I too have recieved a letter with detailed pics of inspection... I guess people will have to be killed before they recall them... What a shame, as they know there is a problem or the letter would not have been sent.. I hope they get there butt sued off for this crap.....

 

I am glad to see this thread. I also recieved the letter indicating inspection proceedures. I called my Ford guy and scheduled an inspection for 09/02. I had this same issue dealt with 6 months ago too. Same pop as I backed out of my drive way. They claimed to have tightened everything then and all was well for 5 months. Now the pop is back and my front tires are all funked up. The kicker is that my warranty expired 06/25. It is frustrating to enjoy my truck so much and yet be let down by a corperation that won't stand behind their products. I thought the SVT Lightning was supposed to be a high end specialty performance truck. And only 13,000 miles! There may be a a Dodge Viper truck in my future

 

Your welcome!

 

Please everyone remember that your owner's manual for most if not all manufacturers says to inspected your front end and brakes at least every 15,000 miles. Continually have people whining about their brakes wrecking the rotors after 40k and they never have them checked. People will actually listen to wear indicators make noise for so long that the indicators break off!!

 

In this post some have written that MOOG tie rod ends have grease fittings. Does anyone know which auto parts stores sell them? Locally we have NAPA, Pep Boys, Checker, Auto Zone and more independents.

 

T Allen, it might be different in your area, , but I know that here Checker and Auto-Zone both carry Moog... best bet is to call around, especially with something like tie-rods, you don't want ot save a few bucks and get an inferior product.

 

I too have just recieved this letter a couple days ago my truck has over 84,000 on it and the way I drive over speed bumps in my apartment complex and in general I guess i need to replace mine before something bad happens.

 

Thanks for the info. I have 2 Checker and 2 Auto Zone within 5 miles of my house.

 

Here are the part numbers I ordered, hope this helps you in yoru search. Not sure it will be the same for yours, but as far as I know, they pretty much all use the same tie rod ends.
Inner Tie Rods:
ES3369T (Left) and ES3370T (Right)

outer tie rods:
ES3366T (Left) and ES3367T (Right)

 

I just got my letter in the mail yesterday for my 2001 Expy.

 

My local NAPAs sell MOOG. I am planning on replacing all my front end joints with new MOOG parts. I have about 65K miles and I think it is time. I am going to do the front brakes and wheel bearings as well while I have it all ripped apart.

 

I didn't realize there was a problem until Ford sent that letter. I have 92,000 miles on mine and will be checking the front end this weekend. Actually I 'll probably check it today!

 

Got my letter today, the real kicker is when I took my truck in last week for the EGR sensor and told them "could ya take a look at the front end I have heard these things are getting notorious for having tie rod failures the guy says hey it only has 37,000 miles on it what do you think will find..."Aren't they supposed to be inspected every 15,000 miles?" the guy acted like they were too busy to do it and this was after I had made an appointment earlier that same day.
By the way this was at the FORD dealership in town, wish the guys at the dealerships knew what the ******* their corporate offices in Dearborn, Michigan were sending out and take it seriously!

If you would like a copy of this letter, it's two double sided pages let me know I will try and scan it in and email or post it here.

 

have a 2000 F150 - I heard the popping noises described on this webpage, then I had a outer tie-rod separation at low speed - not sure exactly when
DOES ANYONE KNOW IF WE CAN MAKE FORD PICK UP ALL OR SOME OF THE COST FOR REPAIR OF THESE?, THEY OBVIOUSLY ARE FAILING PREMATURELY

if we DO have to pay for replacement ourselves, how many people have replaced them with greaseable ones? Moog?
how much do they cost?
thanks

 

I too got the inspection letter for my '97 Stepside Regular Cab XLT 5.4. This rig has just under 51,000 miles on it. That is not to imply they have all been gentle miles, I just don't have to go very far from my house to find a reason to lock it up in 4X4.

First thing I did was crawl under it and do the rod end wiggle stuff and then the 10-2 steering wheel routine. I didn't jack it and do the other checks. Then I stoped at the Ford shop and talked to the shop foreman and parts guy about replacing the ends. Parts guy said they didn't stock anything with zerks and I believe he said he was going to replace his with MOOG's. He said the local parts stores had MOOG, Dana, and some others which he did not recommend.

I had to drive in to the city this morning and stopped by the Ford shop again. For less than $20.00 out the door they did the complete check for me so I at least have a receipt for having done that if it ever becomes necessary. Now I have to find a shop where they'll do me a decent job with reliable parts.