My thoughts on CV axles - possible design flaw? (self replacement, tear down, tips on DIY-ing)

[scotty]

2022 FX4, 4k tow, 28k miles, 1 inch rough country leveling kit on front suspension, 1.5 inch Eibach rear springs.

The truck started to get a slight rumble at close to 20k miles, after reading online about the CV axles, I knew this was the issue. I waited hoping Ford was going to issue a TSB or recall and a year went by and the rumble was getting worse and worse. A few weeks ago I took some friends golfing and had 5 people in the car and the bed loaded up. Upon accelerating up a hill, the truck was shaking so bad, steering wheel and whole front end was shaking back and forth in sync with depressing the throttle and I decided I needed to swap them.

Decided to do this myself to try and figure out why this is happening to so many Mavericks, the Axles are cheap, and I have serious trust issues with other people touching my vehicles (14 year Aircraft mechanic).

After replacing the axles, my truck literally drove like brand new again, I couldnt believe how bad the rumble had gotten and how used to it I was.

art Number​	Part Name​	Price​	Quantity​	Total​
nz6z3b436b​	Axle Assembly​	$111.98​	1​	$111.98​
NZ6Z-3B437-C​	Shaft Front Axle​	$113.63​	1​	$113.63​

Subtotal: $225.61​

Estimated Shipping to 84111 via Standard Shipping: $58.61​

Tax: $16.62​

Discount: -$11.28​

Total: $289.56​

Total from Tasca parts online.

I think the problem is the Right Hand Axle with the female spline on the inboard axle. This was the only axle I could feel by hand that had play, it was wobbly when I grabbed and shook it (radial play) while it was installed on the truck. Looking at the splines, it has 2 splines that dont exist, I have no idea why they would do this, there is no master spline on the male end coming out of the PTU, the Male end is fully splined. With the 2 splines missing, I think its more susceptible to increased wear from vibration. The new Axle also came with the female spline with big gaps 180degree out.

Wear on the inside of the Inboard female spline housing

When this happens again, Im only going to replace the Right hand axle and see what happens.

TIPS ON REPLACEMENT

I know alot of people might be out of warranty and looking to do this yourself, Its really not that bad if you dont follow the Ford Manual (LOL)

Ford manual wants you to disconnect the lower control arm, good lucking getting the lower ball joint out. The lower ball joint is one of the worst designs ive ever seen and as far as I can tell, its not replaceable, you have to replace the lower control arm as a whole. Do yourself a favor and spray rust prevention on the lower ball joint right now for the future, there is a recess in the Lower control arm at the top of the ball joint where salt/water can accumulate and form rust. I modified a tie rod splitting tool to make it work but decided to remove the knuckle from the strut instead. There is very little room for any leverage, if the vehicles on a lift you could more easily remove the lower ball joint

How I found it easy to replace the Axles.

-Break lugnut/Axle nut torque on the ground. (deep 32mm for Axle nut)
-Disconnect Tierod
-Disconnect ABS wire supports
-Disconnect upper sway bar link (you will need to jack up lower control arm to relieve pressue on Sway Bar)
-support knuckle with cam strap to strut
-Disconnect and hammer out both Strut Bolts
-Hammer Axle in hub to loosen bond in wheel bearing(dont damage threads)
-Pry between transmission housing and axle housing to defeat circlip on Axle (I hope your strong, will take all your body strength)

Plan on having 2 quarts of ULV ATF on hand, I lost about a quart on the left hand side after pulling the axle.

I can do each side in an hour now, really not bad.

I really hope Ford figures this out, its not a big deal for me if I have to do this every couple of years for not that much $. But I understand for most people that have to pay for this to be done, the cost can be brutal. I am guessing this will be well over 1000$ to have the dealer do this?

MISC Torques

-Lugnuts 150 lb Feet
-Axle nut 76 lb Feet + 45degrees
-Strut to Knuckle bolts 103 lb Feet + 120degrees
-Upper sway bar link 81 lb feet
-Tie Rod to knuckle 35 lb feet

Great pics.. One hour per side. you got the skills. i replace axle once ony on a ford focus 5 years ago. Hope you all went ahead and played golf while on the road.

You mentioned you don't trust others to touch your vehicles. Good enough reason.
For those who aren't quite as skilled: Would our warranties have taken care of this issue?
Is the axles apart of the tranny configuration as far as warranty goes?

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[Jahson]

You are the first person with an unmodified Maverick that's chimed in on this thread anyway. I'm sure there's more, but it may not be the huge numbers that a few people are saying. You live in Florida. I wonder if major rainfall or some other environmental factor might have some effect on the failures? I'm not saying that the cause, but perhaps the CV boots are allowing water to intrude.

