Ford Expedition Tie Rod Failure

[Lmarth]

Just curious as to whether anyone else has experienced early failure of the tie rods on the Expedition. Ours is a 1999 (4wd) with 47,000 miles. Inner tie rod separated from the ball stud resulting in almost losing control of the vehicle as the one wheel flopped in/out. The only warning was slow steering response a mile or two before it came apart. I'm thankful my wife wasn't driving when it happened.

[Tony Montana]

Dam first I heard of this. Glad your ok. Keep us updated on your findings.

[cobra marty]

I have a '98 F150 4x4 100k ext cab with big offroad tires and while in a parking lot doing a hard u turn to get into a parking spot and hit a drain grate with a slight dip and the inner tie rod end broke. walked across the street to a repair shop who came and towed it and fixed it right then total down time ablut 3 hours shopping and Subway and we were back on the road. Very lucky but there was an accumulation of circumstances.

[CMG]

Oh boy do I have experience with Ford front end failure

My wife drives an 03 F250 4x4 - we bought it new, had it for maybe 2 months and the center link came apart while she was driving causing her to hit a cement wall. The pitman arm snapped off the steering box (assumably from the inpact) and Ford couldn't give a phuck. Not only would not fix the body damage - refused to warrantee the failed parts! She had a witness that heard a snapping sound and dragging metal prior to the hit and Ford not only said no - they tried telling me that if I didn't have the vehicle repaired at a dealer they would void the warrantee. WHAT WARRANTEE!

I've had it up to my eyeballs with Ford. The truck has 50K on it and already had to have exhaust manifold studs replaced on starboard side. I have one word of advice to someone in the Truck market. Nissan. The board is real slow loading this am, I'll find my post from couple years ago later and put link.

[Lmarth]

It took about an hour to change that inner tie rod. Then I took a long look at the two pieces which were bone dry and decided to change the other tie rod ends and the idler arm which came from the factory with a grease fitting but would never take grease. I'm just about done now. I was just shocked that a tie rod would come apart like that in so few miles. I do 99% of the driving with that vehicle and it's never towed anything or had a plow on it. I consider myself lucky I didn't hit anything or have it happen when my wife was driving. It was a wild ride. In a prior life, I put a tie rod into the sidewall of my race car at Thompson (twice). It's a strange feeling where you're trying to turn and it WON'T!

[Slick02]

Most of Fords steering linkage is not servicable(no grease fittings) because they are an injection molded rubber socket, and to see them worn out at 35 to 40 thousand miles is not uncommon, the same thing holds true of most OEM ball joints, (I guess it's kind of a planned obsolesence thing). Unlike the Moog or Spicer parts which have grease fittings so that the vital components can be lubricated.
And yes I am qualified to say this, I own an alignment shop in Orlando.

[Lmarth]

I really appreciate all the feedback. One reason I bought the Expedition over the Explorer,Blazer,etc. is that those mid size SUVs were on light platforms. It's great from a marketing standpoint to say you don't have to lube the front end, but.... Just personal preference, but I've used a lot of Moog front end parts in my past racing days. They made great stuff in those days. Thanks guys for getting me "calibrated"!

[Shore Thing]

It isn't just ford. I had a chevy do the very same thing. Failed ball joint, then no control and off the road.

[Strip Poker 388]

Lou quite jumping curves I would think stuff like that would at least last 100k.Just Shows there making these vehicles disposable now days


Rob

[Lmarth]

Rob-I figured if I couldn't take the boat out but instead, sweat my butt off changing front end parts,that I was gonna let the world know. Now go track down those new drives of yours. Don't forget to post pics of the new drives. Lou