driving 75mph develop a mild vibration, push in clutch to down shift and pull out of traffic. the four flange bolts on the drive line attaching it to the transfer case sheer off. Drive line knocks a hole in floor board tears out carrier bearing separates the two piece drive shaft, rear section hits the ground is caught under right rear wheel tearing it from the rear axle and sending the truck airborne. further inspection I find the transfer case is tore from the transmission extension housing destroying the extension housing. examination of transmission and transfer case I find no malfunction of the internal parts.

I've owned the truck since 2000. There has been no work on this drive train system. the truck has been regularly maintained and the drive train was inspected less than a year ago and showed no singes of excessive wear.

Ford Motor Company Customer Srvs Div. PO Box 6248 Dearborn, MI 48121

Subject: Reply to your letter of Apr. 17, 2003

It’s apparent that Ford does not care about the performance of it’s trucks. I will list out the problems as they occurred. I currently have 53.9K miles on this 1999 F350 Super Dually Diesel; 1FTWW32F5XEB92167.

First problem was the torque converter, truck was new and had few miles at the time. The converter was noisy, but my local Ford service called Ford and were told not to replace it. Then it broke and had to be replaced. The noise stopped.

Shortly after, the overdrive planet broke and wiped out the new torque converter and transmission which had to be replaced. Then I had a bent push rod and broken lifter and I was down another 3 days.

After another short time I had loss of power and engine problems, so the engine had to be replaced. Again, Ford didn’t know what the problem was; said engine heated internally because of something. I was down 3 weeks for that one.

The transmission went out again and had to be replaced, I lost 3 days. Motor loss of power again, Ford never advised or figured out what was wrong, so the engine had to be replaced again.

I got warranty of 100K miles of the initial engine and the second one as well, at an additional cost of $10K to me, the 3rd engine Ford would warranty for only 8 months, and I had to fight for even that. Showing how much faith Ford has in their replacement engines/parts.

Because of all the resultant problems and expenses, my wife divorced me. When you called, you wouldn’t allow me to explain all the resultant problems, expenses, and down time which also cost me a lot of money.

Lastly, the right dually wheel lug bolts snapped in August. It was lucky I was pulling a 5th wheel. I was on interstate 90 through Chicago and this could have caused a bad accident. I received a letter in October that told me that the torque was required to be set differently than was explained in the book. The letter came too late to help my situation. My insurance said this accident was my fault and dropped me from their coverage.

Because of all the above and more, I owe as much on this truck as I did the day I purchased it new, in Sept. Of 1998. Now, you tell me that Ford gives a damn about it’s performance, it’s customer service or satisfaction. Especially when calling for Ford services, even your specialists did not know what to advise. I think you should elevate these problems to your upper management and allow recompense for at least some of these problems.

Thank you for no help and all of this debt.

Jim Kiepert 909 S. Fruit Av Freeport IL 61032 (815) 232-6653