Steering Tie Rod Failure at Speed - Ranger Raptor

[spazzyfry123]

As previously mentioned, escalated self advocacy required... ???

Funny you should mention.

I tried a few times with Ford Corp with ping pongs, “sorry we are closed”, choose your cliche.

Saturday, I had finally connected with another Ford Corp person today to tell me that the best they can do is escalate to the dealer (we’ve already been there, done that my man...).

It is embarrassing that this is the best that Ford can do. As I've given in who knows how many presentations around the world in my professional life... "Communication is the best tool in your toolbox..."

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It is really sad that a company as large as Ford cannot make a decision about a repair.

Not that this could happen in a 100 years, but if everyone stopped buying Ford vehicles and stated why, I'd suspect Ford's attitude towards customers would change.

 

[spazzyfry123]

Funny you should mention.

I tried a few times with Ford Corp with ping pongs, “sorry we are closed”, choose your cliche.

Saturday, I had finally connected with another Ford Corp person today to tell me that the best they can do is escalate to the dealer (we’ve already been there, done that my man...).

It is embarrassing that this is the best that Ford can do. As I've given in who knows how many presentations around the world in my professional life... "Communication is the best tool in your toolbox..."

Another part of this conversation (sorry, trying to gather my thoughts as it has been a wild week/weekend and forgetting a pile of details I am sure), the only "consolation" from Ford Corp was that if I wanted a rental (it's been over a week without the truck) I would need to go source my own vehicle on my own dime. The reason being is because the dealer has been unable to finalize their internal approval process for a rental, but Ford can only tell me to go get one myself and is not intervening. To then go through a retro-reimbursement process without any guarantee of said reimbursement. No guidelines provided aside from "it must be a Ford." Which with the experience thus far, I would almost expect that if I rented another non-Raptor Ranger or an F-150 or "fill in the blank", that the reimbursement would be denied because I didn't adhere to the guidelines that were never presented to me.

For added clarity of the fraction of clarity that I have at current, my current state is that the parts are being replaced, but the parts are on backorder. The two paths, in my eyes, are the (1) mechanical diagnosis/replacement/repair, and (2) customer service piece to ensure that I am happy through the process.

(1) Offers extremely limited visibility aside from "damn, that's crazy, but we're fixing it."

(2) Communication is effectively nonexistent. Seemingly countless misses with this thread partially in place as a holding tank for my thoughts as this progresses to document a time line of sorts. Multiple days go by without any proactive communication from the dealer nor Ford with ALL but a single phone call from the dealer (five days after the instance to confirm what we already know) being initiated by myself asking for an update. And believe me, I am off-the-charts patient when it comes to servicing broken stuff - it has been my career for many a year. I am NOT hounding these folks. I am extremely calm, nice, and understanding, but all the same firm in that this is unacceptable.

At this point, I'm convinced that I need to rename the thread to focus on Ford's customer service as that is the bigger blow. Which is really saying something given the severity of (1)...

 

[Dino Jockey]

Glad to hear that it will be repaired. Many stories of other F products with same issue that doesn’t seem to qualify for warranty protection.

 

[daytoncarter]

@spazzyfry123 - Ford is not going to acknowledge any fault, that would create a potential recall scenario if it's a design defect, I'd be glad they're replacing it and even that may be "goodwill."


But yeah, poor customer service.

 

[spazzyfry123]

@spazzyfry123 - Ford is not going to acknowledge any fault, that would create a potential recall scenario if it's a design defect, I'd be glad they're replacing it and even that may be "goodwill."


But yeah, poor customer service.

Welp this is where we landed. No indication, no analysis, just a repair and go without explanation - and I certainly suspect your reasoning is why.

All in it took I believe 11 or 12 days from the day it occurred to getting my truck back - of which it was 9 or 10 days without a vehicle while they figured out their own internal razzmatazz to give me a Ford Escape.

The only (parts) line item for the whole repair was the tie rod itself. Truck drives just like it did before as best as I can tell (I've put maybe 50 miles on it since I picked it up right before Thanksgiving). The steering wheel may be off center by 1° to the right, but it may just be my imagination. I feel like I need to go drive another one, but the steering doesn't feel as tight, but again... I really think it's in my head as I am searching for a problem after getting the truck back. No wobbles, no pulls...seems fine.

I'm not sure how I feel about the lack of investigation for a root cause.

On one hand, "all is well that ends well" seems to be suitable to a degree - through further investigation I would almost certainly expect this to then be pushed back on me (it sure ain't my fault), and then a long argument would ensue that would likely end in some form of litigation an ambulance chaser would salivate over. My initial reaction is that it's a fluke as I cannot find any record of this happening elsewhere and that I've ironed out the bug for my truck.

On the remaining hand, how the hell did this happen? Why did it happen? Will it happen again? Given the sheer "who gives a damn" attitude expressly laid upon me by all Ford employees and their affiliates I interacted with (which has to be dozens all-in at this point), I don't think this would actually end up going anywhere short of a significant time suck - of which, mine is in significant short supply and extreme demand. The benefit to effort ratio here is going to be leaning heavy in the red for me.

So what's next? Well I still haven't made it to 1,000 miles on the odometer. I just burned some Ford Points for a rubber mat. I finished my Softopper purchase last night (damn you Black Friday). I still like the truck. I think it's rad. I like rad. Just got my E-mail for Rapter Assault School.

My gambling skills are garbage - lit some good money on fire last time at the casino - but I don't see lightning striking twice...

