it snowed here in jersey today and the highways sucked so i had my 95 f150 4.9 5spd in 4x4 and it worked great all day long then tonight on my way home the truck started to "hop" on the drivers side and there was a knock got worried and pulled over switched into 2wd and it was ok then went to switch it to 4wd and there was a grinding and it popped into gear went up the hill and no more "hop" pulled into my street and the truck started to fishtale like the 4wd was off so i tested it while watching my front tire and the rear spun and the front did nothing. thinkin maybe a bad hub since there manual. any suggestions????

-Dan

 

Sounds like a hub to me, too. A bit surprising since you said you have manual hubs. The auto hubs are pretty dodgy at best. I'm really hoping to get my auto hubs switched out to manuals tomorrow before we get more snow this weekend.

Anyway, here's a test to be sure. Jack up one front wheel. I'd start with the driver's side, since that's where you felt the hop from. Try rotating the tire with the hub locked and unlocked. When unlocked, the wheel should rotate freely, with no grinding/ratcheting/clicking noise and without rotating the front driveshaft. When locked, it should be solid, not rotate, and you should see some movement in the front driveshaft as you attempt to rotate it.

As always, be safe when jacking a vehicle- use jackstands, set parking brake and chocks, and never get underneath when you don't have to.

 

Or a busted Ujoint in the front axle. Just gotta get under there and check it out.

Adrianspeeder

 

is a busted u joint obvious

 

just went out to look at it, with the hubs in lock position ican turn the front drive shaft but only the passenger side axle spins and the right stays still canot be moved at all unless on "free" mode. any ideas im still leaning towards the hubs but what would cause the "hop"?

P.S.- when spinning the sahft the lever was in 2hi

thanks,
-Dan

 

The hub locks are supposed to "lock" the wheel to the axleshaft, so the one that was NOT turning is the good one. Click my signature link & look thru the Brakes & Hubs album.

 

but then tchnically wouldnt the good wheel still turn when in 4wd? or does it work as a complete system...

 

Without a limited slip or locker, there's a good chance the axle will spin while not engaged to the wheel via the hub. An open diff tends to send power to the wheel with lower resistance.

 

Bingo: the differential 'steals' all the torque from the side that's locked & sends it to the side that's not. Read this.