$3000 rear end job

[haulin5er]

My F550 is in the shop for the 3rd member in the rear end. It will be about $3000. The place that I bought the truck is paying for it. It's a 4:88 and I would like to ask "What would have caused this? What can I do to prevent it from happening again?
It has a Starhauler bed with Kelderman Air ride and a Trailersaver Air Hitch. The truck is a 2001 with 159,000 miles.
Also what is the 3rd member ?
Bob

[ipz2222]

3rd member. rear differeiantal./chunk/rear end.. preston

[pipelayerjdh]

Are they replacing the whole rear end?

Most of the time failures in the large rears are from spinning the wheels in soft ground and catching asphault, or backing in to loading docks.

[haulin5er]

Well the garage finished the truck. 3 U-joints, carrier bearing, Drive shaft balance, 3rd member, replaced one rear axle seal, and they had the rear rotors turned. I pulled my trailer from Tucson to Las Cruces, NM and no problems. I think they did a good job.
Bob

[Performance Oil Products]

That cost 3K holy cow!!

[Tacomarunner]

Big trucks = big repair bill. What caused it to go bad?

[Performance Oil Products]

Man I guess. I just did front and rear gears and master kits in my f350, cost me 1300.00 installed. I know the 550 is a monster, didn't think it would be that much though. I would kill to have a new 650 with a cat in her, but not with repair bills like that. Luckily he didn't have to pay for it.

Dieselman77