There’s an old verse that goes something like “For the want of a shoe, a horse was lost. For the want of a horse, the battle was lost.”
Small things, big consequences.
Amanda Hale is co-owner of Hale’s Diesel & Auto Repair, LLC, in Midland-Odessa area of Texas.
Her shop recently had a customer who was reminded of this the hard way.
The Ford TorqShift HD 6-speed automatic transmission is standard equipment on the 2016 F-650/F-750.
Ford says it is the only medium-duty truck manufacturer that designs and builds its own engine and transmission combinations helping work seamlessly with chassis components and vehicle calibrations.
Operating a 2016 Ford F Series F650–that’s a truck for those who don’t know–the customer complained of a possible crack in the transmission oil pan.
And, yes there were signs of transmission fluid throughout the underside of the truck.
And when the transmission fluid level was checked, the dipstick came up dry.
“Inspection verified [there was] a good-sized crack in the oil pan,” says Hale.
That’s bad enough, but it gets worse.
“Further inspection revealed the transmission itself to be completely cracked in half.”
Hale’s crew launched an investigation into why the transmission had split.
Truck transmissions don’t usually blow themselves in half on their own.
“Troubleshooting the root cause of failure found that the U-joint at the rear of the transmission had failed, causing severe vibration resulting in a catastrophic transmission failure.
“A $150 U-joint did this,” says Hale. “Everyone . . . go check your U-joints.”
Sage advice.
WOW!! I wonder how long it took from the U-joint failure to the transmission splitting in half?