I had an unfortunate failure with my 97 F150. My fiance' was driving it Sunday morning when the right rear axle sheared off at the flange! The failure sent the truck out of control and into the concrete barrier around Dead Man's curve (those familiar with Cleveland will know what turn I am talking about). She was very fortunate, only some aches and pains but the truck wasn't as lucky.

Has anyone else experienced, or heard of, this type of failure? I found one article about an Expedition (1997) which rolled over and the axle was the focus of the investigation.

The truck has 110,000 miles on it, mostly highway, with some light towing (no towing in the past year). The truck is stock except for exhaust, intake and BFG AT's (stock size).

If anyone can help with information I would appreciate it.

Thanks,
Joe

 

Sorry to hear of your unfortunate mishap.

The only way the flange could come off is probably if there is a problem with the wheel bearing and it heats up enough to fail, which could grind away the shaft enough for it to break off the flange. I'm just guessing though. What was the colour and condition of the rear end oil? I'd have it analysed in a lab for metal/bearing material content. That would tell you if a bearing was going bye-bye.

I changed my rear end oil quite a while ago already and the OE stuff was black and dirty.

Good luck.

 

There was no sign of heat, the bearing was in good shape. The insurance company is pursueing it, so far they only thing I have heard is that it was an instant break and not a gradual crack (which was obvious, but I guess we need a lab to tell us that). The truck should be back on the road in a week.

This did give me a reason to put new wheels, tires, and body lift on it!

Thanks for the reply.
Joe

 

Excellent!
Sounds like there was a metal failure in the axle shaft then. One in a million!