Customer Satisfaction Program 07B49


B O N Y

MODERATOR & FGT OWNER
Mark IV Lifetime
Sep 5, 2005
12,110
Fresno, Ca.
Great Freddy,...
Otherwise you might find on the internet a clip of DBK or me having a panic attack fearing that this matter will be reopened. Here is an example of what you could cause by reopening this issue...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxty...les.com/smf/index.php?topic=12000.0;topicseen
 

Fast Freddy

GPS'D 225 MPH
Mark II Lifetime
Aug 5, 2005
2,684
Avondale, Arizona
Great Freddy,...
Otherwise you might find on the internet a clip of DBK or me having a panic attack fearing that this matter will be reopened. Here is an example of what you could cause by reopening this issue...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxty...les.com/smf/index.php?topic=12000.0;topicseen

LMAO bony...... thats some HIGH anxiety right there :lol
 

Empty Pockets

ex-GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Oct 18, 2006
1,361
Washington State
Someone needed to find a hammer with which to administer a little "anesthesia", as Moe Howard would say...
 

Jason's Auto Spa

Well-known member
May 22, 2007
1,272
IL & AZ
Great Freddy,...
Otherwise you might find on the internet a clip of DBK or me having a panic attack fearing that this matter will be reopened. Here is an example of what you could cause by reopening this issue...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxty...les.com/smf/index.php?topic=12000.0;topicseen
Those look like the "Relaxed Fit" cuffs :eek
 

STUNTS

FORD GT OWNER & LITTLE TIMMYS DAD!
Mark IV Lifetime
Apr 5, 2006
2,438
SoCal
so there's aproblem with the half shaft bolts?
 

B O N Y

MODERATOR & FGT OWNER
Mark IV Lifetime
Sep 5, 2005
12,110
Fresno, Ca.
Tim is back, guess every house in SoCal is lite up!!
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
 

speedismyfriend

New member
Dec 18, 2007
2
Do all the dealers of Ford GT's have the bolts in stock or do I need to call and have them order the parts for me?
all help is appreciated
thank you
 

Swazi

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jan 9, 2006
34
Northern California
just had this done today by frontier ford in santa clara. i was the 3rd or 4th GT they've worked on already, and they seem very familiar with the process.

in general they seem to be a good place to get work done on GT's since they seem to have a lot of them go thru there. i've met both the GT techs there and they both seem quite knowledgable.

the new washer appears more than twice as thick as the old ford washer. sorry i didn't have a camera with me.

the new bolts have a hex, i.e. non-allen head on them.
 

Joehand1

Tungsten GT Owner
Sep 20, 2007
599
Hattiesburg, MS, USA
Not all dealers will work on a GT, and the sevice quality varies greatly at those who do. I would check with other forum members about recommendations in your area.

Mine is presently at Treadwell Ford in Mobile getting the bolts changed, as the local Hattiesburg dealer said they wouldn't touch it. (They called today and told me every bolt broke as they were removing them, so anyone hesitating to get the repair should get it done ASAP! This is a real problem, but Ford is taking care of it.)
 

Accufab

Well-known member
Mar 14, 2006
142
Rear axle bolts

Sorry, haven't been on this site for awhile. I read all the posts on the rear axle bolt issues that many of your seem to be experiencing. I would have responded on one of those threads but they were locked or closed. Anyway, we have sold over 200 rear axle bolt kits to date. We have never experienced a single failure with one of our bolts. And this includes several cars with HP levels between 850 and 1100 rear wheel horsepower. Just thought that you should know.
 
Aug 25, 2006
4,436
Sorry, haven't been on this site for awhile. I read all the posts on the rear axle bolt issues that many of your seem to be experiencing. I would have responded on one of those threads but they were locked or closed. Anyway, we have sold over 200 rear axle bolt kits to date. We have never experienced a single failure with one of our bolts. And this includes several cars with HP levels between 850 and 1100 rear wheel horsepower. Just thought that you should know.

This is a very timely and well received post

I have installed numeous sets of the AccuFab halfshaft hardware and continue to do so with no failures not to mention the fact that I like the head design of the ARP hardware much better than the OEM style. I share this even though I have presently in my facility no less than 4 sets of Ford's latest halfshaft hardware.

My position remains as follows and as I share with all of my customers; I respect and truly appreciate that Ford brought to "ALL" the new version of the halfshaft hardware through a campain process however considering that this is at least their 3rd attempt I will not subject my gal or those of another to a product with a yet to be determined track record. Instead what I have and am doing is giving each person the latest Ford halfshaft hardware kit for them to keep as a back up should there ever be a failure with the AccuFab hardware which I suspect is remote.

Now after we go through a full season of activities with these gals that have the latest halfshaft hardware installed my feelings may change however for now the only halfshaft hardware that I install is AccuFab's.

FYI: I have no ties to AccuFab other than I use their products.

All the best

Shadowman
 

Accufab

Well-known member
Mar 14, 2006
142
Appreciate the testimonial, Shadowman. To be honest, Accufab wasn't interested in getting into the bolt business. This was also true about other Accufab products for the GT (the air inlet support and the coolant hose supports). We wound up backing into offering these products only because customers were having problems in these areas, and we had enough GT dyno time to witness these problems for ourselves. None of the fixes were any rocket science. We saw a problem and created a solution, no big deal really. Isn't that what hot rodders have been doing for the last 50 years? In my opinion, there was no reason why Ford couldn't have done the same thing, and in a timely manner. Why they didn't is a mystery to us here at Accufab.
 
