So i was up in mountain high this sunday and had to use 4x4 because of all the snow on the roads. But didnt seem like my 4x4 was working you could hear the transfer case engage but didnt really get that good of traction and would get stuck on small hills that regular cars with chains wouldnt even get stuck on and when my tires would spin it only looked like the back passenger side tire would be spinning and none of the others. 4x4 low was the same as 4 high also. anyone have any ideas why? or what to do?

 

Put your truck's A/C on and drive in 2x4. Then switch to 4x4, my guess is it will automatically turn from the vents to defrost only, in which case you have a vacuum leak somewhere between the pump motor (located on passenger side inner fender under the hood) and the lines running to the hubs. Or you could have a hub seal bad. Once you lose vacuum it wont auto-engage. For now you can get out and just turn the hubs manually to "lock" and it will work.

 

Alrite ill try that out and see what it does

 

Yea i agree fords seam to have this problem quite a bit on ther newmatic controlls.

 

So i tried putting the ac on thru vents than turning it to 4x4 and it still came outta the vents and never the defroster.

 

Can you feel your hubs slipping? Can you hear/feel the transfer case engage? What shape are your hubs in? Can you still turn them by hand? Have you tried manually turning them to the "lock" position?

 

I have a 4x4 issue with my '07. I was up in the same area on Sunday (SB 14 stuck in Palmdale at 1am) and the way traffic was going I ended up getting stopped on an incline on top of ice so when traffic started moving I started slipping, I immediately pushed the clutch and brake, put it in neutral, flicked the switch for 4x4 and put it back in 1st, well I flicked the switch too far and it went in 4L which wasn't a problem since traffic was moving slower than a fart. Issue is, when I realized there were actually 3 lanes not 2 (3rd hadn't been plowed) I decided to get ahead of some traffic (perfectly legal, I was in a lane not on the shoulder ) however I wasn't going to with it still in 4L so I pulled over and turned it to 4H, "low range" light on the dash stayed on and when I started moving the rpms were still high and I was thinking that maybe it needed to do so many rotations before it would unlock, not the case. Then I put it in reverse, no such luck. Turned the truck off then back on, nothing. Then I put it in 2wd and backed up a bit and it finally went off and I was able to put it in 4H. Today I found an empty parking lot and tried to see if I could figure out exactly what process I needed to do to lock/unlock 4L and it wouldn't go in. No problem going in and out of 4H but the low range wouldn't engage. Any ideas?

 

I can hear the transfer case engage when i switch it, and its easy to turn the *** on the hubs to lock it or put it in auto. and i went to the snow again yesterday and put it in 4x4 and than got out and manually locked the hubs and it made the biggest difference a far as traction i wasnt spinning at all with it locked manually

 

Not sure on the manual trucks, but I know in the autos the only way to get in and out of 4L is to put the truck in neutral, switch to 4L, then put it in drive or reverse. So if you pulled over on the side of the road and left it in 1st gear or something, that may have been your problem. Try switching to 4L in neutral only, I know that's how the autos work. You can only get out of 4L the same way.



You have a vacuum leak somewhere, or the pump itself might be dead. Open the hood and on the passenger side inner fender you'll see a little oval shaped black housing that has something like 3 vacuum lines running to it. Turn the key forward in the truck (not running) and listen for that pump to humm for a little bit. If you don't hear anything, that pump might be shot. I believe they're around $100. You can always test it with a buddys, try swapping it with a known working one.

 

Alrite ill have to take a look at that