I have a 2001 f150 4x4 off road, 112,000 miles on it, i have been noticing that when i'm in 4 wheel drive that i pull to the right kinda hard, its fine in 2wd and i just had the allignment fixed, also, it has occasional trouble shiffting in and out of 4w high and low, are all these problems related? Any help would be great, the shop wants to charge me 100 dollars to look at it...

 

I'm not to familiar with the fixing of these IFS 4x4s, but that strikes me as not both wheels pulling.

Do you have the manual or electric shift 4x4?

Might have an idea for ya.

Adrianspeeder

 

Go back to the alignment shop and ask them to find out what happened after their alignment.
Sound like the left front is now open drive for some reason.
Had the wheel drive assembly off and not put back togather correct?

 

The first thing I would check is the u-joints in the front driveline. I had that problem on a broncoII I had when the u-joints went bad.
Alan

 

Sorry buddy, no u-joints. The independent front suspension on the 97+ 4x4s use CV joints and a center axle disconnect. Looks like this...



Have no idea how to fix it though.



Adrianspeeder

 

I guess i'm going to take it in to a specialty shop and have them look at my whole transmission/transfer case, i have the electronic shift for the 4 wheel drive and i've heard that it has some bugs w/ it. However, the wierdest thing happened the other day, i took my truck off roading and went mudding. Everything was just fine, even w/ the four wheel drive issues. I drove 20 miles home w/o any issues and spent about an hour cleaning the undercarraige of my truck. The next morning i sprayed off the brake rotors before i drove to church and i started driving. At a stoplight i noticed it felt like my wheels were slipping, drove my truck around some more to find that the left rear wheel was getting more power than the right. i drove the truck after church and the problem was gone. I'm guessing the whole system is electonic and that i have gotten some stuff wet either off roading or spraying the car out after wards, i think whatever was wrong dried out. Is it possible that my 4 wheel drive problem is just a fried sensor or electronic unit somewhere? Do you think the problem i just mentioned was moisture related? I'm kinda confused and am not sure now if i have a mechanical issue or an electric issue or some combo of both...
Thanks for the help so far...any help would be greatly appreciated...
Alex

 

the front differential is just an open differential when it's engaged and it sounds like maybe a cv joint on the passenger side is possibly going bad and hanging up so all of the power goes to the driver's side. the way the front diff works is the driver's side is always engaged through the diff and turning the spider gears. there is a collar on the driver's side that gets moved in and out to engage that side so the differential can work to turn both sides.

it's also common to get alot of water in the oil in the front diff due to condensation and washing the engine. the diff doesn't get used much so it never gets warm enough to dry up the water inside. it might be time to change the oil in it.

another thing to check might be the tire pressure in the front tires.

in an open differential the side that is easier to spin will get the power so one side is hanging up for whatever reason.

the problem with the shift motor should not affect the differential.

 

First: If you are getting power to any of the front Wheels the transfer case and associated controls are working. You would need to better describe it has occasional trouble shiffting in and out of 4w high and low for a proper diagnosis.
Second: If one wheel is pulling and that happens only in 4x4 then it is not an alignment nor a brake problem. If it were it would also happen in 4x2.

Now exactly what do you mean by i pull to the right kinda hard? What kind of surface does this happen on? Are you sure it doesn't pull even a little when in 4x2?

JMC