Aug 25, 2006
4,436
Appreciate the testimonial, Shadowman. To be honest, Accufab wasn't interested in getting into the bolt business. This was also true about other Accufab products for the GT (the air inlet support and the coolant hose supports). We wound up backing into offering these products only because customers were having problems in these areas, and we had enough GT dyno time to witness these problems for ourselves. None of the fixes were any rocket science. We saw a problem and created a solution, no big deal really. Isn't that what hot rodders have been doing for the last 50 years? In my opinion, there was no reason why Ford couldn't have done the same thing, and in a timely manner. Why they didn't is a mystery to us here at Accufab.


You are welcome

Now to the "why" regarding Ford I can only speculate as such I will not chime in other than to say "Thank You Ford" for continuing the quest for the final solution however to my feelings about the hardware as presented by you and your team I will share the following;

Once I install your hardware system on my own gal the peace of mind alone was worth far more than the price of admission. Then add to this evey time I have installed your hardware system on another's I always consider the project finished rather than pending as such the secondary peace of mind is even greater.

Keep up the great work

Takes care

Shadowman
 

dbk

The Favor Factory™
Staff member
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Jul 30, 2005
15,187
Metro Detroit
I have the Accufab bolts and will not be changing them out for the new ones. As stated, I have never heard of a single bolt breaking.
 

B O N Y

MODERATOR & FGT OWNER
Mark IV Lifetime
Sep 5, 2005
12,110
Fresno, Ca.
ditto... turned in my original invoices to my local dealer for reimbursement.
I am a happy camper with John's bolts in place.
 

FrankBarba

Permanent Vacation
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Oct 16, 2005
544
Harrisburg, PA
I have not yet rec'd my letter from Ford. My dealer will not accept my Invoice for the Accufab Kit?
 

THamonGT

GT
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Accufab (wire tied) in place with Ford New bolts and washers as backup. PS don't tell anyone. Thanks John. Tomy
 

Indy GT

Yea, I got one...too
Mark IV Lifetime
Jan 14, 2006
2,526
Greenwood, IN
Ford Support

John, thanks for your post up on your bolts. We do appreciate you being a supporting vendor to this Forum and you do make an excellent half-shaft bolt package.

PHP:
Accufab quote, "In my opinion, there was no reason why Ford couldn't have done the same thing, and in a timely manner. Why they didn't is a mystery to us here at Accufab."

I have to comment on your and Shadowman's ponderances as to why it took so long for our OEM to come up with a permenant bolt fix. Actually this appears as a bit of Monday Morning Quarterbacking. It is easy in hind sight to point the finger and ask why it took so long to engineer the final fix. Ford as the OEM had an obligation to all 4038 owners to provide a corrective design that would actually address the bolt failure mode which was unknown for many months. An obligation which I might add the GT team took VERY seriously.

Accufab as you said "backed into" the fix only by "accident" (and I will qualify that term) and offered an option for anyone willing to buy your bolt kit if they wanted to. Thus there was no direct obligation that your company HAD to fix this problem or identify what specifically was CAUSING the failure. There is a difference.

As I said you product offering was really no accident for your team wisely went to ARP one of the best, most competent high performance bolt people in the country and sourced a replacement bolt for the ford product which was failing due to electro plating issues, not strength. Thus your product likely will never succumb to the failure mode which affected the Riccardo bolts.

Forum members continually (and mistakenly) bring up the issue of strength and that there has never been a reported failure of the Accufab bolts. That's right! because the bolts (any current offered bolts in our halfshafts) are not (and cannot be) subjected to LOADS which are ANYWHERE NEAR the tensile or shear capacity of the M8 bolt. This would predictedly be one of the first failure scenerios the Ford engineers would collect data on. And they did.

The failure mode which Ford was finally able to identify through numerous tests and analysis of returned failed parts from the dealers was hydrogen embrittlement. Again, NOT STRENGTH. And just because you have driven your GT hard for 15K, 30K, 45K miles (pick a mileage) does not mean you are out of the woods as hydrodgen embrittlement is a time related failure. It works away at the bolt over time and may cause the bolt to fail early, late or never. Lockwiring of the bolt set is another red herring and has nothing to do with the bolt failures. This would only be the case if the bolts were losing torque and backing out which does not appear to be the failure mode. Same goes for all the talk about locktite being on or off the OEM threads.

FGT owners who have installed the Accufab bolt kit for peace of mind deserve everything they paid for and they purchased a fastener kit which will likely never have any problems. Others who opt to have Ford install the latest CA washer bolt combination will have an equivalent level of peace of mind. I encourage all owners to update to one of the two bolt options available to us, and the sooner the better. This issue is really over.

And John thanks again for all your GT product offerings.
 

Neilda

GT Owner
Oct 19, 2005
3,559
London, UK
That's very useful and clear information. Hopefully Ford will be supplying Roush Engineering here in the UK so that they can fit the replacement bolts.

Thanks for the post - and indeed everyone who has contributed, I think it's fair to say many owners have been learning as we go along.
 

fjpikul

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Jan 4, 2006
11,475
Belleville, IL
Yeah, What Indy said!