Okay back again.
Last week i decided to hit up Cleghorn Ridge of HwY 15. Everything went fine until the last part of the trail. Fronts engage, however, i developed a rubbing/grinding noise from the front. The other issue was coming done a hill. I need to back up and the fronts were not engaged. I was in 4lo the whole time.

Till this day i can't figure out why my 4lo would work going straight or up hill, but not on going down hill

Any ideas?

Is there a way to tell what size gears are in my front diff?


I paid a guy to do it, but now i am concerned that he might not have installed my front gears.

One more thing, i did notice that in 4lo it takes seconds for the truck to move, like the fronts and rears are not sync'd


ANy ideas will be a great help.

 

so u got some front diff work done? and everything was working fine till later in the trail? sounds like u broke something, and it's pretty hard to forget to install gears in your diff, sounds like maybe it ws not set up properly.

 

Well that is what i thought at first, but at the end, i turned around and climbed a couple of hills and it worked fine(no grinding from front)

My concern might be that my rear diff has the 4.56 gears and the front might have the stock gears(3.66 i think). If so that mechanic that did the job pretty much f'd me. He said he installed fronts and rears, but now i am having doubts

I am trying to figure out if there is a way to figure out what the gears are in my front diff.

I was thinking that i could probably draw a chalk line on all tires and see where they end up.

I will have to jack up the truck and see if this works.
Theoretically, if the gears are the same the chalk lines should be in the same position when the wheels stop turning. if the gears are not the same, then the lines will not line up.

Don't know if this will work, but sounds like it should.

By the way thanks for the reply

 

What will work is to open up that front differential to see what it looks like in there.

 

an easy way is to get a friend to get in your truck while you are under it (sounds crazy but stick with me here).

mark where the drive shaft is by drawing a line that points straight down on the driveshaft. now tell your buddy to engage 4wd and roll forward. you may want another friend to see when the tires make a full rotation.

while rolling forward count how many times the front driveshaft spins. when the wheels make one full rotation see where youre at with driveshaft spins and that is what gears you have. so, if the driveshaft spun about 4 and a half times you have 4.56 gears up front.

 

or, you could drop the front differential, and open it up to see what's going on by counting the teeth on the ring gear.

 

or u could just put it in 4x4 and drive in a strait line down the road and you should feel no resistance or tire chirping... just aslong as the tires are all the same size is shoud glide smooth and quiet, if it chatters and hops around when driving in a strait line then yeah you probably have different gears in there.

 

Read minimonster's post. But I have a feeling its something else going on.

Best way. If your really worried about it, I'd go this route. Its a "sure fire way". Maybe a PITA, but there is no "maybe" or what ifs after.

Could be a million different things. Hubs engaged ? Maybe thats what was acting up. Common issue. You say they engaged, but had a noise. How do you know it fully engaged ?

Something else is going on here. Its not a gear problem. How do you KNOW it worked up hill ?

What do you mean by this ? When you step on the pedal there is a delay in movement ? Thats normal. Its the low gearing mixed with the ford computer. It changes the throttle up a little while in 4lo, due to the extra gearing.


and no, your chalk idea wont work.

not trying to be an ***, just am ! Just trying to help you figure this thing out man.

Why are you thinking it has anything to do with the gearing ? Why would different gearing keep the front tires from spinning on dirt while trying to back up ?? Again, how are you sure they were ever engaged in the first place ?

 

 

Mercedes Tech,

A jackass i don't think so, you have done more by making me see my issue in more than 1 way.



This might be a stupid ?, but what is PITA?
Do you mean get it serviced?



I am pretty much going off from the dashboard.
While in neutral, the brake padel depressed, i turned the **** to 4lo.
Waited about 3 seconds. Pressed the brake and put in D2. The 4x4 light came on and then the low light.


I tried climbing a somewhat a steep hill in 2wd d2 and failed rear tires started to slip and came to a stop. I back it up to the bottom of the hill and put in in 4lo(d2) and made it up the hill no problem.


What i mean is that sometimes in 4lo, i can feel the front jerk, more like a pull, while driving.


Worth a try, but thanks for the heads up


Why would anyone think that?



Guess i am will have to start from scratch.
I will need to test the 4x4 and see it is working.

Will jacking up the truck and engaging the 4x4 work?

Just to see if the 1 front and 1 rear will turn?

 

well if u jack up one side and kee the other on the ground and put a chalk line at the bottem of both tires and put it in 4x4 they should make the same revolution if one goes around faster probably wrong gear ratio

 

Okay, now i can clearly state that my 4x4 is no longer working!

I turn the **** and to 4lo and the 4x4 light goes on but, low no longer goes on.(according to the dash, can't leave this clause out or Merecedestech will rip me a new one)

I hear a very light clicking noise....

Come from somewhere

Not sure but can i state that vacuum/pressure might be an issue?

 

if you are genuinely concerned about the gear ratio of your front differential, yank it out, and pop the cover off. all you have to do is unplug the 4WD actuator sensors, unbolt the cv shaft to front diff bolts, and unbolt the differential frame mounts. it will drop right out at this point. i would have someone help you here, it is very heavy.

there are several other possibilities that are resulting in failure here, MT is more onto something than i am.