Ford Motor Company is recalling select 2020-2021 Ford F-350 Super Duty trucks due to issues related to the rear axle housing spring seat.
The defect: in affected vehicles, the rear axle housing spring seat interface may have a weld issue.
The hazards: the weld issue could result in a disconnected driveshaft, which would cause a loss of motive power while driving, or loss of the transmission park function if the parking brake is not applied, with both events increasing the risk of a collision.
Ford is not aware of any accidents or injuries related to this issue.
Components: rear axle, axle housing, rear axle housing spring seat interface.
Affected vehicles: select 2020-2021 Ford F-350 single rear axle trucks equipped with the Ford 6.7L Power Stroke V8 produced at the Ford Kentucky Truck plant between August 6th, 2020 and May 15th, 2021.
Number of vehicles affected: 34,939 vehicles, with:
- 34,855 units in North America
- 84 units in Ford’s International Markets Group
The fix: dealers will inspect the rear axle to check for deformation, and replace if necessary. If it is not deformed, the dealer will perform a weld repair on the spring seats.
Owners should: wait for communications from Ford, which are expected to be mailed the week of August 16th, 2021. The Ford reference number for this recall is 21S31.
Contacts:
- Ford Customer Service: 1-866-436-7332
- FoMoCo Recall Number: 21S31
- NHTSA Toll-Free: 1-888-327-4236
- NHTSA (TTY): 1-800-424-9153
- NHTSA Website: www.safecar.gov
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Comments
Not sure how I’d feel if I owned a F-250 Tremor built between those dates, with the same axle….Gas or Diesel.
Guessing they’re starting with the diesel ‘cuz of the crazy torque numbers, but still, a thin axle wall is a thin axle wall. I’m not an engineer or a metallurgist, but guessing extra welds won’t make up for a thin axle wall over the long hall.
Whats even worse is the time required for repair. My 2020 F 350 passed the inspection but still needs to be welded. My dealer said they can’t do the welding and I must take it to their truck service center. The wait time is 2 to 4 weeks. My concern is no amount of welding is going to fix a thin wall axle tube.
id call the bbb and get a new heavy housing put in it, you cant fool with ford. 2 big
The axle issue was not the spring seat as the article says, it’s a substandard axle housing that is weak where the spring seat sits. Fords fix is to weld all sides of the spring seat. It is not appropriate not to lie to customers who have spent 60- 100k for a truck and basically not tell them that they own a truck with a substandard rear axle! Would you by the truck knowing the axle housing for your truck is not how the truck was designed? No other ford truck has welds on all four sides of the spring seats. Is there tested proof that adding these welds to the spring seat will compensated fully for the thin axle housing? Let’s tell the real story!
in order to weld the axle, you would have to remove axle and strip it completely down, no bearings or rear gears. you can’t just weld on a vehicle, there’s no telling where the current between + and – will flow, it can spark on all the bearings , gears, etc. lay a peace of metal on a steel welding table and weld with ground on the side and you will see the welding steel actually spark and connect to steel table. can you imagine every bearing in the rear end sparking contact? this is a not a good way to fix this problem. nobody is welding on my axle without at least removing it from vehicle and stripping it all down.