Ford Super Duty (1999-2016) :: Cannot Get 4x4 To Engage - Front Locking Hubs
Mar 9, 2015
I am considering buying a 2001 Ford F250 Super Duty XLT 4x4 V10 engine tomorrow. I am hesitant because I cant get the 4x4 to engage. It goes into 4x4 low and high and the front driveshaft spins but it wont engage the wheels. One side locking hub locks but the other side the locking hub is cracked off and so I there is no way to turn to lock that side. I will of course replace the Locking Hub ASAP if I buy the rig but my question here is, if one side is locked should one side of the front axle spin, meaning if only one side Locking Hub is locked should that wheel turn and the other not? Both are not turning but as I said the driveshaft is spinning.
I don't know if both sides need to be locked in order for the front wheels to engage while in 4x4 high or low. Or if one side should engage if only one side is locked; the wheel that's locked of course..
2001 Ford F250 XLT Super Duty 4x4
V10 engine...
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I recently purchased a 2003 F350 FX4 Dually with the 7.3L Diesel. It has locking hubs and electric shift in the cab.
I have had locking hubs before that you had to engage to shift into 4 wheel drive and I have had trucks without locking hubs.
My truck didn't come with a manual, so I am looking for instructions for the proper use of this system.
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My hubs will not lock when put into 4x4. I disconnected all lines from the solenoid to both hubs and tested them for leaks... All good there. I put a gauge on the lines at both hubs one at a time while the other is still connected and get no reading when switched into 4x4. I checked for vacuum right out of the solenoid, and I get 2inHg when switched into 4x.
The vacuum pump kicks on every time I start the truck, even if I just shut it off and re-start right away. There is no delay when switching my ac/heater controls to different settings or vent locations. So I know there is vacuum. How much vacuum I should be getting out of the solenoid to the hubs?
2004 F350 6.0L....
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About a month ago I bought a 2004 F-250 160xxx from a reputable Ford dealer here in town. The dealer performed a safety and emissions inspection, and spent about a grand on other repairs, as a condition of my purchase. Today I had it in the shop for an instrument cluster issue (at a different Ford dealer, closer to my house), and was told the vacuum lines were all messed up. Their write up is below:
"Check 4x4 operation. Transfer case shifts to 4x4 and 4x4 low. Front hubs do not engage automatically. Check vacuum at the hubs. No vacuum. Check the vacuum at the solenoid. No vacuum. Perform visual of the engine vacuum lines. There is no vacuum to the reservoir. Vacuum line is routed wrong from the fuel pressure regulator to the vapor management valve. There is other vacuum concerns. All of the vacuum line routing needs to be inspected and corrected."
The service rep told me it is questionable whether the 4x4 ever worked, although during the few weeks I've owned it, I could hear gears or other mechanical parts making noise which seemed to me to be in response to me turning the 4x4 electronic switch. She also said there was a vacuum line dangling loose with a screw in the end of it.
Before I contact the dealer where I bought the truck, I am planning my going-in position. But I wanted to get a sense of a) how serious of a problem this might be? and b) how reasonable it is that the dealer didn't catch this issue before I bought the truck while they were in their fixing other things?
The dealer who sold me the truck made it very clear that the sale was as-is, and I took it to my mechanic prior to purchase, though unfortunately he only had time for a cursory look at the engine. Obviously he didn't look closely enough to find this issue.
I'm not sure if I should ask the dealer who sold it to me to fix it, or ask them to allow me to return it, or sell it back to them, or if I should eat the cost of fixing it. How wrong would it be to try to trade it in for something else?
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I've noticed my front axles are rotating all the time even when the hubs are in auto and supposed to be unlocked when in 2wd. Is there a rebuild kit for these so they will unlock the axles or do I need to buy new locking hubs?
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Back in March while still plowing, my auto locking hubs wouldn't stay engaged. After talking to the local Ford service shop they told me that it was moisture in the vaccum lines and that it had frozen. They told me to manually lock the hubs and bring it in to be repaired when I had time. I made a appointment in the middle of May and finally got it in last week. Now the hubs are seized in the locked position and they will not warranty the work or parts because they say it was caused by the salt from our roads. Does this sound right?
