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Got lucky on warranty
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Posted by: OldFart

I just got real lucky yesterday.

With all the performance and suspension changes I've made to the car, you would think the dealer would take one fast look at it and say "Your warranty is voided because of (see very long list)".

Well, I blew the rear-end. Not entirely surprising considering that:

1. I'm brand new to a live-axle set-up and learning from my mistakes.
2. I've used three different manufacturers upper and lower control arms - and each one had a different idea about pinion angle setting.
3. I've blown the upper bushing in the upper 3rd link twice and then driven the car for a couple of days (carefully but shouldn't have driven it at all) until I could get it in the shop.
4. I'm running a custom tune that provides a massive amount of low-end and mid-range torque.
5. I run it hard, to near it's limits, nearly every damn day.

Anyway, I left the after-market upper installed (to keep pinion angle set) and re-installed the stock lower arms, and took it to the dealer. They took a long, long hard look at it. Wanted to know how much horsepower I was running (I lied like a dog) and decided it was covered under warranty.

Now the best part - they agreed to install the gear ratio of my choice as part of the re-build (I just have to pay for the gear set). So I get a completely re-built rear-end, and the gears I want, for the cost of just the gear set parts. (About a seven to eight hundred dollar savings when you add in the cost of the re-build.)

I don't think it gets any better than this.

(Readers should also understand that I've been doing business (and a fair amount of it) with this same dealer for around 15 years. So you may not get the same experience in a similar situation.)

OldFart

Posted by: nomad_dave

Quote:

Originally Posted by OldFart

I just got real lucky yesterday.

With all the performance and suspension changes I've made to the car, you would think the dealer would take one fast look at it and say "Your warranty is voided because of (see very long list)".

Well, I blew the rear-end. Not entirely surprising considering that:

1. I'm brand new to a live-axle set-up and learning from my mistakes.
2. I've used three different manufacturers upper and lower control arms - and each one had a different idea about pinion angle setting.
3. I've blown the upper bushing in the upper 3rd link twice and then driven the car for a couple of days (carefully but shouldn't have driven it at all) until I could get it in the shop.
4. I'm running a custom tune that provides a massive amount of low-end and mid-range torque.
5. I run it hard, to near it's limits, nearly every damn day.

Anyway, I left the after-market upper installed (to keep pinion angle set) and re-installed the stock lower arms, and took it to the dealer. They took a long, long hard look at it. Wanted to know how much horsepower I was running (I lied like a dog) and decided it was covered under warranty.

Now the best part - they agreed to install the gear ratio of my choice as part of the re-build (I just have to pay for the gear set). So I get a completely re-built rear-end, and the gears I want, for the cost of just the gear set parts. (About a seven to eight hundred dollar savings when you add in the cost of the re-build.)

I don't think it gets any better than this.

(Readers should also understand that I've been doing business (and a fair amount of it) with this same dealer for around 15 years. So you may not get the same experience in a similar situation.)

OldFart

You lucky dog

Best of luck with the new gears. Try not to break these. Like you mentioned, somehow related to all of the suspension work. I'll definitely wait to hear how you finally get it setup. I'm anxious to hear what the perfect solution will be.

Cheers,
David

Posted by: OldFart

Quote:

Originally Posted by nomad_dave

You lucky dog

Thanks David.

As to the perfect set-up, that may take a while. But here is what I think it's going to be:

1. The Ground Control Koni coi-over set-up, with 450 lbs/in front springs and 275 lbs/in rear springs. This set-up allows over a 2" range of height adjustment (so I can set the car the way I want it and not the way the spring manufacturer wanted it) and includes 05 specific camber plates for the fronts (so I won't need the camber bolts any longer). The rears are not coil-overs, they are adjustable height spring perches similar to the KW set-up. This set-up is somewhat expensive but the Koni dampers can be rebuilt, so they should last as long as the car does. (Maybe even longer the way I drive it.)

2. BMR fixed upper 3rd link with Heim joint and adjustable lower trailing arms with heim joints. At this point I've tried every major manufacturer and I like this set-up the best as it is the least trouble to adjust after installation, and the rigid ball joint (Heim joint) connections give a good solid feel (but are also somewhat noisy - I can live with that).

3. A Fays2 Watts link instead of the panhard rod. I'll be installing this right after the car gets out of the dealership service department. This will improve the rear tracking and get rid of the lateral movement of the rear-end on hard cornering. It will also allow me to re-set the roll center for optimum cornering performance.

4. Control arm relocation with the after-market higher durometer bushings. (This involves putting spacers under the control arm mounts to bring the suspension geometry back into compliance after lowering the car. The higher durometer bushings just take the mush out.)

That ought to do it. After the above, it's a matter of tuning the suspension, not more or different parts.

Thanks,
OldFart

Posted by: Aussie XAXB

Unbelieveable! I can't believe they accepted it.

Steve

Posted by: redbullet

What exactly happened, did you chunk the gear? I've seen this alot on the Exploders.

Thing is, all the above mentioned mods won't lead to this failure. Dodge and GM are also having this problem with the Ram 1500 and the Tahoe. The Exploder and the Tahoe seem to be the two biggest though.

There have been other people that have chunked the rear in the 05 mustangs though. I wouldn't call it an alarming rate, just concerned at the amount I have read.

Is your car a stick or auto? They probably don't apply but it does point to problems in the diff.

05-7-3
AXLE WHINE - VEHICLES BUILT THROUGH 11/15/2004

04-24-20
LIMITED SLIP AXLE CHATTER, SHUDDER, BINDING SENSATION, OR VIBRATION DURING LOW SPEED TURNING MANEUVERS

05-20-2
REAR AXLE NOISE

Posted by: OldFart

Quote:

Originally Posted by redbullet

What exactly happened, did you chunk the gear? I've seen this alot on the Exploders.

Thing is, all the above mentioned mods won't lead to this failure. Dodge and GM are also having this problem with the Ram 1500 and the Tahoe. The Exploder and the Tahoe seem to be the two biggest though.

There have been other people that have chunked the rear in the 05 mustangs though. I wouldn't call it an alarming rate, just concerned at the amount I have read.

Is your car a stick or auto? They probably don't apply but it does point to problems in the diff.

05-7-3
AXLE WHINE - VEHICLES BUILT THROUGH 11/15/2004

04-24-20
LIMITED SLIP AXLE CHATTER, SHUDDER, BINDING SENSATION, OR VIBRATION DURING LOW SPEED TURNING MANEUVERS

05-20-2
REAR AXLE NOISE

The only thing that saved my pocket book was that they have experienced a rash of problems. Ford has a "rebuild kit" of recommended parts when a car starts with the excessive whine.

Mine was pretty far gone, not only was it singing excessively, but the lash was so far out that it would clunk real good every time you let off or applied the throttle.

When they began taking it apart, the inner axle bearing on the passenger side fell apart, (and the others were not far behind it) so it was right on the verge going to pieces.

Although this may have occurred regardless, I believe all the missinformation I recieved on pinion angle, and running it as hard as I did with improper pinion angle, did not help the situation.

But, now I have all new bearings, new pinion and ring gears and it's set-up right, so hopefully I wont' be having the same problem again.

Live and learn,

OldFart