I had mine fail on my '23 hybrid at just under 6,000 miles, a few months ago. Completely unmodified suspension, never towed anything and never had anything heavy in the bed. Strictly used as a commuter to and from work and the occasional trip to the store. I'm almost 52 and drive somewhat conservatively, typically getting close to 50 mpg. The service manager told me it happens frequently with the Maverick. So frequently in fact, that I had to wait two weeks because the axles were on backorder. Central Florida area.

EDIT: Another thing I would like to add is that I wouldn't expect to see very many people post their issues in a forum like this. Most people that buy vehicles don't belong to groups like this. We just happen to be fans, or at least more interested in the Maverick than the average consumer. Those that modify their trucks would be much more likely to belong to a group like this. Therefore, I would expect more complaints to come from the modding community. But for my axles to fail at less than 6,000 miles, doing nothing but driving like a normal older dude, there is obviously something wrong with the design or manufacture of this system.

 

[bgn]

Great pics.. One hour per side. you got the skills. i replace axle once ony on a ford focus 5 years ago. Hope you all went ahead and played golf while on the road.

You mentioned you don't trust others to touch your vehicles. Good enough reason.
For those who aren't quite as skilled: Would our warranties have taken care of this issue?
Is the axles apart of the tranny configuration as far as warranty goes?

5 years/60k miles under the standard powertrain warranty.

 

[AlsMaverick]

True. Here in California the liability risk outweighs the profit potential for a dealer to modify vehicles in this manner.

Okay, no data. In regards to the class Action Lawsuit, how many folks have been financially injured by the axles. How many have not had the replacements paid for by Ford? I know there are some, but I can be equally subjective and state the majority of angry people have not had to pay for the replacements.

 

[23grayXLT84]

I had mine fail on my '23 hybrid at just under 6,000 miles, a few months ago. Completely unmodified suspension, never towed anything and never had anything heavy in the bed. Strictly used as a commuter to and from work and the occasional trip to the store. I'm almost 52 and drive somewhat conservatively, typically getting close to 50 mpg. The service manager told me it happens frequently with the Maverick. So frequently in fact, that I had to wait two weeks because the axles were on backorder. Central Florida area.

EDIT: Another thing I would like to add is that I wouldn't expect to see very many people post their issues in a forum like this. Most people that buy vehicles don't belong to groups like this. We just happen to be fans, or at least more interested in the Maverick than the average consumer. Those that modify their trucks would be much more likely to belong to a group like this. Therefore, I would expect more complaints to come from the modding community. But for my axles to fail at less than 6,000 miles, doing nothing but driving like a normal older dude, there is obviously something wrong with the design or manufacture of this system.

There is a serious flaw with design or quality control of these parts.

If design related, I am worried that the new HF55 transmission (dont know if its AWD only or will apply to all hybrids starting in 25MY) will have new design improved axles and us with pre 25MY vehicles will be stuck with flawed parts.

 

[shadowthrone]

Every time I see one of these threads, the amount of righteous anger at Ford seems to correlate with the amount of mods done to the truck We figured out a while ago that lifts, especially shitty puck lifts, will wreck your axels and maybe more. Can we stop being surprised already when it happens?

As of now, of 33.8k members on this forum 34 have participated in the "failed axels" poll, of them 24 on stock, 21 stock hybrid. The poll has been out for two weeks and members here are pretty vocal...so where are the hundreds and thousands of failed axels? It's like the self righteous panic recall WTFBBQ circlejerk is just that - a circlejerk.

I will say that it's curious that the stock hybrids seem to lead the pack in the poll, so maybe there is something to the QA/powertrain story, we should wait and see. Considering that there has been over 300k Mavericks sold though, the stock failures from the poll represent less than 0.01% or 0.0001 of all trucks. So keep calm and carry on.

 

[StevenC56]

Are all configurations having these failures? Seems most of you have front wheel drive hybrids?

 

[Jahson]

Every time I see one of these threads, the amount of righteous anger at Ford seems to correlate with the amount of mods done to the truck We figured out a while ago that lifts, especially shitty puck lifts, will wreck your axels and maybe more. Can we stop being surprised already when it happens?

As of now, of 33.8k members on this forum 34 have participated in the "failed axels" poll, of them 24 on stock, 21 stock hybrid. The poll has been out for two weeks and members here are pretty vocal...so where are the hundreds and thousands of failed axels? It's like the self righteous panic recall WTFBBQ circlejerk is just that - a circlejerk.

I will say that it's curious that the stock hybrids seem to lead the pack in the poll, so maybe there is something to the QA/powertrain story, we should wait and see. Considering that there has been over 300k Mavericks sold though, the stock failures from the poll represent less than 0.01% or 0.0001 of all trucks. So keep calm and carry on.

Well, part of the issue may be that owners like myself where not aware of this poll you speak of. What is the link?

EDIT: Fyi, it's "axles."

