They should just replace the whole axle IMO, no matter what the root cause. No reason to cheap out on a truck that costs as much as these do.
Yeah... That's pretty much my assessment too. It's another one of those self-licking ice-cream cones.
They made a product that included one or more of the following:
shoddy engineering - just look at the geniuses that are produced today
Seriously, it's been two generations of innovation void. All they can do is suggest an "App" for your cell phone or re-create something that's already been done
poor materials - lowest bidder
defective materials - lowest bidder
If it's a case where they redesigned the new axle assemblies to 'save manufacturing costs' then they've once again screwed the pooch. They could have saved all of that R&D money by using materials and assemblies that have been proven over and over... and over. You would think that they'd give some of these rocket scientists a few days off and save some money after seeing truck enthusiasts put 2000-something horsepower through one of their previous axles. I dunno... Seems to me like some pointy head someplace might look at that and say, "Holy crap. We can just put that bulletproof piece that we can already make, into the new trucks". But noooooooooooope. Some 3D modeling kool-aide head that's never held a wrench has a 'new' idea.
Some of you guys might remember the days when Ford made cars so well that you could pack a couple hundred more horses into it and live to tell the tale after beating on it like it owed you money.
200 horse and 300 ft/lbs? Meh... I think it'll take more.