How we doing today guy's. I have a 2003 F-350 SD, 4x4. One of the problems I have is that the front dr. shaft, from the transfer case to the front axle will not disengage. Front hubs are not lock. FWD is not engaged, but the front dr. shaft seems to still be engaged, will not turn freely when in two wheel dr. any suggestions would be very much appreciated. At witts end.

 

Recommend raising the front of the truck high enough to lift both front wheels off the ground. Support the truck with jackstands under the front axle.

With 4x4 disengaged and the hubs unlocked, try to spin the front driveshaft where the driveshaft comes out of the transfer case. If the driveshaft turns OK, it means that the transfer case is disengaged and the problem is in one of the front hubs.

Spin one front wheel by hand (both directions) and see if the axle shaft turns. If the axle turns with the wheel, the hub is still engaged even though it is not in the "locked" position. Sometimes you can get a hub disengaged by turning it to the locked and free positions a few times. I would take the time to make sure the hub locks and unlocks reliably. Disassemble, clean, lubricate and reassemble the hub if it is sticking. If there is a lot of corrosion on the hub's exterior, this can be a time-consuming job.

Repeat this test on the opposite wheel to determine is the problem is isolated to only one side.

If your truck has manual hubs, the above steps are all you need to do. If the truck has "shift on the fly" hubs, you probably would need to apply a vacuum to the rubber line leading to the hub to get it to disengage.

Lou Braun

 

Thanks for the feed back Lou. I will be checking out the procedure above this week and let you know how I make out. But have one question? First of all I do have the "shift on the fly" hubs. They are marked lock or auto. They are both on auto. I had the rear of the truck on jack stands, tires off, started the truck & but it in gear and had the odomenater up to 50 to check out a vibration problem, I know not to smart, but anyway if the front hubs where locked wouldn't I be able to tell at that point. I would think if the hubs where locked the truck would have pulled itself off of the stands, or am I thinking wrong. Not to sure. Can you let me know either way. thank you.

 

You're right, it'd pull itself off the stands if the hubs were stuck in the locked position. It sounds like the shift motor didn't quite make a complete shift out of 4wd. Is the dash light for 4hi lit? Have you tried cycling it into 4hi and back to 2hi?

 

You are lucky that one of the parts is working correctly.
I would think you have a bad hub. You will have to lift each front tire to find out.

 

Thank you fellows for all your help. As it turns out it was one of the hubs. All I did was leave the truck on the ground, removed center hub cap, removed both hubs & reached in and spun the front dr. shaft freely. There was no rust or anything like that in side. So I disassembled the hub, cleaned them up & reinstalled on truck. Rechecked the dr. shaft & it still spun freely. I did not engauge & disengage the four wheel dr. yet because I need to lube them up. Is there any suggestions as to what kind on grease or lub to use? I would like to make sure the are lubed up before trying the 4wd. I still might have to replace them, but I may be able to save them, hopefully. At least this time they will come off a lot easier than they did the first time.

 

A quality all purpose grease should do. Here's a writeup on how to do tear down on the hubs Welcome to guzzle's 4x4 Autolock Hub Lubrication Maintenance Web Page