I've been told that manually unlocking the front hubs on my '15 F350 dually, might just improve milage. Any concerns about the axle lubrication from being unlocked for extended periods of time? I rarely need the 4WD.
View 9 RepliesComing home from a trip with my truck pulling the 5th wheel, we heard noises that seemed to be coming from the front hubs that sounded like stones in the hub caps. Once we got home I pulled the front lug covers to see if any came loose and were rattling around inside, but all were torgued properly. Everything drove strait and tight with no noticeable problems, should I be concerned....
View 8 RepliesI have a bone stock 2005 F350 DRW FX4 6.0 Diesel. I've been averaging 10.5 to 14 MPG city. Haven't really done any hiway driving yet.
View 14 Replies2016 F450 tuned...how to improve fuel economy. DO fuel rails or injectors work...
View 7 RepliesMy key fob remotes decided to quit working today, both of them simultaneously. which I thought was weird but I went ahead and put new batteries in both of them and they still don't work. I did a little research and figured out how to do the on off key thing 8 times to reprogram the key. I was able to get the truck to enter the programming mode, but when pressing the lock button on the fobs while in programming mode nothing happened with either key. my truck is a 2011 6.7 liter lariat.
View 14 RepliesWhen I park over night while in 4x4, the next morning my hubs are disengaged and I have to manually lock them. There is an apparent slow/slight leak in the vacuum system. What would be the usual suspect, so I can start at that point?
View 3 RepliesI got new auto-locking hubs. The updated ones. As I proceeded to replace them, I pulled out old ones and when driver side came out, there was like 1/2 ounce of water that flowed out from where the auto-locking hub would sit. Strange. I had changed out lines, vacuum pump, vacuum solenoid and reservoir. All new and dry. I blasted both sides down with brake cleaner to clean off old grease, let dry and installed new auto hubs. So far so good. Will test the ESOF feature another time. I was wondering where this water would come from? Other side of wheel hubs are dry.
View 2 RepliesI have a 2003 f250 and I am unable to rotate the hubs from automatic. I have removed them and while I had them apart, I was still unable to rotate the selector. It wouldn't turn even with a crescent wrench putting pressure on it. I repacked them with grease and reinstalled and they still work when in 4 wheel drive. I am just concerned that when the vacuum does go out, I will not get the hubs to manually lock in.
View 10 RepliesNew to the 4x4 6.0 just bought an 06' King Ranch 130K miles. My other truck is a 95' 7.3 non 4x4 now for sale. So the new to me 06' will not lock the hubs in Auto mode but will in Manual. I have good vacuum down to each wheel hub which is where my question is.
The vac port at either wheel I get 20-30hg however I believe this is only because something is plugged. If I pump up my vac tester to ~25hg right at the wheel port the needle doesn't move, holds vacuum, but does not Auto lock the hub. So I pulled out the Manual/Auto hub by removing the 3 torque screws thinking my vacuum should then go to 0 but it doesn't it stays right at ~25hg.
Before I bought the truck there was some work done to the front end. New ball-joints, Rt tie-rod and perhaps a few other things I haven't ID yet. Could my problem above be an axle seal or something else perhaps installed incorrectly causing the small vac hole going down inside the hub to be covered up or maybe plugged somehow? I believe to replace the ball joints the axle, hub and other parts have to be removed, correct?
I just bought a 2002 f150 7700 series and how to improve the gas mileage. i was thinking about putting in a performance chip.
View 11 RepliesI was getting a growl/grinding noise from my front hubs (driver's side I think) when I do a slight right turn like going around a curve, not turning around a corner. Just started happening the last week after returning from a 4th of July roadtrip. First thought was wheel bearings going out and started reading up on the forum here to see what was needed. Last night, I started getting a continuous growl when I was 5 miles from the house so just pulled up and parked it. I'm assuming (without pulling anything apart), it's the bearing assembly and I can get the Timken version at Autozone locally.
The problem is I generally do my heavy maintenance at our family shop in San Antonio but I live in Austin so will need to do this in my driveway. I have all the basic tools, just need to know how involved it is to do in a driveway instead of a shop. Thoughts?
Just notice this in the manual page 302 The vehicle should not be driven in 4x4 high or low with the lock hubs set to auto as this condition may damage driveline system components.
Page 303 It then goes on to say !!
Automatic operation of the hub locks is recommended and will increase fuel economy.
when using 4x4 once in awhile LOCK or AUTO
I have an '05 F350 single rear-axle w/109k miles. I only recently bought the truck for towing, and haven't had much time to play with it.
It seems that I get about 10-11 mpg on average - I was thinking this was a bit low - anything I can check?
I am normally a pretty quick driver, but, have been taking it easy to get a good read on the mileage, so, the right foot has been "very light".
The truck has a "tick", and I intend on following some of the guides for that, but how to improve the mileage
just picked up a 2012 F-250 6.7 XLT. I won't be driving the truck too often, probably no more than 5000 miles a year, and was wondering how long can oil last time wise. I would wait for the change oil indicator to come on, but was wondering if it's takes a year or so or what. Was probably thinking changing it out once a year regardless of low mileage. I have the service plan from my dealer for 3 years which they threw in but it's for 7500 mile intervals so maybe I can work something out with them. Def love the truck and now I hate having to drive my other vehicle as dailys.
