Does adding a lift to your truck, no other mods, void your powertrain warranty?

 

The ONLY answer to this is to check with your dealer. If your dealer did the lift, then they control any warranty related to the lift.

If you add the lift yourself, like I did, then depending on what goes wrong you could be on the hook. My dealer has a sign up in the service area that warns of lifted trucks and warranty on issues caused by the driveline angles. Possible things like tranny/rearend problems. I asked about it, they said not to worry about it because mine is only a 5" lift (and I bought it there). It is there especially as a warning to those guys going extreme, like 8-12+inches.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnuson-Moss_Warranty_Act

It says they can't void your warranty just for having aftermarket parts on your truck like a lift.

For example, you install a supercharger and then your radio dies. That had nothing to do with the charger. Now if you toast your tranny, things get a little harder.

Check with your dealer. Some are fine with it, some not.

 

Thanks for the replies. After the post I thought about it, read my warranty guide and thought "what a stupid question to ask." The warranty guide states " it will not cover items caused by the modification, including lifts." The catch is, like someone mentioned, if it directly caused the failure then your hosed. I understand that if something with the suspension goes wrong then I flip the bill, but they would be hard pressed to prove a lift damaged a transmission or engine component. U-joints, no doubt the will baulk at, or rear end troubles. But if this truck can pull the weight they claim, I doubt larger tires is going to effect the tranny or engine in any way.

Anyway, the truck looks awesome. 6" procomp lift, 37" procomp xtreme mud terrains, mx6 shocks, and 18" kmc bronze colored monster wheels that match the dark stone exterior like you wouldnt believe.

 

You can't possibly be serious about that statement can you? Think about this for 1/2 a second before posting. Larger tires equate to higher rolling resistance and more rotational mass. It takes alot more torque to get a 37" tire rolling than a 30" tire does. That extra torque requirement can kill a transmission in very short order. I have fried a trans because of large tires before, as well as many other people. If you regear the axles you will minimize the change, but its still going to be there. Bottom line if you take your truck into a dealer with a blown tranny and they see it with 5" of lift and 37s they're going to laugh you out of the shop.



Oh, and the Magnasson Moss act is always the first saftey blanket that people reach for. Nobody can seem to figure out that IT DOESN'T APPLY TO MODS. It applys only to direct replacement non OEM parts. It says you can go to Autozone or Napa to buy an alternator instead of going to Ford without worrying about having your warranty voided. Anything that modifies the vehicle beyond its original design specs voids the mfg warranty plain and simple.

 

Powerstroke73...just a quick question. Do you think if I went with 305/70/18's on stock wheels the warranty issues you talked about would apply?

Back in the late 80's I switched from P225/60/15's to P245/60/15's in the rear and that increased my tire height about 1.5".

I can understand about the lift, just curious about the small increase of tire size from 32" to 34/35" with about the same width.

Thanks

 

If the transmission blows up, or something in the drivetrain fails (axles, driveshaft, U-joints, etc.), they can make a strong case about it.

A lot of dealers will turn you away for most anything just because of the lift. These trucks aren't easy to get in and work on at stock ride height; another 6" of lift and 37" tires makes it that much harder, and the dealer isn't getting paid any more time by Ford because your truck is lifted.

 

I did think about it for half a second. This truck, motor and tranny can pull how much weight? How much rolling resistance do you think is added when pulling that much weight? The truck had 34" tires stock, 3" more increase in diameter. So lets take your advise and think about it, 3" diameter increase = the same as pulling 12,000+ lbs. I dont think so.

 

You're right, lift it to the sky and put the biggest tires on that you can fit. Let me know how it works out when your trans goes out and your dealer laughed you out of the shop when you tried to warranty it. Its not like never I've blown a trans from running larger tires without regearing.

 

Why do you have to be so extreme? I am not interested in lifting it to the sky. What good would that do besides look stupid, and be non-functional. I fully believe you had a tranny go out because of a lift and larger tires. If I were to lift it "to the sky" even with re-gearing, I am sure I would have tranny problems as well. My point is, I did not lift it to the sky, and in my case, the less than one percent of increase of required torque to get it rolling is not enough to cause a failure of an engine or tranny in a truck that was made with enough horsepower and "torque" to pull a small country.

My last word on the subject: You being a "senior member" with so many posts, I would expect that when user asks for advice, someone of your "knowledge and experience" would provide it in a more constructive manner, even if it is something they did not want to hear. But instead when challanged a little bit you turn into a 3rd grader and take your ball home.

 

Yeah, unfortunately sometimes folks get a bit pissed about something or take offense. I've had my bouts - Usually it calms down and mutual respect eventually overcomes (hopefully)