Ford Motor Company of Canada Limited ( Ford) Has updated the inspection procedure for tie rod ends on certain f-150 trucks, Expedition and Navigator vehicles. Your Ford or Lincolin Dealer has the enclossed inspection procedure, but it may be possilble that independant repair facilities do not have this information, and may over look critical inspection points.

As allways we are concerned abought customer satisfaction and recommend having all your service needs performed by an athoriized Ford or Lincoln dealer.

If you chose to have your vehicle serviced by an independant repair facility, the enclossed information should assist in in the inspection and diagnosis of front suspension and steering linkage issues.

If you do not allready have a servicing Ford or Ford/Lincolin dealer you can access www.ford.ca for dealer addresses, maps and driving instructions.

IMPORTANT MAINTENANCE REMINDER. The scheduled maintance guide for your vehicle specifies that every 20,000 Km the stearing Linkage ( Which includes Tie-rod ends ) front suspension and ball joints should be inspected.

Please provide the repair facility with the attached inspection procedure to help propperly identify worn tie-rod ends. Place the attached TIE-ROD INSPECTION PROCEADURE in your glove box for reerence and safe keeping.

Perorming the veichle scheduled maintance including maintance inspections is the responsibilty of the veicle owner. iT IS ESSENTTIAL that steering linkage, front suspension and ball jionts are checked every 20, 000 Km.

It is important that you follow the maintence schedule specifically as it pertains to your tie rod ends, FAILURE to replace worn tie rod ends may resault in tie rod seperation that could adversely effect steering control.

If the inspection reveals that a tie-rod end is worn and must be replaced, the repair will be at the owners expense unless the vehicle is still coverd by the basic warenty, or has an Extended Service plan coverage that includes these componants.

IF YOU REQUIRE FURTHIER INFORMATION, you may write to the FORD CUSTERMER RELATIONSHIP CENTER at the top of this letter ( Ford motor company of Canada, The Candaian Road po box 2000 Oakvile Ontario L6J 5E 4 ) If you prefer you may call them at 1-800-565-3673, Thank you your attention in this important manner.

Sorry, no pic's, no scanner.

TIE ROD INSPECTION PROCEDURE for 1997-2002 F-150, 1998 Light Duty f250, 1997 -2002 Expeddition and 1998-2002 Navigator.

STEP 1 FREE PLAY.
Check the outter tie-rod ends by grasping by hand and push up and down. Check the inner tie-rod ends, pushing them from front to rear. If any paly is observed in a jiont, it is worned and should be replaced.

STEP 2 STUD LASH FREE PLAY
While vechile is on the ground or on a drive on hoist, have an assistant rotate the steering wheel rapidly back and forth from 10 oclock to 2 oclock to 10 oclock while observing the inner and outer tie rod ends. If the outer tie-rod ends have vertical movement or the inner tie-rod ends have horizontal movement, tie rod end with observed movement should be replaced.

STEP 3 SEAL INSPECTION
Raise the viecle on a hoist and remove front wheels. Wheels will need to be turned to the right in order to inspect passenger side inner tie rod ends and to to the left to inspect drivers side inner tie rod end.

Inspect all four seals for, perforations and wear. If thier is any indication of wear or perforations on the seal, that inner tie-rod end should be replaced.

Reinstall front wheels and torque lug nuts to propper specifacations.

STEP 4 STUD CORROSION
Using a wrench, rotate the tie-rod end so that the front of the seal on the outer tie-rod end is expanded. Using a putty knife or othier hard flat dull object, life the bottom of the seal up, expossing the stud.

If any water escape from the seal in the form of bubbles or liqiud form, that tie-rod ends should be replaced.

Closley examine the stud for signs of corrosion, especialy arround the inter face with with the knuckle.

a Rag might be needed to clean off any grease on the stud that impairs a good vissual inspection. If thier is any signs of corrosion, That tie rod end should be replaced.

Rotate the tie-rod end in the opposite direction to examine the inner tie-rod aseal. Repeat this entire proceadure on the othier side of the vehicle.

THIS INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE IS INTENDED FOR USE BY TRAINED, PROFESSIONAL TECHNICIANS WITH THE KNOWLEDEGE TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT TO DO THE JOB PROPPERLY AND SAFELY. IT PROVIDES INFORMATION THAT COULD ASSIST IN PROPPER VEHICLE SERVICE. THE PROCEADURE SHOULD NOT BE PERFORMEND BY DO IT YOURSELFERS.

Quoted May 20, 2004....

 

That's the same letter that I received and posted in the Supercrew Forum as "Ford Bulletin. 44,000 km and no problems with the tie rods.

 

I had three set's of upper and lower ball joints, front shocks, sway bar link and bushing's and a pitman arm installed under warenty, Truck had 30,000 km when Front stearing-suspension problems ocured.

I had bad luck with the truck, reading that leter confirms in my mind Ford did not make a decent front suspension on the 97-02 f-50.l

I never had problems with the tie-rods on my truck, Some one else's worry now.

And when your f-150 is off warrenty, get cozy with your dealer, They will love to see ya.

 

201,125 km and everything still stock...... Very tight and I've not even had to have an alignment yet either......

Got 96,540 km out of the last set of tires too....

 

I whish I owned your ford, Glad to see it is serving you well, I'm resigned to accept that I got a bad one, and some one else might have a bad one, but overall, I'm not a Ford Hater, Just bought a 2003 RAm 2500, with the Hemi, Than my dad offers me a deal on his mint 2001 F-350 with a 7.3 power stroke, Bad timming as I'm paying for two truck's, The dodge is up for sale, And I will not lose money on it, AS much as I like the Ram, it can't much a 7.3 power stroke, + When I sell the Ram, It will pay off me dad and give me extra cash..

 

Yeah, sorry to hear about the troubles on yours..... Sounds like a sweet deal on the F350. Hope you are able to sell the Dodge.

Forgot to say thanks for the info on what to check for on the front end...... Thanks!

Mitch

 

You should be able to get rid of the Dodge easily enough, but not without losing some money on it. Good luck and keep us posted on the F350. You got the "good " powerstoke, so don't let it go.

... Well unless you want to sell it to me!

BTW - Just mine turned 87,000 miles, with no front end issues. Everything is tight and working properly. Even the POS Goodyears that were on it form the factory made it to 70K! I do want to upgrade the shocks on it. Its starting to bounce a little and doesn't hold corners like it used to.

 

Is the post a retype of the letter or a direct cut-and-paste? I can't believe an official letter has so many typos.

"independant", "jionts", and "proceadure" LMAO. How embarrassing. Even my english paper in H.S. had fewer mistakes than that..

 

My typing/spelling is bad, Gramer wise, I quoted it, word for word. Even included the date I posted it, you were to eager to pick it apart, than read it.. Glad to see you feel important

 

Actually I picked up the errors by reading the whole letter, which is the point. That would makes more sense than merely looking at a paragraph and searching for errors, unless one was proofreading. I just happen to be careful in terms of checking the source and authenticity of letters. Something I learned from working with idiots/liars/slackers @ work LOL.

My importance is irrelevant here, only the content of the letter. But yes, I do feel important right now, I just found a couple threads which solved my air horn wiring issues.

Happy 4th my friend! (or 1st in your case)

 

 

you made a typo, gramer mistake to. Happy 4th to you. No harm done.