Hi!

My 1996 straight 6 M/T has 106,000 on it (second owner, I've put 12,000 miles on it) and has been no trouble at all, until the last week. I live high in the mountains, off the paved roads, and use the FWD almost daily - but there's a squeal that I think is coming from the right front when I shift to 4-HI. My truck has automatic hubs.

When I shift out to 2WD and back up six feet to disengage the front end, the squeal stops.

The noise almost sounds like a high-pitched vacuum leak. . ?

I may be a natural blonde and in my 50's but I'm pretty comfortable with most minor repairs (necessity, and the limitations of disability income) as long as I have enough coffee.

My F-150 manual on CD doesn't work with the new desktop I built for W7 64-bit, so I'm asking for help!

A pair of jack stands and a pair of wheel ramps gives me enough clearance to do as basic inspection, and nothing heinous ('cept for the A/C pump starting to leak).

Am I looking at some sort of vacuum solenoid to actuate those hubs? Are we talking IWE's of some ancestry?

My last truck was my dear '53, which the 'hood trashed down to the frame on night a few years back - so this is my entrance into the modern age!

 

have you pulled anything apart up front? might be a bearing or hub going bad.

if i'm not mistaken the automatic hubs are vacuum actuated. check those lines before you tear anything down.

 

Thanks, will do.

I can't go into this blind as a bat - the truck is a lifeline, this far off the beaten trail. No signs of grease on the automatic hubs past the seals; the front diff is tight and the level's fine.

The upgrade build left me as blind as a sweetpea.