Ford (light trucks) Obsoleting parts

[3930dave]

Picked up a 2001 E350 last year.

Like the van's capabilities, love the engine (7.3L).

Based on admittedly a small dataset, I'm so far not a fan of Ford's business approach to parts.

The latest, today - I went to price backing plates (splash/dust shields) for the front rotors, since they had been removed before I bought the vehicle. As it turns out, I can now guess why this was done.

Well, after calling several dealers to zero out operator error, it turns out that Ford has obsoleted these rotor backing plates for years 2000 - 2004. Got essentially the same story, at Canadian and USA dealers. According to Ford, "they are no longer necessary". I'm going to see if I can get a Ford document with that statement on it.

This is my first Ford, so I wanted to ask the braintrust a coupla questions:

(I do get that the beancounters won, a long time ago, but still, I keep dreaming...)

1) Is this part dumping typical of Ford ?

2) Are there ANY light truck manufacturers that do support their parts long term (ie. past their New Vehicle Warranty period) still ?

3) I was told that manufacturers having to support parts for 10 years is just urban legend - T/F ?

4) Price range for enclosed horse drawn carriages is ________________ ?


Best Rgds, D.

 

[slowzuki]

All manufacturers are obsoleting parts, and in these days of minimum stock levels, not much hope of finding new old stock. Luckily the aftermarkets is pretty aggressive in supplying much of this stuff even from the OEM supplier. I ran through a list of parts in my 2001 Superduty, they had most stuff but no original seat belts. I had to get a different colour which was fine.

On my aunts fairly rare Suzuki X-90, there is barely a part I can't have a choice of suppliers for despite most everything being discontinued by suzuki. The steep bumper cores are the latest thing she needed that aren't available, so I built a bumper out of steel.

 

[3930dave]

Point(s) taken Slowzuki..... Parts was about the last reason I had left to go into a dealer anymore, guess those visits are done for me.

Had a lead on a Dorman PN, but so far that looks like a dead end.Will poke around in the aftermarket, with a bit of luck I'll find something. I don't really have time to troll the boneyards, and the nearest one to me (decent sized lot too) rarely has much in the way of Econolines.

Guess we'll be seeing competitive vehicle offerings from BIC, sooner, rather than later.

Rgds, D.

 

[jeffster]

The other problem I have with Ford is that for a fair amount of the parts, you have to get them from Ford, they apparently don't license them to anyone else (am assuming). I had a 2007 Explorer that loved to eat A-arms (bushing) and nobody but Ford makes them and the price Ford charges is just insane. The list of problems with that vehicle was endless so I traded it in for a new Camaro. Much more fun. Heh.

 

[slowzuki]

Moog make the that bushing for that Explorer, I believe you buy the whole a-arm now just like on the X-90 I was talking about, they make a whole bunch of fix-it parts that upgrade problems with the OE design. We put a bunch of them on a buddies Chev that ate front end parts all the time, lasts a lot longer now.

Jumping the X-90, I complained about needing to replace the whole a-arm until my brother in law (mechanic) explained the a-arms with the bushings cost less than the new bushings cost, and take an hour to install instead of 2 with a risk of damaging the a-arm in the press.

 

[EagleTDL]

Don't even get me started!

'06 F-150 FX4 here, involved in a "Oh Crap, he stopped" accident in mid-September. :ashamed: Tore up the nose pretty good, but that was all fixable. In the process of trying to get her slowed down, I just flat out stomped on the brake pedal. Got 2 chirps out of the Anti-lock system and then kissed the back of a Range Rover at 30mph.

Went to pick up the truck on the 2nd of November and immediately started running through all the switches in the cab. My model came with adjustable pedals (good thing since the Spousal Unit is 5' nuthin'!) and as I ran the pedals back and forth, pieces parts started dropping out of the Brake Pedal Assembly!! I looked at the Body Shop Manager and said "You've got to kidding me" [edited version].

Mind you, this is an '06, 5 years old. Ford no longer makes the Assembly, nor do they have an remanufactured units because there are no cores available! We finally found one in a salvage yard in AZ ('07 model) and had it shipped here... Got the truck back Monday afternoon. Fed laws are being completely ignored!! :confused2:

Feel your pain Partner, really do...

 

[Diamondpilot]

Yep, its all manufactures. I ran into this a few times myself.

Chris

 

[3930dave]

Knew it was a long shot, but was hoping to hear "Rare type of problem, normally nothing to worry about with Ford".

I wish it was just parts. A buddy of mine was telling me about all the scams with automotive chemicals in new vehicles. Sounds like the Car companies license out the rights on new fluid specs..... $15+/quart is nice for them, not so much for us.

If I could afford to be the good little consumer that I'm supposed to be, I'd just buy a new vehicle every 3 years. Not going to happen, so it looks like I might be driving just my tractor eventually.

(I probably shouldn't even joke about that).



D.

 

[jeffsw6]

I had to get two doors replaced on my truck (traffic accident) which was only two or three years old at that time. I think the current model year even had the same ones. It took 7 weeks for the body shop to finish the job. 6 weeks of that was waiting for parts. They said GM had a longer back-order for new ones!

It is not just a certain manufacturer, they would all rather we buy new vehicles than repair the ones we already paid off.

 

[Skyco]

Jumping the X-90, I complained about needing to replace the whole a-arm until my brother in law (mechanic) explained the a-arms with the bushings cost less than the new bushings cost, and take an hour to install instead of 2 with a risk of damaging the a-arm in the press.

Funny how that works I was in Autozone one time buying calipers....loaded calipers (with pads) were less than just calipers for my application:confused2: