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Americas Front Driveshaft CV redesign

Commodore

Grenadier Owner
Local time
9:41 AM
Joined
Apr 6, 2024
Messages
511
Location
Pasadena, CA, USA
Ineos crew, there is an issue with the front driveshaft CV at the transfer case side. The acute driveline angle generates heat causing the rubber on the CV to rip and spill grease. This leads to failure of the CV joint and ultimately immediate loss of forward propulsion. The failures have been well documented. Do you have plans to redesign this part or should owners start looking for their own permanent solutions?

This is a serious safety concern that needs to be resolved.
 
Solution
Ineos crew, there is an issue with the front driveshaft CV at the transfer case side. The acute driveline angle generates heat causing the rubber on the CV to rip and spill grease. This leads to failure of the CV joint and ultimately immediate loss of forward propulsion. The failures have been well documented. Do you have plans to redesign this part or should owners start looking for their own permanent solutions?

This is a serious safety concern that needs to be resolved.
Lynn didn't have the answer to hand but we discussed the CV joint boots failing by the nature of them operating at their extremes in terms of deflection. She took it back to her engineering team and they replied today.

Propshaft angle a hot topic from...
I haven't read this whole thread yet, so I apologize if this has already been asked, but what is the part I've circled in red? It looks like it might be a point of contact indicating the axle hit the side of the housing (and probably pinched the rubber boot)?

View attachment 7903467
The boot is still in good condition. So far, no cracks have formed. I can't explain the scratches. Actually, there's nothing rubbing there. I'm going to the dealer today to get new locks. Maybe he has an explanation.
 
Lynn didn't have the answer to hand but we discussed the CV joint boots failing by the nature of them operating at their extremes in terms of deflection. She took it back to her engineering team and they replied today.

Propshaft angle a hot topic from the very early days of engineering the Grenadier – no surprise there. We worked very closely with our supplier on the development and tested it in extremely rough conditions over many miles without any issues. We now see (and thanks for the feedback) that there have been reports on some rubber boots.

We are reviewing this internally, and with the supplier, and will weigh up whether we believe there needs to be a fix. We have some meetings set up to discuss in the coming weeks. The propshaft angle will be even more critical if lifting the vehicle (>20mm).
Thank you for posing the question to Lynn. I do believe that she is going to fix the issues as fast as she can given all the constraints.

So they knew it was an issue from the beginning but thought they could get away with it. I wonder if the suppler provided a joint with a boot made of a different material and later swapped it out for a less expensive alternative for protection. In the current configuration there is no possible way that this wasn’t going to be a problem. Every one of these is going to fail before warranty expiration. They will need to find a solution.

I look forward to hearing what she comes back with soon.
 
Of all things this seems like a real urgent problem.
Yes it is. To my knowledge, this is the only actual safety issue with the truck. A complete joint failure at speed will have the driveshaft smashing into all sorts of expensive parts and will cause the instantaneous loss of propulsion. This could get someone killed if it happens at the wrong moment.

Enough of these have failed as to cause my local dealer to keep front driveshafts in stock because they are constantly replacing them. Ineos must realize the issue. They are clearly trying to figure out a cost effect solution. Replacing everyone’s front axle with one that has proper pinion angle is going to be very expensive. As more cars get more miles on them the failures will start to rack up. What amazes me is that they haven’t made a production change so they are just adding to the costs of the future permanent fix.

Mine was discovered when my Grenadier was in for the software update. There was no reason they needed to look under the car. Clearly the dealership has decided to inspect for the problem whenever a car is in the shop. I wonder if this is coming down from Ineos or if it is a dealer specific decision.
 
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