I am having a similar problem with my 4 wheel drive as discribed by the others. I have been looking hard for a site that could help me with the answer and I hope I have found it.
The problem I am having is that everything works right up to the knuckle joints. From there, I have nothing. I will check the vacume solenoid as suggested and see if that is the problem.
If not, at least I found a site where I can get some help. FINALLY!!!

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If you can, put the truck up on jackstands and start it, engage 4WD. When 4WD is engaged the pink vacuum line (disengage) on the driver's side of the diaphragm should not be pulling ANY vacuum. If you remove the pink line and the actuator rod recesses further then the disengage solenoid is bad. If the rod doesn't recess at all then the engage solenoid is bad or there may be a vacuum leak on the blue line. Worse case switch in transfer case that energizes the solenoids is bad (check wire connection with voltmeter @ solenoid in 4WD and 2WD). Worst case something's broken in the diff. Solenoids: On the firewall behind the battery, passenger side is engage, driver side is disengage.

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1997 F150 4.6L 5speed SC 4x4

 

Thanks, I will look at it this weeekend. I appreciate the advice.

 

O.K. I tried your advice, but here's the deal. First I couldn't find a blue vaccum line and the only pink seems to go to the airbag, I think. Once again it's a '96 and I do not have the owners manual anywhere.

I can find only one solenoid behind the battery and it does not have any vaccum lines that comes or can come from it.

I do appreciate the help. thanks.

 

96s are probably different. I can only speak of my experiences with 97+ F150s, sorry.

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1997 F150 4.6L 5speed SC 4x4

 

Do you have the automatic hubs? If so they probably need to be replaced. It is very common for these to go bad. A lot of people replace them with manual hubs. Everything still works the same, but you have to get out and engage the hubs when you need 4x4.

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2000 F150 XLT 4X4 Off Road 5.4L Reg. Cab 3.55

Performance Enhancemets:
K&N, WMS Velocity Tube, and Gibson Sweptside...

Audio Enhancements:
All of the above, plus
Sony C7000X HU, Cerwin-Vega SS2502 components(Front), and Blaupunkt PCst573s(Rear)

(For now)

 

Oh, you didn't tell us it was a 96 before. That is a totally different 4WD system. Now that we know its a "pre-97", tell us your problem from the beginning, and we can help. Be sure to mention whether you have the stock Automatic Hubs, and whether you have the Lever or Electrically operated (push-button) Transfer Case.

Sorry, just noticed the date on his last post, this is probably a dried-up thread.

[This message has been edited by Granpa (edited 10-24-2000).]

 

No, still haven't got it fixed.
'96 F150 with stock auto hubs. It is an auto-matic. The setup is a shifter on the floor, there is no push button.
Okay, I can engage the 4x4 and nothing happens with the front tire. The shaft does turn though. With the 4x4 engaged, I can manually get underneath the truck turn the front drive shaft and make everything turn clear up to the knuckle joints at the tires.
This is on both wheels, so I don't think that it is the hubs themselves, however I may be wrong.
Thanks again.

 

Had a '95 that did the same thing. If you can turn the u-joint behind the brake rotors, the hub is shot. The automatic hubs lock when the drive axle turns. Had mine replaced under warrenty. The auto hubs are expensive-I'd go manuel.

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97 Lariet-sc-4.6-4x off road-auto-3.55 LS-
superchip-K&N-3"
pvc air box mod-Granetelli MAF

 

Okay,
I'll look into it and thanks for the advice.

 

If it is the hubs, I have a set of like new ones off of my 96. They had 5,000 miles on them when I took them off. I will sell them for 1/3 of what new ones cost (whatever that is)

Mike

 

Alright!! I decide to go with WARN manual hubs. I had some trouble getting the wheel spindle nut off (I had to take it off because these hubs had to have the conversion kit installed). It is a wierd shaped nut and after trying on two seperate and two very cold occasions I took it down to my mechanic. He stated that he hadn't seen that kind of nut before either. But, we came up with a solution. We lifted the front end stuck a pry bar inside the hub housing (careful not to damage anything) and applied force to the nut. He then turned the wheel while continuing to apply force to the nut. This was enough to loosen the nut and Voila, the new hubs were easy to install.

Thanks to all of you for your help. And thanks for the offer of hubs, but I wanted manual hubs if I had to replace them. Thanks again.

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Can we put manual hubs on the 2001 model?
I used to have them on my "88" and didn't mind getting out to lock them. I would usualy lock them before I got in the truck if I knew I was going to use them. The rest of the time I bet we would get a little better milage by not turning all that extra shaft weight when we don't need to.
Guess I'm just a manual kind of guy. See sig.

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2001 F150 SC SPORT 4X4 FLARESIDE
* Black
* 4.6
* awesome factory 10 spoke 17" wheels
* "MAN"ual shift 4x4
* 3.55 Limited slip
* Captains chairs W/console
* Factory tube steps
* Slider

 

JDF... you have no locking hubs to worry about, manual or automatic. The spindles and halfshafts go up to a "center-axle-disconnect" but turn full time. The exact workings are still a bit fuzzy to me, but I guess to answer your question, the answer would be "no"
-Joe-



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98 Explorer (Lemon Law Case in Progress)

'00 F-150, X-cab, 4x4, Lariat, Off-road, Trailer Tow, Holandia Sunroof, built 11/99 picked up 10/00!
List of planned mods: Clear corners and tails, CB wiring, Stainless brush guard, at least 1 set of KCs (probably more!), custom radar detector mount, color matched trailer hitch with stainless steel ball, torsion bar tweak, bug deflector, spray in liner, and a tonneau of some sort...