According to this document I found : http://ww2.justanswer.com/uploads/fo..._153151_a1.pdf

You need to unhook the tie rod and the ball joint. I was hoping to just remove the 6 bolts Axle shaft bolts and drop it out of course after removing the Brakes, rotor and outer hub bearing. Is this possible.

This is in reference to this topic where I made the last post:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/6...g-noise-5.html

This is what I posted :

My turn for the problem, I replaced the IWE Solenoid and it didn't resolve the issue, this past saturday we really dug into it, I got a Wheel Bearing Hub in advance as a buddy and I looked at it a few weeks ago and determined that's where the grinding noise was coming from. It was grinding in 2WD and 4WD.

We started at the solenoid and worked our way down, disconnecting it and checking for vaccum, we wound of blowing out all the lines and some dust / moisture came out of
them. We also removed the vacuum reserve box behind the Battery and it had some water in it. We drained it and tested the it to see if it would hold vaccum. We then checked for vaccum at each hub and it seemed to be good.

We removed the wheel bearing HUB and their was grease everywhere. After cleaning it up we noticed the inner Wheel bearing or IWE Hub Lock Actuator seemed to be damaged slightly and along with the teeth on the Wheel Bearing Hub. since it was late in the day already ( Saturday ) we couldn't get the Hub Lock Actuator ( Dealer Only part as far as I can tell ). We tested the hub engaging with the old HUB and the new HUB and it seemed liked everything was working okay till the road test.

We then tested the 4WD as the truck was off the ground and could see the actuator moving in and out as it should be til the Road test and found in as soon as we speeded up the grinding was back in 2WD, but not in 4WD.

I plan on taking it apart again later inthe week and inspecting the axle and the Hub Lock Actuator and replacing both if necessary.

I've read all the posts and this seems to be the reason why mine 4WD has issues.

 

Seems like you got it narrowed down. The actuator may have a small leak and when you actually drive the truck and the vacuum changed with the load on the engine you hear the grinding. Also double check all the check valves as well, because if one of those are even slighly bad they will cause a whole headache of switching parts until you realize it. Also if the actuator has been grinding on the axle alot, the teeth on the axle could be worn as well and not letting the Actuator completely grab the axle. But without looking at it i cant tell you 100% on any of that.

 

Tackled the job last friday, what a pain, I did manage to get the IWE actuat or without disconnecting the upper ball joint as I couldn't get it seperated. I did removed the brakes and outer wheel bearing to completed this, The IWE actuator was shot. So far no grinding and 4WD seems to be engaging and working also.

 

My iwe was shot, got everything off. But when I install the axle to check it, it still spins in 2wd. I've already went through the lines, box, and selonoid. any advice? Haha thanks

 

are you trying to spin it with the engine off or running? I just redid mine on 08 and found that if engine is off the front axle spins, but when I started the truck the iwe disengages and the axle didn't spin

 

Ya truck is turned on. Got good vacuum throughout the system. Just decided to roll with it. Took it for a drive and seems to be good. No noise on that side haha. Gotta do the other one tomorrow.
I had a leak in the line and drove with it. So messed up both iwes. I guess my question right now is if I can unplug the vacuum and roll with hubs locked and not damage anything. I read somewhere you could just not sure if straight from the selonoid or not.

Nevermind figured it out had to reread some of this forum