Somebody please help me. I need new hubs on my 97 f150. I want to replace my factory auto-locks with manual hubs. Is this possible? I e-mailed ford dealer they said that it is, but i called them and no one I talk to knows what they are talking about. What do I need to do to obtain this.

 

You can't. I'd consider going to another Ford dealer from now on if thats the advice they're giving you. 97+ F150s don't even HAVE hubs anymore. What they have is a disconnect at the diff. The outter shafts spin all the time on these IFS axles. Nobody makes them or ever will make them for these trucks because of the way that it works it isn't even possible. Gee and people wonder why I don't take my stuff to the Ford dealer, idiots

 

thanks for the help. I do not have much faith in them either. I guess the best bet is solid front axle convertion. big bucks.

 

In all honesty this setup is ok. I haven't had any problems with mine other than the outter wheel bearing units. Ford uses a sealed unit with non greaseable non replaceable bearings. Other than replacing those cause the seals failed and got dirt in there haven't had any problems with the front suspension.

 

powerestroke you seem to know your stuff. I am having a problem shifting into 4lo. It goes into 4hi and works fine but it wont shift into 4lo. How much did you pay for the outer bearing units? Appreciate the help. Mine need replacing also they lasted about 75,000. I have a little play and you can hear them rubbing. I am not even driving the truck hardly because of this. All pf my problems started when the truck got stuck in 4wd and I went down the road at about 65mph before I realized it. I shifted in and out about ten times before it finally came out. I do not mean to bug the hell ouat of you but any knowledge would be helpful.

 

To get it to shift into 4lo you have to have the tranny in neutral and have your foot on the brakes. You also can't be moving at all or the computer won't let the solenoid shift the transfer case. Gotta love the BW 1356 electric case, but have had more luck with the 1356 electric case as opposed to the 1354 electric case used in Rangers.

The wheel bearing units run about $200 and up around me. I managed to find mine at Jockos for $199 and nobody around me stocks them. Napa wanted $320 for that part along with a special order fee and I had to pay before they ordered it non refundable. Ford only wanted $260 for it. The thing you need to find out before you get anything is determine whether or not you have 4wheel ABS. The difference is that the front hub will have an ABS sensor on it. If you follow the lines off the master cylinder they will run to an aluminum block which is the proportioning block (or at least its called something similar to that) and if you have 4 lines going off it (1 to each wheel) you have 4wheel ABS, if you only have lines going to the rear you have 2 wheel ABS. These units are much easier to replace compared to the actual repackable bearings as everything is sealed but they're much more expensive. Once you pull off the wheel you need to remove the nut on the end of the CV shaft. Once thats off take off the brake rotor (2 bolts on the back of it takes it off) and then string it up so its not hanging. Then look at the back side of the rotor and there will be a wire hanging on the suspension that goes up into the engine compartment with the plug mounted on the inner fender. Disconnect that wire (only applies if you have 4 wheel ABS if you don't have it the wire won't be there). Then there will be 3 bolts on the back side of the knuckle and when those are off the rotor (if it hasn't come off already) with the knuckle still attached to it will silde off the splined CV shaft. You have to keep an eye on the CV shaft when taking it off so you don't over extend the shaft. If the rotor is still stuck to the bearing assembly take 2 pieces of wood and lay the rotor on it with the wheel studs sticking straight up and so that the wood is towards the outter edge of the rotor and hit the sutds and the bearing should fall out. Installing is the exact opposite of that. Its a very easy install. The first time it took me 30 min and the 2nd time it took 45 min doing it along side the road.

I'm not really sure why your 4x4 running to 65 did any damage to this. In 4hi this shouldn't hurt anything but all these bearings and the CV shafts spin all the time anyhow even when in 2wd. The only difference between 4wd and 2wd is the front driveshaft is powered, and the axle shafts inside the housing turn. So that bearing is turing all the time anyhow so doing this wouldn't have had any ill effects on it. What happens is that over time the seals fail and dirt gets inside and eat the bearings. Unfortunetly there is no fix for this.

 

Thanks powerstoke. I only have rear abs. The bearing job sounds pretty simple. the truck won't go into lo no matter what I do. I could check the selonoid, but if that was bad it would not go into hi either? I guess I will have to ask santa for the bearings for x-mas. Then tackle 4x problem after.

 

The solenoid might not be bad like you said if it was it shouldn't shift at all not just in 1 position. Its possible it could be a bad position on a switch. It is also possible that something in the transfer case went bad. When you try and shift it into low range do you hear a clunck of any sort?

 

No there is no clunk. 4hi is real smoothe but it is like 4 Lo is not even there. I have another question for you. I want to put gears in my truck. I have 35" x-terrains. I have 3.55 now I think. What do you suggest. I don't want to totally kill my milage but I need more umph. How hard is this swap? Anymore help would be greatly appreciated. Damn, I wish you lived a little closer I would buy you a couple cold ones and you could save me alot of trial and error.

 

For 35s you'll want 4.56 gears. I have roughly the same setup you have. With 4.56 gears and 35s you'll be back to stock or close to stock. The gear install is not something you'll wanna do yourself as you have to have the specialty tools like a backlash meter. The tolerances involved in getting the gears to mesh right are not for the shadetree mechanic. The other thing is the deeper you go in your gears the pickier they get due to the added number of teeth. This is something I've never attempted myself and due to the added cost is not something I want to test my ability on. Roughly gears and install will run you $600 and up depending on what gears you get and what the shop charges in labor.


Looking at your nerf bars they seem to be mounted different. I know that its a drop center but in the picture it looks to be mounted lower in the front than the rear. Up here I'd be fixing that fast cause if you got ice on that you'd be underneath the truck faster than you can even think oh crap I slipped.

 

I got the Nerf bars when I bought the truck in 1997. I had them installed. When I put my body lift in this year(3" body 4"susp) I realized they mounted the back backets to the bed and the front brackets to the frame I have been to lazy to make new brackets. Luckily we do not get to much ice down here in lousy-anna. I kind of figured the gears would be a job for a shop but I just hate to pay people to do work especially when I have never dealt with them before. Its hard to tell what you will get. I just move here so I do not have a clue where to take it. I have not seen a 4wd place since ive been here.