Martin Rebuilds an F-150 Lightning

[Randall Stephens]

My concern is not only with routing, but also attachment. Did Ford design and test the "tie wraps" and tape (on the orange conductor) to last for 100,000 miles?

For wiring, zip ties are found all over the place to secure bundles together, light weight wires and smaller bundles are sometimes secured solely with zip ties. I wouldn’t trust a zip tie to hold two coolant lines in place, but that should be fine to just bundle them together.

As far as the clamp being where it is, that’s not necessary a problem. Clocking a clamp is certainly par in aerospace, but what you’ll frequently find is that there will be a drawing callout for clocking the clamp and then an additional abrasion wrap done to the adjacent system. If that wasn’t done here that’s an engineering miss. If it was called out, that’s a QA miss for these to get to us like this.

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[mattskr]

I happened to see Martin's post on Facebook a few months back about this issue and checked my truck at the time using a snake camera. I didn't get the best pic but my clamps "wings" appeared to be free and clear of the other hose.

 

[Randall Stephens]

I happened to see Martin's post on Facebook a few months back about this issue and checked my truck at the time using a snake camera. I didn't get the best pic but my clamps "wings" appeared to be free and clear of the other hose.

This is actually bad news. It means either engineering didn’t specify the clamp clocking or the QA folks aren’t checking it.

 

[dww]

@Ford Motor Company

I confirm this defect also exists on my 2022 Lightning. I just crawled under my truck and took the attached photograph to document the defect.

The best way to access the location is from behind the left rear wheel. Use the bright tube coupling for a landmark. You can not see the clamp from below, but you can reach around the 2 black hoses and feel it. The "ears" on the clamp do indeed press against at least one of the hoses. There is not much slack in the hoses, but I got just enough slack to insert a piece of flat rubber between the clamp and hoses until it can be repaired by a dealer.

@jetfixr1, thank you for sharing the video and communicating this issue!

I think this is the same spot and my lines are not configured like that and the clamp ears are down. Mid 2023 build. Edit: Extended Lariat.

 

[Lytning]

I think this is the same spot and my lines are not configured like that and the clamp ears are down. Mid 2023 build.

Do you have a Standard Range battery? I failed to mention that my photos are for an Extended Range battery.

 

[dww]

Do you have a Standard Range battery? I failed to mention that my photos are for an Extended Range battery.

Extended Lariat.

 

[jetfixr1]

My clamp is clocked in a position where it will not damaged another hose. Seems like a mixed bag of whose clamp is installed correctly.

 

[tls]

We just need to butterfly clamp the two hoses together to maintain positive separation. Honestly, having worked in aerospace as long as I have, seeing how car systems are routed makes me angry.

I've seen butterfly clamps on other people's vehicles but I've never had occasion to use one. Can you suggest a suitable part (Amazon link?) and do you think it could be wiggled into place given the access available under the truck?

 

[Randall Stephens]

I've seen butterfly clamps on other people's vehicles but I've never had occasion to use one. Can you suggest a suitable part (Amazon link?) and do you think it could be wiggled into place given the access available under the truck?

We use Panduit for a lot of stuff at work, I’d rather not make a specific recommendation on a clamp. Stainless with rubber grommet would help prevent clamp migration. The clamp itself would likely be workable over the hoses, the tricky part is getting a fastener in there and torqued to spec, then you have to make sure that the clamps itself won’t rotate and contact something else… despite what you read in the news, we focus a lot on safety and failure scenarios in aerospace, so I might be overthinking this.

 

[Maxx]

My Pro was built Dec 22 and delivered Jan 23. The only clamp in the area looks free and clear. The rest are zip ties.

 

[Grumpy2]

My Pro was built Dec 22 and delivered Jan 23. The only clamp in the area looks free and clear.

Same for our Pro with max tow. Can't find any bundle of hoses with issues.

 

[farmtruck]

My lightning arrived at the dealer today and they immediatly PDI'd it. While they were doing the PDI, I had them check this connector and it was also turned into the adjacent hose. The mechanic adjusted it while doing the PDI. Thank you for bringing this issue up!

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