Factory warrantee is almost up and...

[GarageMahal]

My factory warrantee is almost up and I decided I was going to get 4:10 gears installed and give the dealer an excuse to see if the axles needed to be replaced (per the TSB). I needed to leave my baby with the dealer to replace something with my door remotes anyway (range was down to 2 feet).

So they spent the first day fixing the keyless entry. I guess they had to take apart lots of things to replace the defective part. Oh well, what’s two days without the MM?

Day two (today) they got working on the gears and they are having big problems getting the brake rotors off. Both have rusted solid to whatever they attach to (I assume the axles). The passenger side is off now but was destroyed in the process. The tech is coming in tomorrow to get the other rotor off and everything should be all buttoned up by the end of the day Monday. I won't know about the axles until then. 5 days without the MM :depressed:

I am glad that I have had all of my routine maintenance done by the dealer. I think the relationship I have been building with them is really paying off here. They are doing everything they can to keep me happy.

One thing the service writer asked me was if I ever had the brakes inspected, since the problem should have been caught then. I said he should check the computer as all of my service history should be there. It sounds like I will have no cost issues with the rotors and extra time to deal with them.


This has been quite the emotional roller-coaster ride so far but all should be well Monday. Hopefully it won’t snow by then and I can really try out the new gears. :burnout:

And a final note... thank god I did not try to replace the gears at home
jta

[SergntMac]

I feel your disappointment, it's not easy to give away your MM with a question mark following a homecoming date. My "two week" engine build is now four, and I just got the word a few minutes ago, the question mark remains. Everything is good, but their projected schedule was...Projected. Didn't know there were so many ways to say maybe.

Feel something like that jta? I thought so, and I tip of my hat to MartyO. I can only imagine what he has gone through.

[CRUZTAKER]

I had my axels of twice. Once at 3000 and again at 25,000. Both times the mechanic had a hell of a time getting them off. No toubles with the brakes, however I recently discovered my e-brake doesn't work. Goes straight to the floor.:(

Glad to hear all the extra is covered.

And Hey...how about that think to vote? How'd you do that, I'm....I'm.....I'm moved...:P

Thanks!

[KilledKenny]

That is the biggest problem that we have the drum in rotor design. What happends is that the E-brakes usually don't get used as often as they should. Rust builds up on the outside edge of the brake drum. On top of that the E-brake shoe adjuster also rusts up so there is no way to get the rotor assemble to slide off the shoes. It is a major pain in the :censor: and what usually happends is the E-brake shoe lining completly seperates from the backing. We see this alot on police vehicles and they end up need E-brake shoes rotors and adjusters which can add up. I have seen vehicles that had come in with E-brake going to floor. Most of the time we find out they had it somewhere else to put new rear brakes and have the rotors machined. When removing the rotors to machine them they tore off the e-brake linings then reassemble the rotors with out the linings. :eek: Alot of places (even some dealers) don't remove the rear rotors to check the e-brakes during a standard brake check. Just a word of warning for people out of warranty and never had the E-brakes checked, you might get stuck buying rotors, e-brake shoes and adjusters.

[DEFYANT]

Good reason to use the e-brake.

[GarageMahal]

I feel your disappointment, it's not easy to give away your MM with a question mark following a homecoming date. My "two week" engine build is now four, and I just got the word a few minutes ago, the question mark remains. Everything is good, but their projected schedule was...Projected. Didn't know there were so many ways to say maybe.

Feel something like that jta? I thought so, and I tip of my hat to MartyO. I can only imagine what he has gone through.

Thanks for the thoughts Mac, it really helps to put things into perspective.

Anyway, I just heard that the tech is out sick with the flu today... still hoping to get it back tomorrow :cry:

The worst part is the weekend weather was perfect for burning up tires but now we have snow :(


And Hey...how about that think to vote? How'd you do that, I'm....I'm.....I'm moved...

I think you probably figured this out by now but I simply viewed the source of the web page and copied what I needed. Its the only way I know to build HTML hehe

jta

P.S. Looks like we all should make sure we get the rear breaks disassembled every so often, especially while under warranty.

[Bradley G]

Great 411 on the emergency brake ! I'll be at a year at the end of the month and I can't remember ever using it:confused: I 'll start today! thanks. George, this is worth the wait,:D your gonna love it!! :burnout:
Bradley G

GM How are you correcting the programming?

[GarageMahal]

Great 411 on the emergency brake ! I'll be at a year at the end of the month and I can't remember ever using it:confused: I 'll start today! thanks. George, this is worth the wait,:D your gonna love it!! :burnout:
Bradley G

GM How are you correcting the programming?

I know I tried the parking brake the day I bought it and have never used it since :cool4:

I got the SCT9100 programmed for both the stock and 4:10 gears at MVII in Indy. I knew this day would come :D

Hopefully we will get some dry, sunny days before the weekend when I put the snows on ( if I get the MM back by then :rolleyes: )

jta

[Bradley G]

I got to give you credit for thinking ahead with both programs;) You my friend saved yourself some grief there:beatnik: You have waited long enough:bs: Tell those guy's at the dealer to get the lead out!!:banana: Good luck! and tell us how you do:burnout:

Bradley G

[GarageMahal]

Well, it is still in the shop :( Hopefully it gets done today.

Appearantly they are having problems getting the correct rear rotors for a Marauder. I didn't know they were different from other panthers.

One thing is certain, I am really gonna feel the performance difference (from the 10 year old Explorer I am driving) :cool:

jta

updated: .... parts are supposed to be here tomorrow morning .... at least I know they are keeping her inside (and off the ground, with no rear wheels on)

[GarageMahal]

I just got home from picking her up at last.

I have to say that I am so happy I decided to have the dealer put the gears in before the warantee is up. I may have had to pay extra for the parts and book time for the labor but it was worth it.

They had to replace the rotors and found that the axles were bad as well. I suspected the axles were bad but had nothing to give the dealer reason to open it up and check since it was not showing any symptoms.

My sources (thanks much!) tell me that the Twin Cities was the only Ford parts depot to be out of the rotors so they had to come from the other side of Wisconsin. I was worried when they were not here this morning but they arrived after lunch.

Its drizzling here now so I can't give it a fair test, but after flashing the new program for the 4:10s it really feels good. Hopefully we will have a nice weekend and I can really try it out. My first impressions are that these are the gears the MM was designed to have. Everything just "feels" better with them.

Thanks for all your support,
jta

[Marauder57]

For what it is worth I just went out of warranty by 4 miles this AM on my way to work........but after all the MODS it was done a while ago...

[SouLRioT]

I dont even remember how it was driving with the stock gears and tune. Like everyone says, the car just feels right. But more power is in the future.