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I just ordered '00 F250 SC 4x4 SWB XLT with the factory standard manual hubs. The hubs show up on the vehicle order confirmation as code "21M MAN LOCKING HUB". I can't find this code in the ordering guides anywhere but kbb.com shows this code as "Manual hubs delete. Required with 213 shift-on-the-fly". I want the manual hubs. I think ##### is incorrect. For my piece of mind, could someone who has also ordered the factory standard manual hubs verify that the code is indeed 21M. And for those who ordered shift-on-the-fly, could you verify that 21M does NOT show up on your order confirmation...
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My 2009 F-350 4x4 has a front wheel option of Auto or Lock ; I think I understand the Auto option but under what circumstances would I lock the hubs and is it safe to leave them in the Lock mode when traveling on the highway?
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I drove my pickup on mostly dry pavement the other day with it in 4WD and the hubs locked. I got a bit of shimmy/vibration which quit after about a mile. When I got back on ice, the 4WD wasn't working. I assumed the transfer case or locking hubs had failed. Today I got it up on jack stands, put it in 4WD, and locked the hubs. Everything seems fine. What might have happened when I couldn't get 4WD to function.
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I was using 4x4 High the other day and it was working just fine. Now today, I was at my first parking lot to plow and used the ESOF to shift into 4x4 High and it did not engage with the hubs being in auto mode. The lights on the dash show up indicating that I am, but I am still in 2wd.
If I manually lock the hubs, it engages 4wd high. I tried the same thing using the ESOF to switch over to 4x4 low and it does NOT engage either.
I also noticed that heater blower was switching over to full defrost even though I had it set on the floor setting (manual heat climate *****).
Does this sound like a vacuum leak? I haven't had a chance to test the lines yet. Btw, this is my second work truck and not the one listed in my signature below. It's a 2006 f-350 6.0 xlt.
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I took apart, cleaned and lubed my hubs. My question is: how does the vacuum make the gears work?
Does the vacuum force (suck) the nylon assembly to push the outer gear towards the center of the truck, sliding on the inner gear thus engaging the teeth so that the axle shaft turns the hub?
When the vacuum is gone, does spring pressure pushes the outer gear away from the center of the truck thus disengaging the teeth from the inner gear and allowing the hub to free wheel?
Is this vacuum source constant during 4wd and not present during 2wd or do I not understand how the system works? I have read about a “vacuum pulse” that locks the hubs and another pulse that unlocks the hubs and this confuses me.
BTW, I like the way the Auto lock works. I had a set of Warn Auto Lock hubs on my 78 CJ. They worked on the principle of a set of roller bearings that would lock (pinch) when there was torque coming from the drive shaft. There was no vacuum involved at all. The down side was that when you coasted, the front hubs would be in two wheel drive and so you would not get the engine braking on all 4 wheels. These ESOF seem to have solved this problem.
Oh, I should probably tell you that I just purchased my 04 F250 SuperDuty 4x4 with the 6.0 diesel, just had it a week. It has been 18 years since I owned a 4x4. Before this I owned an 87 F250 2wd with the 6.9 diesel.
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My F350 4x4 won't go into 4 wheel drive unless I get out and take them out of auto and put them in locked position and when I have it in lock mode it seams to work like it's in auto mode, when I put the switch on the dash in 2wd, it seams like it's only driving the back wheels....
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Today was the first time I have locked my wheel hubs in and used 4 wheel drive. However when I did all this i noticed that when I turn there is a growling sound but only when turning. It does not make the sound when unlocked and in 2 wheel drive.
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My 2010 F350 shudders when turning right. From what I read it could be the auto locking hubs not dis-engaging or sticking in the locked position. Tutorials show it's pretty easy to pull the auto locking Hub out taking out the three screws holding it in place. My questions is what type of grease do I need to apply to the auto locking hub once I have them out and determine that is what the issue is?