 

[scotty]

Okay, no data. In regards to the class Action Lawsuit, how many folks have been financially injured by the axles. How many have not had the replacements paid for by Ford? I know there are some, but I can be equally subjective and state the majority of angry people have not had to pay for the replacements.

What condition (s) would need to exist to prevent Ford from taking on the responsibility of the warranty: potentially choice to do it themselves, accident, or maybe raised their truck's height?

I don't know the answer.

 

[2lbgill]

I worked at a Chevrolet Dealer for 22 years. Aftermarket suspension lifts and lowering do in fact cause things to fail prematurely. Talk to an engineer if you don't understand this, but it's probably more like you don't want to understand this and just put the blame on Ford.

Lowering or lifting changes the whole geometry of the original suspension design parameters.

 

[scottp01]

There is a serious flaw with design or quality control of these parts.

If design related, I am worried that the new HF55 transmission (dont know if its AWD only or will apply to all hybrids starting in 25MY) will have new design improved axles and us with pre 25MY vehicles will be stuck with flawed parts.

Wouldn't be the first time. Ford did the same thing with the Focus and Fiesta. <2016 had the PowerShift transmission which was prone to TCM failures and clutches that wear out. After 2016 they switched to a traditional automatic. They extended the TCM warranty to 10 years/150k miles, but the underlying issues are still there, and most clutch packs would last around 40k-60k miles, so by the time the second clutch pack would wear out, they'd be out of warranty and you're stuck doing a $2k repair on a car that's only worth around $4-5k.

 

[Montana]

a Ford dealership would if they were the ones to install the lift.

or they would cover it if the OP reverted to stock before bringing the truck in. but I am confident that if you have this issue on any Ford, and you take it in for diagnosis, they will immediately blame any non-stock suspension they see. that's just what they do, the same as your first post in this thread when you said you worked at a Chevy dealership and have seen this.

for most dealerships there's no shades of grey. modified suspension + CV issue = no warranty replacement is black and white to them. we can continue to debate whether that's reasonable or not, but I really don't care. the only exceptions I've ever seen are when a dealership installs the lift kit.

Did they deny OP a warranty claim? I thought OP was just doing this to showcase the potential faults and never bothered taking it in.

Every time I see one of these threads, the amount of righteous anger at Ford seems to correlate with the amount of mods done to the truck We figured out a while ago that lifts, especially shitty puck lifts, will wreck your axels and maybe more. Can we stop being surprised already when it happens?

As of now, of 33.8k members on this forum 34 have participated in the "failed axels" poll, of them 24 on stock, 21 stock hybrid. The poll has been out for two weeks and members here are pretty vocal...so where are the hundreds and thousands of failed axels? It's like the self righteous panic recall WTFBBQ circlejerk is just that - a circlejerk.

I will say that it's curious that the stock hybrids seem to lead the pack in the poll, so maybe there is something to the QA/powertrain story, we should wait and see. Considering that there has been over 300k Mavericks sold though, the stock failures from the poll represent less than 0.01% or 0.0001 of all trucks. So keep calm and carry on.

Those numbers are great. Assuming that every single one of the 38k you mentioned participates actively and reads this thread or even still owns a maverick - or ever did lol.

It's happening. We know as much. The evidence is there from users with unmodified suspension. How many? We will never know because companies like FORD don't release that data. It would only make them look bad.

But I agree with most in that it's a bit funny to get mad at the company when you modify the suspension and steering angles. If we know the problem exists, why bother? What do you actually gain from a 1" level? Because the negatives far outweigh literally the only thing you do gain - approach angle by mm's.

 

[colinl]

Did they deny OP a warranty claim? I thought OP was just doing this to showcase the potential faults and never bothered taking it in.

not that he said, no.

probably thought he could change the CV instead of removing the pucks and then taking it in.

 

[23grayXLT84]

Wouldn't be the first time. Ford did the same thing with the Focus and Fiesta. <2016 had the PowerShift transmission which was prone to TCM failures and clutches that wear out. After 2016 they switched to a traditional automatic. They extended the TCM warranty to 10 years/150k miles, but the underlying issues are still there, and most clutch packs would last around 40k-60k miles, so by the time the second clutch pack would wear out, they'd be out of warranty and you're stuck doing a $2k repair on a car that's only worth around $4-5k.

Wish some automotive news outlet would like this up and do a story. Maybe it would produce a statement out of Ford.

There is no way these are isolated issues. Typically when you start seeing many reports, it a real problem.

It's a shame really because a CV axle is such a basic component which makes you wonder how could they possible screw it up this bad.

 

[fossil]

Wish some automotive news outlet would like this up and do a story. Maybe it would produce a statement out of Ford.

There is no way these are isolated issues. Typically when you start seeing many reports, it a real problem.

It's a shame really because a CV axle is such a basic component which makes you wonder how could they possible screw it up this bad.

How many miles when your CV joints failed?
That's the kind of data that might tempt a news outlet.

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