My 96 4x4 , I have just replaced the front drivers side bearing carrier, short drive shaft and seal asembly. The seal was shot and the dirt and grime whiped out the bearing and sealing surface on the front drivers side drive shaft. The vacuum system works and when I jack up the driver side wheel to verify the wheel locking in and out of 4 wheel drive, appears to be OK ,Free wheels in 2 wheel drive and locks in with 4 wheel drive.When I drive the truck up a bank to test the 4 wheel drive, the front drivers side wheel appears not to drive and the rear spins! The passenger front side appears to be fine and trys to pull up the bank.

Is there clutches in the front differential that could be slipping? Thanks

 

No, it is an open diff in front. A LSD would cause problems when trying to turn while in 4wd.

 

Try posting in the pre 1997 section. You'll get a better response. This section is for 2004 - 2008 F150s.

 

As you've already heard, you're in the wrong forum, but that shouldn't prevent some of us from answering your question.

First of all, your front differential probably doesn't have limited slip. Yes, it was an option up until the mid 90's to get LS in front, but very few people ordered it and having driven a truck with it, let's just say it was "interesting." If it did have LS, you might be able to spin both tires under the right conditions.

What you probably have is an open differential which pretty much sends power to the wheel of it's choice. (When you're stuck, it's always the wrong wheel.) That said, you may have your locking hubs all put back together correctly, but the diff just sent power to the other wheel in the conditions you tested in. Remember, 4 wheel drive with open differentials can really end up being one front and one wheel having power.

 

Hello. I did fat fingered the year of the truck I having issues with. The truck is a 2006.

 

If that's the case, everything in my original reply to your post is still correct. The key is that since you have an open front differential, you may still only see one front tire spin in 4 wheel drive - even with the IWEs locking correctly. .