I broke my suspension-frame weld for the upper link

[JohnE]

I thought I'd share with you all over here what happened to my car. The 2003+ frame is different from my 2000, as yours is hydroformed along with a few other differences. But they are certainly related to each other.

The weld, which mounts the passenger side upper link bracket to the top of the frame, broke loose. The entire bead is no longer holding the two parts together. The bracket is still held on by the rear and lower front horizontal welds only. If the CVPI's had trouble, no real surprise I'm fighting this now too.

Here's the location:
http://www.crownvic.net/ubbthreads/user_uploads/753940-Broke02-.JPG

The pic was taken using a mirror. Granted it's hard to make out, thanks to the low light of nightime. Notice the edge of the weld:
http://www.crownvic.net/ubbthreads/user_uploads/753942-Broke01-.JPG
Looks like the quality of the factory weld was poor to say the least. The metal did not rip, weld just didn't stick.

Good news is that all other welds and structure seem to be in tact. I looked for this after hearing an occasional pop under normal starts from a standstill. Basically pressure is applied on this weld when under acceleration. Good thing I haven't installed drag tires yet :rolleyes:

I installed a driveshaft safety loop exactly for this kind of stuff. If it happens, the car will be controllable. The reason I've put this up on the board is to inform others with similar setups/uses of the occurance. Just something to look out for if it happens. This created a poping noise which caught my attention. Now I'll fix it. No biggie

By the way the factory stamped steel suspension links are all in one piece and straight. If one breaks, then I'll upgrade them too. Nice to have choices out there.


John

[Warpath]

I thought I'd share with you all over here what happened to my car. The 2003+ frame is different from my 2000, as yours is hydroformed along with a few other differences. But they are certainly related to each other....

Only the front third of the frame is a hydroform. The middle side rails and rear of the frame is virtually unchanged from 2002 to 2003 except for moving the rear shocks outboard and the transmission crossmember has changed. The aluminum crossmember is new too of course.


...I installed a driveshaft safety loop exactly for this kind of stuff. If it happens, the car will be controllable...

I don't know how a drive shaft loop will help you maintain control if the suspension starts to fall apart. I'm not critizing, I just don't understand how that could be.

I wonder how much your modifications contributed to the weld fracture. Increasing hp can increase suspension loads. If it is a quality issue, your mods may have made it happen sooner than it normally would have.

For those of you with aftermarked control arms and/or lowered suspensions, it is important to keep an eye on this kind of stuff. The stiffer control arms and lowered suspension will increase loads into the frame and shorten its life. It may be only a little shorter. But, it will be shorter.

[JohnE]

Sorry for the ds loop doesn’t go/read well. I took info which was posted elsewhere and consolidated it here. The driveshaft loop was a safety choice to hopefully keep my car from pole-vaulting, if I ever have an unexpected failure.

The car drives normal, only hint to trouble is the occasional pop noise. Of course I don’t plan on driving it until fixed though. I consider myself lucky to find it prior to more serious damage. I agree that this probably occurred earlier due to my power level and driving habits. The problem is common among police duty cars after high miles of service and there is a TSB on it. I only hope that Ford improved the parts/quality in the newer frames to avoid this. Don’t know if they did or not.

[Scott Leininger]

if you check, im sure there was a tsb on those, ford had all our police vehcile pbrought into the shop and inspected for this.

just info




Sorry for the ds loop doesn’t go/read well. I took info which was posted elsewhere and consolidated it here. The driveshaft loop was a safety choice to hopefully keep my car from pole-vaulting, if I ever have an unexpected failure.

The car drives normal, only hint to trouble is the occasional pop noise. Of course I don’t plan on driving it until fixed though. I consider myself lucky to find it prior to more serious damage. I agree that this probably occurred earlier due to my power level and driving habits. The problem is common among police duty cars after high miles of service and there is a TSB on it. I only hope that Ford improved the parts/quality in the newer frames to avoid this. Don’t know if they did or not.

[BK_GrandMarquis]

I thought I'd share with you all over here what happened to my car. The 2003+ frame is different from my 2000, as yours is hydroformed along with a few other differences. But they are certainly related to each other.

The weld, which mounts the passenger side upper link bracket to the top of the frame, broke loose. The entire bead is no longer holding the two parts together. The bracket is still held on by the rear and lower front horizontal welds only. If the CVPI's had trouble, no real surprise I'm fighting this now too.


Looks like the quality of the factory weld was poor to say the least. The metal did not rip, weld just didn't stick.

Good news is that all other welds and structure seem to be in tact. I looked for this after hearing an occasional pop under normal starts from a standstill. Basically pressure is applied on this weld when under acceleration. Good thing I haven't installed drag tires yet :rolleyes:



John
Isn't this the 2nd time the rear end failed on you? I thought I read that you or someone with a supercharged CV had their rear suspension brackets or welds fail. This doesn't look good for all those supercharged Panthers out there. The control arms mounts do look flimsy for a car our size. :shake: Anyone know what the suspension on a BMW 7 series or Mercedes S series looks like? Are they better designed?

[JohnE]

Anyone know a BMW owner that puts the same kind of use to their car a Police officer does 24x7? Think of all the WOT/full brake, then curb hopping they do. Still, no car is perfect.

The lower control arm mount is what the TSB covers. Here's what it looks like installed:
http://www.supermotors.org/getfile/38491/fullsize/DCP_0029.JPG

Appears that my car just had a bad weld to start with. Although while at it, I plan to perform the TSB mod to my lower mounts anyway.

John

[Warpath]

...The driveshaft loop was a safety choice to hopefully keep my car from pole-vaulting, if I ever have an unexpected failure...

OK, I can understand that.


...The problem is common among police duty cars after high miles of service and there is a TSB on it. I only hope that Ford improved the parts/quality in the newer frames to avoid this. Don’t know if they did or not.

TSB's are expesive to Ford. So, they have motivation to improve it.

[JohnE]

I lifted the body enough to reweld the bracket. And while in there, added a few "upgrades" similar to the Ford TSB for fixing frame cracks.

Upper
http://www.crownvic.net/ubbthreads/user_uploads/756305-Reinforced02-.JPG

Lower
http://www.crownvic.net/ubbthreads/user_uploads/756306-Reinforced03-.JPG


John