What Happens When a Ford Explorer "Explodes"?

[Gypsy Rose]

This!:eek:
http://www.baywindfarm.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=922&pictureid=16270

Some of you may remember last April when shadowdancer had to go back for his follow up appointment in Fargo. This poor Explorer belongs to our friend that took us out there, In fact, this was the very same vehicle....

I got a phone call about 1:30 this afternoon. Jer was driving back down here to his mom's from Thief River Falls. He was between Thief River and Erskine, and he was just letting me know he was on his way back down. That area is a long, boring drive...

He was telling me the "Exploder" (yes, everyone's always called it that), didn't sound good. He was getting a horrible rumbling noise from the front end, and he was leaking grease as he was driving. He was trying to at least make it to Erskine....

Jer was holding the phone out away from his ear, so I could hear what the noise sounded like. Shadowdancer was about three feet away from me. Jer was talking through this, and the next thing I heard was a horrible squealing sound that even shadowdancer heard. I started to ask Jer, "WTH....?", when the next thing he said was, "I just dropped the axle, I think. I'm sitting in the ditch." One wrong move, and I think he might have rolled the darn thing....:eek:

Jer said everything just more or less dropped right where it sits. How he got it off the road is anybody's guess, except from what I understand it wasn't easy! After a better look, as you can seee from the pics, he actually busted the ball joint, rotor, and brake line, at the very least. If I've messed up any details here, he'll help me straighten them out, lol!

Oh, and did I forget to mention that it was about 11 below zero at the time?:eek::p
Good thing the engine still ran, and he had plenty of gas, not to mention his cell phone!:D

http://www.baywindfarm.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=922&pictureid=16268


http://www.baywindfarm.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=922&pictureid=16272

http://www.baywindfarm.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=922&pictureid=16269

http://www.baywindfarm.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=922&pictureid=16269

[WashingtonBay]

Bad bearing?

At least it looks like a soft landing around there... and the snow and warning noises probably slowed him down. Glad he wasn't hurt.

[Gypsy Rose]

Worst of it is, that's the same side we replaced the bearing in the first place the day before we went to Fargo. that was Jer's first thought, as well. It will be interesting to find out the exact cause of the damage.

Jer said he was pretty lucky to be able to ease it off the road. If he had been in the process of turning....

[offgridgirl]

FORD=found on road dead!!:)

[Gypsy Rose]

FORD=found on road dead!!:)

Yeah, literally!:hysterical:Yet he always gives shadowdancer and I a hard time about driving Dodges. Funny, even when they break down, which is rare, they manage to do it in the yard, or when a neighbor is following. Not out in the middle of nowhere, lol!:D

[dame_wolf]

FORD=found on road dead!!:)

No! First On Race Day!!!

I do have to say though that most mechanics do refer to them as Exploders... They are not Fords best...

[Remali]

Holy moly! I'm glad Jer is OK and the Exploder gave him a bit of a warning before it detonated and he was able to get off the road. Why do vehicles always wait till it's way below zero to do things like that?!

[oursarge]

Wow we had about 9 or 10 of them and never had a problem except for one the transmission went on it. I loved the last one we had. We lease them and ended up with an Escape this time, I really miss the Explorer, so much easier to drive with so much more room in it. This is scary though, glad nobody got hurt.

[TheRedHayflinger]

a guy at the boy scout camp I worked at had an explorer we called the Exploder too....his engine exploded though (everyone was fine and he was able to get it fixed and is still driving it to this day)

that looks scary! Glad he's okay!

[HoustonFarrier]

Bad bearing?

At least it looks like a soft landing around there... and the snow and warning noises probably slowed him down. Glad he wasn't hurt.


If you look closely, you'll see both bearings are still ON!!! So, either they both seized, and spun the race until the wheel assy came apart, or it's a defective axle ? (Bent?)

Steve

[Gypsy Rose]

It's funny how many poeple call them Exploders for different reasons. Doesn't surprise me, though.

You know, Steve, you may be on to something. Jer's mom's driveway is referred to as "the mud run', in the summer. I will not take my two wheel drive truck up it, even when it's dry. It gets very rutty- deep ones at that. You can't help but sooner or later dropping a wheel in a rut, lol. He's been driving up and down that crazy driveway at least every other weekend for the last two summers.

