Ford F-Series trucks come in three distinct flavors. First, the Blue Oval offers the half-ton F-150 and its Lightning all-electric sibling. The Super Duty F-250 through F-550 are considered heavy-duty trucks, whereas the Super Duty F-650 and F-750 are medium-duty workhorses. 2,718 units of the latter have been recently hit with a safety recall for tie rod assemblies produced with ball studs that were improperly heat treated.
The heaviest-working Super Duty trucks of them all come from the Ohio assembly plant, which also produces the E-Series Cutaway, Stripped Chassis, and Super Duty F-350 through F-550. Back in April 2024, the factory employed 1,773 peeps, with 1,610 of them hourly employees.
Affected vehicles were manufactured in the period from April 4, 2024 through June 27, 2024. The Ford Motor Company notes that certain vehicles are in the process of being repaired at the Avon Lake-based Ohio assembly plant. Super Duty F-650 and F-750 workhorses in dealer inventory and customers' hands, meanwhile, will have the front-axle tie rod assembly inspected.
If the Julian dates etched on said assemblies match the suspect production timeframe, dealers are to replace them with tie rod assemblies containing properly heat-treated ball studs. Affected ball studs, on the other hand, may crack and break without warning. The tie rod may disconnect from the steering knuckle, resulting in no steering control for the right-side wheel.
As it happens, a sub-supplier contracted by the tie rod assembly supplier had inadvertently mixed a batch of experimental/prototype ball studs into the production stock. Dana Global Products of Apodaca in Mexico supplies the Ford Motor Company with said assemblies, which are rated for 10,000- to 14,000-pound front axles. In metric, those would be 4,536 to 6,350 kilos.
Photo: Ford
On June 4, the folks at Dana notified the safety boffins in Dearborn about the recall condition. Ohio assembly plant immediately implemented a stop-ship order, then FoMoCo escalated this matter to the Critical Concern Review Group.
CCRG determined that USK is the sub-supplier that mixed the experimental/prototype ball studs with production-spec units. USK shipped iffy ball studs to Dana from April 9 through April 30. Following a review of warranty claims, customer complaints, and field reports, Ford isn't aware of any related to the recall condition.
Owners will be notified via first-class mail from August 13 through August 20. Owners can take matters into their own hands by checking the vehicle identification number against Ford's recall and customer satisfaction program database. Both the Super Duty F-650 and F-750 feature VINs beginning with the number 1.
For model year 2025, there are four distinct flavors to choose from, beginning with the F-650 SD Gas Straight Frame at $69,685. At the other end of the spectrum, the F-750 SD Diesel Straight Frame will set you back $80,895 at the very least. SD is the short way of saying Super Duty, whereas Gas and Diesel refer to the 7.3-liter Godzilla V8 and 6.7-liter Power Stroke V8.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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