Has your truck's axle ever broken?

Sorry to hear about the loss. I have never seen a spindle just break off. That being said I do not think that you would find a fault with said item unless you took apart the front hub to inspect it and being that the truck only had 52,000 miles they would have no cause to take the front hub apart just to look at it. I would write it up as a freak accident, but I can not see the failed part to say otherwise. You need to get an expert (ASE Certified Master Tech) to take a look at the part. He can tell by several things on the part to give you a better idea if it was a freak accident or not. I do hope that this can help you in some way.

 

Without a picture of the spindle, which you may not want to share, all we can do is guess as to what you are talking about. A picture of the tire would go a long way as to telling what went wrong.

If the steering tire showed abnormal wear on one side, that could indicate bad bearings, worn kingpins, bad tie rod end, loose lugs, ect...

If the tires were worn unevenly, then the mechanics should have investigated as to the cause.

The maintenance records can be subpoenaed, the truck can be impounded, and any other evidence can be discovered. You need the right kind of lawyer for this, now, before things disappear.

 

It sounds more likely the bearings failed. That is the only thing holding the front wheel assembly on and it does happen pretty often. On a truck with only 52000 miles on it, the spindle breaking just from driving is highly unlikely unless there was a defect in the hardened steel. In that case it would be the manufacturers fault. Same with the bearings, but those are removed and regreased regularly. If you don't reinstall them properly, they will come loose and there goes the whole wheel, brake drum, etc.

Them stonewalling you about the maintenance records strikes me as suspicious. There's no point to withholding them. Even if they "lose" them before you go to court, they'll still have to explain why in front of 12 normal people who most likely take a dim view of company bs. If you can get that eyewitness in court, or even get a sworn statement from them to read in court, everything could go in your favor pretty easily.

 

I've seen a spindle break from a seized bearing, but never on a 52k mile vehicle. That being said, it doesnt surprise me given my experience with GM light trucks in the past 10 years. I'd do everything I could to hang onto that spindle and wheel assembly, any competent mechanic can examine it and tell you if the bearings failed and why. But seriously, my money is on GM or a supplier to GM being at fault on a broken spindle.

 

A failure to provide proper maintenance is just as bad as improper maintenance, to me.
If their service department had noticed this vehicle was having problems, but failed to diagnose and repair said problems, that is a failure to provide proper maintenance.
If they repaired said problem, but did not do it correctly, that is improper maintenance. Such as not tightening nuts and bolts to proper specs.
As I said in an earlier post, and allow me also stated, check for a prior accident.

 

The truck would have left skid marks as soon as the tie rod let go since the front wheels would be pointed in two different directions. You might look for those. They'd be pretty distinctive.

A worn tie rod would be found on an inspection and would be something a company would put off replacing. That may have been noted on the maintenance records.

 

About the only way to prove the tie rod was badly worn for a while would be inside or outside edge tire wear. The tie rod and complete front axle should be impounded and checked by an accident specialist whose speciality is worn/damaged parts.

Does this truck have rack and pinion or worm gear steering. Rack and pinion inner tie rods will sometimes fail, as I put a new one on a car we had, and it seperated within 100 miles, making the right wheel turn out. Luckily this hapened while my wife was going about 15 MPH in town. She had just gotten off the interstate.

If the tie rod has grease fittings, the joint that failed, and all others, should be checked to see if they have fresh grease in them. Just because a paper claims they have been greased does not mean they have.

Also, as in my wifes case, some parts are not made correctly, and fail without any warning.

Check into their maintenance procedure for checking tie rods. Most people just look at them, instead of taking an extra large channel lock type tool, and squeezing the tie rod together at the threaded end and base. If there is up and down movement in the socket, the joint is worn. Very few people know this, or ever check this. Shaking a wheel will only show an extremely worn joint.