Makes me feel better that you noticed the bearings were still on. You see, that's the very side that was replaced before we went to Fargo, and Jer had never done it before. That side was replaced under my direction, because at the times, shadowdancer's mechanical ability hadn't really started to come back yet...first time I was happy I ended up replacing the truck's axle almost by myself one day. Someone who shall remain nameless:D was busy yakking at a friend, and I got tired of waiting, lol!:p:) Had the wheel off and the bearing assembly out before they thought to notice, lol!:hysterical:

One thing we all noticed with that Exploder was that when you braked, you could actually feel something shaking right through the brake pedal. Jer was putting it down as the ABS brakes weren't working (which they were not, lol),:p but I was never so sure about that. Hmmmm, wonder if there's a connection? No shimmy going down the road, though. Drove the thing myself a few times.

[FatSpottedAppy]

That looks scary!

Coincidentially, my boyfriend calls them "Ford Exploders" instead of "Ford Explorers"

[MyMia]

I'm glad he was okay! That looks scary! I hope he finds out what happened.

[Gypsy Rose]

From what I understand, the ball joint is what snapped, which caused the whole mess. He's not going to fix it- it's just not worth the money, lol!

[Remali]

Oh ball joints.... yeah, not a good thing to have go wrong while you're driving.... :(

[Gypsy Rose]

Just because I'm bored, and also need to learn how to use Windows Paint:p....here is the offending part circled.

http://www.baywindfarm.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=922&pictureid=16333

[Ol Man River]

the part you have circled is the upper assembly that holds the
brake caliper on. the bottom bracket is below what you have
circled.

I see the inside bearing is intact but I do not see the outside
bearing, just the inner race part of it.

did you pack the bearings with grease, did you over tighten
the nut which holds it all together. that will burn the bearing
out even with grease.

If a ball joint breaks usually the whole wheel will tilt in or out
depending if it is the upper or lower ball joint.

the rotar and wheel came off, so that means the outer bearing
failed allowing the rotar, hub, and wheel to just slide off the spindle.

[Fork]

Ack! How old is this Exploder that you speak of? :(

We had a Camry explode on us once, on the middle of the highway at 3 am. :p Things like this can happen to anyone. Glad no one was hurt.

[Gypsy Rose]

the part you have circled is the upper assembly that holds the
brake caliper on. the bottom bracket is below what you have
circled.

I see the inside bearing is intact but I do not see the outside
bearing, just the inner race part of it.

did you pack the bearings with grease, did you over tighten
the nut which holds it all together. that will burn the bearing
out even with grease.

If a ball joint breaks usually the whole wheel will tilt in or out
depending if it is the upper or lower ball joint.

the rotar and wheel came off, so that means the outer bearing
failed allowing the rotar, hub, and wheel to just slide off the spindle.

I see some of what you're saying here on closer inspection. I should have stated in the beginning that the whole hub assembly was replaced used as a whole. Only way Jer could afford it. Not normally the smartest of ideas, but at the time, better the vehicle not running at all. than One thing that puzzled us all, is that after replacing that area, he still had the same type of noise, only sounding like it was coming from the other side.

Some of those bearings are greaseless packs, and I remember calling the auto parts store and checking on whether we should or shouldn't, and we were told that should be a prepacked bearing, which normally would require no grease. Since we were dealing with a used part, it was lightly greased anyway.

Familiar with the overtightening, thing, as well. Without a torque wrench... I'm still thinking age of the part and the driving conditions he had to put it under didn't help anything. I know he put a lot of miles on it in a short period of time.

Ack! How old is this Exploder that you speak of? :(

We had a Camry explode on us once, on the middle of the highway at 3 am. :p Things like this can happen to anyone. Glad no one was hurt.

Mid 90's, lol!

Eek! that would have been scary!

[HoustonFarrier]

did you over tighten the nut which holds it all together. that will burn the bearing out even with grease.

That is what I suspect. The bearing seized, turned the race red-hot, which made the entire wheel assy start to slide off the axle. All the other damage was collateral damage as the wheel and rotor assy came off in flight !~

But I also wonder....the threads on the axle seem intact......wonder if they just forgot to put the cotter pin back in when they put the rotor assy back on ???? The nut just backed itself off, and the rest was pure physics :D

Steve

[3equines]

No! First On Race Day!!!

