Need some help and opinions please, 2004 F150 4X4. 1st I was leaving today for a 800 mile trip and decided to change my oil first. Noticed my front passenger CV axle has been slinging grease. I've also had some issues with the dash 4X4 lights not coming on. They come on with ignition on, so no burned out bulbs. I can hear the 4X4 engaging and it drives like 4X4 is engaged when swithced to it. (I have not jacked it up to test) I uplugged the wire harness and plugged back in and also tapped the motor. Now the LOW 4X4 light will work, but high still does not.
1). Could the loss of grease be contributing to the 4X4 High light issue?
2). Should I change the CV axle out before making this 800 mile trip?
3). How difficult is it to change the CV axle? (I'm mechanically inclined). Searched for a How To.... Shop down the road gave me a price of $250 which means it must not be difficult!!
Thanks

 

I would personally change the shaft before the trip. It technically will Be fine for a little bit but with that long of a trip you have a pretty high risk of all the grease slinging out and causing it to fail. It wouldn't cause an issue with the 4x4 high engaging. Since you arnt experiencing any grinding it wouldn't necessarily be your iwes. Sounds more like the engaging motor. I have switched out my shaft out before and it's not too hard. Just pop off the upper ball joint and tie rod end, take off dust cap on end of axle and remove end nut(shaft will slide out once that nut is off), remove ten or so bolts on inner flange and fidangle the thing out and put the new one in. O reileys has the best deal on a refurbished one. It's like 60 plus your core and it has a lifetime warranty.

 

Thanks, I actually got the replacement at Oreily prior to reading your post. Guess I lucked out there!!! Working on getting the ball joint loose now. Thanks for the help..

 

Good deal. It was a good choice getting that done before the trip.

 

I had this same problem alittle bit after i bought my truck(4x4 not working). It was still underwarrenty from my dealer. It was a decoder that tells the truck that the 4x4 engaged. They replaced it and it has worked good ever since.

 

So I got the CV axle out of the front hub. How do you remove the bolts from the flange on the other end where it attaches to the front axle. The axle spins when I try to turn the bolts and there is nothing good to grip the cv axle to keep it from turning. I tryed to use an impact to loosen the bolts, but this was also unsuccessful. Any great ideas???
Thanks

 

Put the hub end back in and engage the hub. Have someone press the brakes to hold it tight. When I did mine I didn't have any trouble using an impact though.. I did have to use this method however to retighten them to the correct torque specs using lock tight on the threads.*

 

Thanks so much. It worked perfectly. I couldn't have done it without you. Have a Merry Christmas.