I have a 2006 XLT SCrew 4x4 and the last two times I've taken the truck off road on our hunting lease I've had the same thing happen to me. It turns out that when I stop on a small mud puddle and loose traction on the rear wheels, the rear wheels keep on spinning and the front do not. This of course is with minimal throttle applied because I don't want to bury the rear tires and I haven't tried just stomping on the gas to see if it's just that I'm not giving the truck enough gas. What gets me is that just this weekend, I was pulling a trailer and the truck did the same thing to me, I completely lost traction on my rear wheels and there was no getting the truck out on it's own. It wasn't until I pulled my truck with my ATV that I was able to get out but this is really getting to me because I always thought that with the 4x4 engaged, all four wheels should spin at the same rate which isn't happening here.

I don't think it's a problem with my hubs because I can hear them engaging and the CV joints in the front are spinning with the 4x4 on. So can any of you tell me if I'm doing something wrong or should I have my truck looked at? Thanks.

PS When I got the truck stuck this weekend in was in 4x4 low.

 

If your front wheels aren't spinning, something is definitely wrong. Unless you have a limited slip differential in the rear, only one tire will spin.

 

I do have a limited slip in the rear so I'm going to have to take my truck in to get it looked at because it doesn't make any sense.

 

i haven't had that problem. with my 4wd engaged i see mud from my front tires getting throw every where. so you front tires aren't spinning at all? if your not sure just go sit in a lil bit of mud and put it in 4wd and turn the wheel, youll see mud getting throw if there spinning, or you could just do one of those boring ways to check

 

Update, I finally got around to taking my truck to the dealer to get a recall performed and they diagnosed the problem for me. They said it was a combination of my IWE solenoid and actuators that aren't working. But since they wanted $900 for the job, I decided to do it myself because the whole process looks fairly straight forward in the factory service manual that I have.

Anyway, do any of you have any tips that I should follow when installing the actuators? I already replaced the solenoid today thinking it might help some but since the 4x4 still isn't working, I'm going to go ahead and start replacing the actuators tomorrow. So thanks in advance.

 

I just finished replacing my IWE actuators and now my 4x4 is working properly. For anyone looking to do this themselves, it really is as easy as can be and only requires basic hand tools and torque wrenches that can measure between 9 and 111 foot pounds.

According to the factory manual, these are the exact steps needed to save yourself unnecessary expenses at the dealer and the whole process takes about an hour and a half from beginning to end per hub.

1. Remove tire and dust cap on hub.
2. Remove hub nut (this must be torqued to 20 ft/lbs when installing)
3. Remove the 3 IWE actuator bolts holding the actuator to the hub ( 9 ft/lbs torque)
4. Remove tie rod nut and separate from knuckle ( 111 ft/ lbs)
5. Remove Upper ball joint nut and separate from knuckle (111 ft lbs)
6. Swing knuckle outward while pushing half shaft inward and everything comes out as a unit.
7. Compress new IWE actuator and use a vacuum plug to hold in that position ( I didn't have a plug so I just cut a small piece from a ballon and it worked out great)
8. Install new actuator on half shaft not on hub then put everything back together and in reverse order and torque to specs.

Ford recommends that only new fasteners be used to upon reinstallation.

Hope this helps and I only needed to replace one when the dealer wanted to replace both. If you'd like to do the same and trouble shoot which on is bad, just jack the car up and spin the tire to see if the half shaft is turning, if it is, that hub is engaging. Then turn car on in 2wd and repeat, half shaft should not turn indicating that hub is not engaged. In my case my passenger side half shaft was not turning regardless of what I did meaning it was bad and need to be replaced.