Ok, call me stupid. With the truck on jacks, I put it in 4X4 and the front drive-line and both axle shafts are turning. Tires in front are not. I rotated the tires and they still do not turn. I dropped it down and drove it in my field. When take off, in 4L, the rear tires spin, the front do nothing. I have driven it down the sandy roads, power braking it, to see if the front tires are pulling. They are not. Am I missing something? Is it possible for the auto hubs to be bad? If one is bad, would that cause both not to spin? At this point, I am totally confued. Called Ford, they want 176 each for the auto hub assembly. Maybe thats what I need. I dont think the 97 is vacuum controlled.
97 F350 4X4 crew cab diesel.

 

Ummm.....yeah, its most likely your hubs. If you have checked to see that the axle shafts (not the drive shaft) on both sides are turning at the joints then its your hubs. Ford has not offered anything other than an open front diff in trucks since the 70s. The way the open diff works is that it goes to the side with the lowest resistance. In this case if 1 hub is good and the other is bad it will go to the broken side. If you are hearing a clicking then thats a tell tale sign of a bad hub, though they don't always make sounds when bad. If both hubs are good (and I doubt this) then you have a broken stub shaft inside 1 hub. This would undoubtedly make an ungodly amount of noise so you'd know something is up. Another reason to make me suspect the hubs is the auto hubs that came on that generation of truck are crap on a good day. They are known for going out and breaking at bad times. I would not suggest replacing them with another auto hub, let alone one from a dealer. Order a set of Warn manual hubs for about half that price for a pair of them and then have something you can depend on a little more than the auto hubs. Heck if you search ebay you can probably find a set on there for very little money. Thats how I got my D44 warn hubs for $15 for the pair brand new. In a store you can't buy one hub for that much.

 

Is this the same with 99's? on the hub replacements?

 

I don't think so. All 4x4 super duty's 99-present have manual hubs. Your truck has auto locking hubs. You might be able to convert to manual, but don't know anything about doing it or if you would even want to.

 

99s use a hybird auto/manual hub. Its for the most part auto, but has a manual backup (provided it doesn't sieze up). For 99 up you can convert to manual hubs. Go to Napa and order PN: 745-3112 which is about $160. Install them like normal. After that if you have ESOF follow the directions in this link here