I do have to say though that most mechanics do refer to them as Exploders... They are not Fords best...


You got it all wrong. Fix Or Repair Daily! If I get to choose (and I don't, my rig is an ancient Toyota) I love a Chevy and also Dodge trucks.

[Gypsy Rose]

That is what I suspect. The bearing seized, turned the race red-hot, which made the entire wheel assy start to slide off the axle. All the other damage was collateral damage as the wheel and rotor assy came off in flight !~

But I also wonder....the threads on the axle seem intact......wonder if they just forgot to put the cotter pin back in when they put the rotor assy back on ???? The nut just backed itself off, and the rest was pure physics :D

Steve

Makes sense from the noise I heard over the phone. Cotter pin was put back in- saw that myself. Don't think the thing would have held from April until now if it hadn't been. He probaby put close to if not more than 10,000 miles after that. If something bent, could it cause the cotter pin to break, maybe? I'm still thinking that blasted driveway. Last spring, Jer's mom's SO buried his 4 wheel drive Nissan to the point gettiing it out was enough of an event that they videoed it, and put it up on You Tube! Unfortuanately, sometime since the last time I watched it, they decided to remove it.

I have taken many vehicles up extremely bad driveways all my life, but that one any time it even rained in the summer I wouldn't attempt it. Now, the driveway's finally being fixed. I'm seriously wondering if he bent something, or if that cotter pin went missing....:eek:

What gets me is while we were talking, he was losing grease from that front end somewhere- he didn't know where. Out of grease would have caused the scenario Steve and Old Man River are describing. But what caused the grease to suddenly decide it no longer wanted to be where it should?

[Gypsy Rose]

You got it all wrong. Fix Or Repair Daily! If I get to choose (and I don't, my rig is an ancient Toyota) I love a Chevy and also Dodge trucks.

Hear, hear!:D

[Ol Man River]

2 places for grease to leak

1 if the seal in the axle housing was bad, it would let the
oil, grease from the differential leak out the axle housing.

2 if the grease seal that fits after the inside bearing
is placed in the hub. did you put a new one in when
you replaced the wheel bearings.?


yea no cotter pin is bad. or if they broke it when they put it
back in and it fell out then the nut backed off.

even if they said the bearings were prepacked. Add More grease. LOL
I have even filled the hub up by hand before putting
the outside bearing in. (Now you did use wheel bearing grease,
different formula than regular grease that you would use to
lubricate other parts with a grease gun.)

[Gypsy Rose]

If you mean the race, yep- learned that one the hard way with my truck- always replace that with new.:)

You may have hit on something, though. Axle housing seal. He was having trouble the last few weeks with 4 wheel drive. Sometimes it gave him trouble locking in and unlocking. Could that be related?

[Ol Man River]

a manual lock in hub.? I think the problem of not or hard to lock the
wheel in was in the hub and the actual parts for that proceedure.

I once had a F150 that I took to the ford garage to repack the bearing
(I worked in the strip mines and was running through water all the time).

once I locked the hubs in I could not unlock them. took it back to the
dealership, they tore it apart again. and they found that they put
a spring in backwards . the spring is what pushed out on the knob
you turned to lock in and lock out the wheel.

so it would be hard to say what actually went wrong and started
the whole process of what happened.

[Gypsy Rose]

a manual lock in hub.? I think the problem of not or hard to lock the
wheel in was in the hub and the actual parts for that proceedure.

I once had a F150 that I took to the ford garage to repack the bearing
(I worked in the strip mines and was running through water all the time).

once I locked the hubs in I could not unlock them. took it back to the
dealership, they tore it apart again. and they found that they put
a spring in backwards . the spring is what pushed out on the knob
you turned to lock in and lock out the wheel.

so it would be hard to say what actually went wrong and started
the whole process of what happened.

Nope, automatic lock ins. I know a few people that had problems whith them in the 80's. Not sure about 90's, but I know they had to have manual lock outs put in, because the darn things would stick, and refuse to lock in or out. I know he was having trouble with his, so who knows, like you said.

The world may never know!:p:)

Thanks for the help!:)