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I have a 2013 F250 which has both the Manual and auto locking hub feature. I tried to plow my driveway this morning and after making one pass I put the truck in reverse and could not back up my steep driveway. The truck is showing locked in 4x4 on the dash, the 4x4 control is in high lock but the front wheels will not turn. It has been very cold here lately (-30) and I'm wondering if the vacuum lines for the auto locking hubs have frozen. I have switched the control out of 4x4 and back in several times, and it does lock in again, but as soon as I put the truck into reverse, they unlock again. The hubs are covered with ice and snow right now so I have not yet tried to manually lock them.
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inside round thing with 4 notches in it is a smaller diameter than the new hubs. Will theystill work?
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2006, ESOF. Noticed the front hubs aren't engaging but the transfer case is. What should I check?
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I have a 2010 F250 with 154000km (96000 miles) that we bought last week. When I was looking it over during the purchase I noticed the front axle didn't lockup in "auto", in manual lock it seemed fine so I figured vacuum leak or something like that. Yesterday morning I was in the yard and got a little hung up in snow drifts so just got out, locked the hubs and switched to 4x4 and I think the front end didn't engage at all.
So later on I had it in the shop installing the two way radio and decided to check the front end out a little more thoroughly. Vacuum lines seem fine, hubs turn fine but I notice the axle shafts both move up and down almost a quarter inch, that seems excessively loose to me. I've been doing some research on the internet and it appears the front hubs are serviced as a unit, also some information seems to point to needle bearings within the actual locking hub mechanism itself?
So the questions:
1. Does that front axle shaft seem excessive? What are the specs?
2. Can I replace bearings and seals only or do these units come only as assemblies? Inner hub, outer hub units? Wheel bearings seem fine.
3. With that much play is there a chance the outer axle shafts are worn also?
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So I noticed the past few days my 09 F250 was clunking in the front end when turning hard even with the hubs in auto so I knew there was an issue in there somewhere. This morning I took the jack and found the passenger side would not release no matter which way the lock was turned. Pulled the locking assembly out and found a couple of the pieces of plastic cage broken (truck has 250k miles) which is to be expected I guess but the locking ring that holds the inner piece that slides over the axle stub was off and hanging next to the c-clip on the axle.
So with the plastic of the cage already being broke and the mileage on the truck it's clear I need a new lock for that side.
Here's my dilemma, I have to deliver a conference room table 200 miles away tomorrow morning that they need for meeting tomorrow afternoon at 3:00pm. I cut the rest of the plastic pieces and took the gears out leaving just the cover with the diaphragm and put it back on the hub. I can't come up with any logical reason why I can't drive the truck this way but just want to bounce it off the experts here before I take off on a 400 mile trip in the morning. The only thing I can come up with is if I were to engage the 4wd the vacuum might suck the auto-lock diaphragm in and pop it but otherwise I can't find any reason to not run it this way, the hub is still sealed up and free-wheeling just like if it were in 2wd anyway.
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-2003 5.4 XLT. 178,xxx Disk brakes front & back.
Driving home from work, came to a long stop waiting for train. Started to drive away and my front right brake started to lock up pretty good on me. Drove it home as I was only a couple blocks away. Its just started to get above freezing here, and we've been between 0-20 degrees for a good stretch lately. That being said, I'm pretty sure it's my brake lines swelling with our "heat wave" of 35 degrees today. Also I've replaced the rear rotors & pads, as well as flushed the brake system a while back. Never replaced the front after purchasing used a while back, as they still had plenty of pad left.
Question : Purchased new front lines. Do the front calibers, "float" on pins like the back? (If so that may be my issue of the caliber getting stuck on the pins moving back and forth.)
At 178,xxx miles I'm going to replace the lines myself regardless of this outcome.
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I have a 2000 f250 4x4 with 4 wheel abs. The front passenger side caliper keeps locking up while I'm driving and won't release and when I hit the brakes it pulls hard to the drivers side. I have put two calipers on the passengers side and put new brake lines on.
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