**FIXED** solution in final post

My 2002 X won't shift into 4wd. The dash light comes on, but only my rear wheels are engaging. Trying for a half hour, I intermittantly was able to get it into 4LO without the front wheels engaging still, but it took me a long time to get it out of LO. While in neutral, I would switch the dash selector out of 4LO into 4HI and it wouldn't switch. Id move the truck a few feet forward and then back and try again and finally got it out of 4 LO, but it went back to just the rears, even with the 4x4 HI dash light on. I replaced the ESOF hubs with warn hubs a few months ago, so the ESOF aren't the problem. The only thing I didn't do when I swapped out the ESOF was plug the vaccum lines, would that affect manual hubs? I am visiting relatives in eastern WA and it has snowed 5 inches in the past few hours. I need to make it 180 miles home tomorrow. I need some ideas.

 

Can anybody describe what level of resistance I should feel when engaging the warn hubs? For the first 1/5 of the turn from free to lock, I can feel it doing something, the remaining turn has zero resistance. I reached underneath the truck and can not turn the front u joints at each of the wheels, so I'm pretty sure the hubs are locked in, but really trying anything I can at this point.

 

It's probably the tranfer case not engaging. Might try inspecting and wiggling the wires going to it.

 

Fixed it. I had not installed my WARN hub correctly. It was not seated all the way, so when I turned the ****, it was not pressing far enough to engage the hub.

From my reading and trying to fix it, here's a quick troubleshooting guide for people experiencing similar issues:

If you have ESOF hubs, check your A/C, if your vents default to defroster, you have a vacuum leak and your hubs aren't engaging.

If you have manual hubs or you have turned your ESOF hubs to the manually locked position and still don't have 4wd, try this. Leave your hubs unlocked and put the truck in 4wd, drive back and forth 5-10 feet to give it a chance to engage. Crawl under the truck and attempt to turn the front driveshaft by hand. If it won't turn, your transfer case is functioning properly, time to play with the hubs. If it does turn, your transfer case is not engaging for one reason or another, I didn't have this problem, so I didn't troubleshoot it, but at least you've narrowed it down. Time to use the search function.

Now for the hubs. Put the truck back into 2wd and make sure the hubs are unlocked. You should be able to turn the front driveline and both ujoints/knuckles behind the hubs. Lock one hub and check that the ujoint/knuckle behind that wheel will not turn by hand. Unlock that hub and then lock the other hub, ensure the knuckle will not turn. If either of the knuckles turn when the hub is locked, you at least know which hub to focus on. If neither knuckle turns when locked, lock both hubs and then attempt to turn the driveline by hand, if it will turn when the hubs are locked, inside your front differential is likely the problem.

Hope it helps.