 

[Onceaneagle]

Welp this is where we landed. No indication, no analysis, just a repair and go without explanation - and I certainly suspect your reasoning is why.

All in it took I believe 11 or 12 days from the day it occurred to getting my truck back - of which it was 9 or 10 days without a vehicle while they figured out their own internal razzmatazz to give me a Ford Escape.

The only (parts) line item for the whole repair was the tie rod itself. Truck drives just like it did before as best as I can tell (I've put maybe 50 miles on it since I picked it up right before Thanksgiving). The steering wheel may be off center by 1° to the right, but it may just be my imagination. I feel like I need to go drive another one, but the steering doesn't feel as tight, but again... I really think it's in my head as I am searching for a problem after getting the truck back. No wobbles, no pulls...seems fine.

I'm not sure how I feel about the lack of investigation for a root cause.

On one hand, "all is well that ends well" seems to be suitable to a degree - through further investigation I would almost certainly expect this to then be pushed back on me (it sure ain't my fault), and then a long argument would ensue that would likely end in some form of litigation an ambulance chaser would salivate over. My initial reaction is that it's a fluke as I cannot find any record of this happening elsewhere and that I've ironed out the bug for my truck.

On the remaining hand, how the hell did this happen? Why did it happen? Will it happen again? Given the sheer "who gives a damn" attitude expressly laid upon me by all Ford employees and their affiliates I interacted with (which has to be dozens all-in at this point), I don't think this would actually end up going anywhere short of a significant time suck - of which, mine is in significant short supply and extreme demand. The benefit to effort ratio here is going to be leaning heavy in the red for me.

So what's next? Well I still haven't made it to 1,000 miles on the odometer. I just burned some Ford Points for a rubber mat. I finished my Softopper purchase last night (damn you Black Friday). I still like the truck. I think it's rad. I like rad. Just got my E-mail for Rapter Assault School.

My gambling skills are garbage - lit some good money on fire last time at the casino - but I don't see lightning striking twice...

If you were inclined, an alignment might not hurt matters. But me thinks RAS will shake out anything else, if there is something to shake out, and you can decide from there. Glad to know you were not stuck with the tab. At least Ford did that much for you.

 

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Good to hear you have your truck back @spazzyfry123!

 

[cc1999]

Glad you got your truck back!
Very sad deal, that you had to go through all that, and just salt in wound to not end up with any real answers.


I did see this video over the weekend and thought about your situation. Least wise the part where the guy discusses tie-rods.
‘These aftermarket tie-rods might be worth a look if your still concerned about the quality of the factory parts.

 

[Jason B]

If you were inclined, an alignment might not hurt matters. But me thinks RAS will shake out anything else, if there is something to shake out, and you can decide from there. Glad to know you were not stuck with the tab. At least Ford did that much for you.

Replacing a tie rod should mandate an alignment. There's no way they put in a new one a lucked out getting at the right length. Shoot, a hard jolt on a wheel like should get an alignment check, even if nothing obvious was broken or bent.

 

[DesertBumAZ]

Glad you got your truck back!
Very sad deal, that you had to go through all that, and just salt in wound to not end up with any real answers.


I did see this video over the weekend and thought about your situation. Least wise the part where the guy discusses tie-rods.
‘These aftermarket tie-rods might be worth a look if your still concerned about the quality of the factory parts.

Literally did the same thing.. . *Immediately googles tie rod upgrades*

 

[spazzyfry123]

Glad you got your truck back!
Very sad deal, that you had to go through all that, and just salt in wound to not end up with any real answers.


I did see this video over the weekend and thought about your situation. Least wise the part where the guy discusses tie-rods.
‘These aftermarket tie-rods might be worth a look if your still concerned about the quality of the factory parts.

It’s funny, my father in law picked up a side by side here last week. I had it parked next to my truck and the tie rods on it had a larger diameter than the Ranger…

 

[spazzyfry123]

Replacing a tie rod should mandate an alignment. There's no way they put in a new one a lucked out getting at the right length. Shoot, a hard jolt on a wheel like should get an alignment check, even if nothing obvious was broken or bent.

Yeah it definitely got an alignment.

 

[AlloyPony]

I don't understand why the Raptors (Bronco and Ranger) are the models with the most problems. You would think that since these are the flagships of each model, Ford would have spent more time on development. But it seems like the Raptors are riddled with issues and the base trims are not. Even the engines in the Raptors are the most problematic.

At least, that's the feeling I've gotten from hanging around the forums for the last two years.

 

[LDHunter]

I don't understand why the Raptors (Bronco and Ranger) are the models with the most problems. You would think that since these are the flagships of each model, Ford would have spent more time on development. But it seems like the Raptors are riddled with issues and the base trims are not. Even the engines in the Raptors are the most problematic.

At least, that's the feeling I've gotten from hanging around the forums for the last two years.

This is a problem with forums. One guy/gal or a very few have an issue and it gets blown up in proportion until people think that it's an issue with all the vehicles or whatever the forum is about. I see it in almost every forum I'm on.

I really don't think that the Ranger Raptor has any more issues than any other fairly new release vehicle. Plus there are now just a lot more recalls for almost any product, many for very minor issues that used to be ignored, than in years post.

Remember this... Almost all of the chatter on a forum about a particular product is about complaints of the few, many of which are either imagined or caused by the complainer. Satisfied people are usually in the overwhelming majority but they aren't the vocal ones.

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