View 9 RepliesA month ago I changed engine oil, oil filter and both fuel filters. All replacement filters are Motorcraft and my mileage is off a solid 2 mpg after the fuel filter replacement.
View 14 RepliesI just bought my first diesel truck back in November. It's a 2005 F-250 with the 6.0L and the 5 spd torq-shift automatic tranny. Last weekend I drove the truck to South Carolina, about a 600 mile round trip from where I live. On the trip the truck only got 13 mpg! I wasn't towing a trailer and the truck was empty except for me and my suitcase. It's not loaded up with mods or anything, it's completely stock power wise.
I'm extremely disappointing, especially since a friend of mine has a 2006 F-250 identical to mine and he gets up to 21 mpg on his. What can be done to improve my mileage? I'm not a lead-footed driver, and the trip was done with almost all interstate and highway driving, very little driving on back roads or stop and go. If this is the best the truck will get, I'm going to sell it and buy a F-150!
Own a 2011 6.7 diesel, 59K mileage, short bed 4 WD. Was driving at 70 mph and noticed my instant mileage display read 0. Usually I see a instant mileage reading of at least 16. No regen was in progress. Steady gas throttle. Display could be changed to other screens. After a few minutes it came back. But it jumped to 16 and did not ramp up.
View 3 RepliesSince finding 2 hubcaps "missing", I am wondering if I have options as to the styles of hubcaps? Does a particular style affect fuel efficiency? Will going "capless" improve gas mileage?
View 2 RepliesI have heard that many people are switching to the nitrogen in tires as it is to improve gas mileage. I know they offered it at the Lexus dealership, but I never took advantage of it.
Of course, the phaeton is not going to get the mpg as an echo or aveo even with the tires, but I am just curious...
I have 1999 F350 7.3 Crew Cab 4WD. I took it on a 4 hours trip towing a trailer to haul a small tractor on it. after 3 hours of driving, I started hearing grinding and metal chewing sound coming from the front axle or close the wheel hubs. It was awful, terrible, ... you name it!!! I had to continue or I will lose the tractor I paid for already. The sound was coming for 1-2 seconds each 500 feet or so. It never stopped or changed. I pulled over to see what's going on and found the following:
1. Left shock is leaking badly
2. Right locking hub is gone (not sure if the truck had one before). I bought this truck last year, but I never had to use 4x4 and I know the 4x4 motor by the transfer case is missing and the nipple on the transfer case is set to the 2wd position so the front drive-shaft does not turn.
I took the front shock off and continued to drive without it, the noise did not go away.
I pulled over again and this time I noticed that the dust cover on each end of the front axle is missing too. I have never worked on these axles before, but I jacked one side, and sure enough, gear oil was leaking from the other side. I took the plug off the front differential and stuck my finger in it. I felt a creamy brown-greenish stuff in the differential. The consistency is like mayonnaise or thin peanut butter. I put the plug back on and went to pick up the tractor because I did not want to miss it fooling around with the truck on the highway.
The truck made it there and back (almost 5 hours total after the break down). The sound never stopped every 500 to 1000 ft.
After getting home safely, I took the other locking hub off, and took it for a test drive. I did not hear the noise, but now my right brakes are locking.
I took of the wheels and saw that the retaining snap ring (C clip) for the front axle on the right side came off by hand. I took the washers behind it off. Took the calipers and brackets off. I have never done front axle rebuild. I am not sure what has been damaged and what's still good.
Right of the bat, I know, at least, I need 2 shocks, one brake caliper and pads.
My questions are:
1. Is it possible to take the front axles off on both sides and make it 2wd for now until I have the money to rebuild the axle?
2. Could I use the same hubs? or they are most likely damaged and how to tell?
3. How to tell if the differential is damaged/needs rebuilding?
4. How to tell if the axles/spindles are damaged?
5. Is there a step by step tutorial to rebuild the axle with all seals, bearings, ...etc? How hard is the job for a hobbyist? I do most of my repairs myself, and I was lucky at 36 years old, I never had to rebuild a differential.
6. What else I might have damaged in the process of driving it that long with the noise? How do I tell if I did?
I just recently purchased a 2000 Excursion and had some questions up in another thread. After doing some diagnosing....I have a couple of questions about the auto locking hubs. The problem I have is that even with the vacuum line disconnected from the knuckle and no vacuum...the hubs won't unlock in auto/2wd. I confirmed that the knuckle and the hubs will hold vacuum when I hooked my vacuum pump up to it and it held vacuum (the fitting should be clear as I heard the hub making some sounds). I'm getting ready to pull the hubs to clean and re-grease them. My question is that being they are still locked....will it be any harder to pull them off the spindle and after disassembling them/cleaning them.....when I re-install them....will they be unlocked by default after putting them back on the spline as they have been pulled apart and reassembled?
View 14 Replies