, once loosened or removed, you should replace the nut, because it no longer safely holds torque. The mechanic didn't notice because he was following the instructions, I didn't notice it because I didn't check their work, and probably still would have missed it once installed.
Anyway, the guy from rough country told me this morning that the engineers said they are going to start including two new nuts for the tie rod ends. When I asked if they were going to contact the folks who already purchased the kit, I really never got a definitive answer, which is why I'm posting this here. I know it won't reach everyone, but if it saves someone from a wreck, then that's something, because I almost went diagonally into cross traffic, and the pucker factor was crazy high.
Pass this around please, so people check their installs. Those nuts are sold in pairs from Ford, pick some up and be safe.
Thanks
I had my leveling kit installed last Monday at a local shop who has a very good reputation, and who does good work. I drove the truck back and forth to work (30 min. Drive) for the week with no issues I noticed.
Saturday I drove the wife to Birmingham (1.5 hr. drive) and just as I exited the interstate, luckily slowing from 80mph to 20mph on the ramp, my front end went crazy, trying to pull left into oncoming traffic as I was making the right hand merge turn. I fought it over to the right hand side of the road in a construction zone and got it stopped.
When I looked at the front end, the passenger side tie rod had worked loose and came free. The threads on the ball joint were a little marred, but no damage had occurred. Of course I had a short stomping/cussing fit, then I walked the 45 min. in a thunderstorm to AutoZone and bought enough nuts and lock washers to insure I had the proper thread style, then walked back and repaired it and went home.
I took everything apart once home and checked the torques on everything, and paid close attention to the surviving tie rod end. Everything was up to spec's. Also, I inspected the tie rod that came loose for signs of faulty install (stripped threads, cross thread, etc.) and found nothing. But I did find the flaw.
The mechanic followed the install instructions from rough country to the letter. The problem is that whoever wrote them specified that you "retain the hardware" for the reinstall. Back in the "castle nut/cotter pin" days that was fine, but the 2019 Ranger front end doesn't have those, they use a version of a Nylok nut, which has the nylon retaining ring at the top.
A Nylok nut is a one time use nut, once loosened or removed, you should replace the nut, because it no longer safely holds torque. The mechanic didn't notice because he was following the instructions, I didn't notice it because I didn't check their work, and probably still would have missed it once installed.
Anyway, the guy from rough country told me this morning that the engineers said they are going to start including two new nuts for the tie rod ends. When I asked if they were going to contact the folks who already purchased the kit, I really never got a definitive answer, which is why I'm posting this here. I know it won't reach everyone, but if it saves someone from a wreck, then that's something, because I almost went diagonally into cross traffic, and the pucker factor was crazy high.
Pass this around please, so people check their installs. Those nuts are sold in pairs from Ford, pick some up and be safe.
Thanks
Sponsored