I have manual engaging 4x4. Last night I locked the hubs to keep everything lubed up and I noticed that there is a loud squeaking/squealing sound, which disappears above 15 mph. It does this with the transfer case in 2 or 4 wheel drive. It did not do this last time I locked the hubs. My truck has about 18,600 miles and I would guess that the hubs have been locked about 10% of the time. Any advice on what could be wrong would be great.

 

>Any advice on what could be wrong would be great.

Somethin' is screwed up in the hub...as if you didn't already know that. With the low mileage, I'd be making a trip to the dealer before the snow hits... if it hits where you live.

You could pull the hub and clean and inspect yourself.

Which hub is it? L or R

 

Upon further inspection the noise comes from the front differential, not the hubs. So it is at the dealer right now. I hope it is not too bad!

 

There is a T.S.B. on a sqeak in front ends of super duty. If all of your bearings are OK and the pig has oil in it, the T.S.B. gives new part# for the axle seals. The original seals sometimes sqeaked when the axles were rotating at slow speeds. Sorry I dont know the T.S.B.#. I have seen this T.S.B. on OASIS programs and it was a problem on my DADS 00 S.D. 4x4.Good Luck and dont let the dealer give you any crap about getting it fixed

 

>Good Luck and dont let the dealer give you any crap
>about getting it fixed

How did you know that would happen? Sure enough I got a call today (day 2) that they could not duplicate the problem. I reminded them that the front axle had to be turning (hubs locked and/or transfer case engaged). So I went up to the dealership at lunch, LOCKED THE HUBS, and duplicated the problem to the service rep. I told him that they should be embarrassed. I hope that they can figure it out now.

 

It's like I just read my own story. I had a squeak with the hubs locked in 2wd or 4wd at first. I brought it to Ford, they couldn't duplicate the noise. What a surprise
So I went in the next day, drove around in 2wd with the hubs locked. Didn't make the noise. Put it in 4wd, made the squeak. Boy, that was sure hard to do.:-(
They ended up replacing the front driveshaft. The noise went away and has not returned. I noticed the new one has 4 color strips sprayed on it as though to label it for some reason. Maybe it's an updated part or maybe it's to keep track of the repair for future use. Good luck with your situation.

 

I too had the dreaded "squeakie hubs" The first time I took the truck to the dealer they told me the "Extruder seals" lost their lube, so they lubed them. I got to looking and all they did was throw some grease on the seals where the axle shafts enter in the axle housing. The squeak lessen but didn't go away. I took the truck back and told them if the seals "lost their lube" maybe they need to be replaced and left them the truck. That was 2 1/2 weeks ago and I still havn't got the truck back from the dealer. I'll let you know what the final out come is. Good luck

2000 SD250
4X4 5.4, Flo Pro Exhast,
AirRaid spacer,
K&N and home mods to air box

 

2 1/2 weeks is rediculous!

My dealer (that I don't respect that much) replaced both front axle seals. After they figured out the problem (see above post), I got my truck back the next day.

I might be paranoid now but, after I got my truck back with new axle seals, and no squeak, I can hear another noise. This one sounds kind of like a bird whistling. It is pretty soft but it is definitely related to the front axle or drive shaft. I hear it about 4 times for every revolution of the wheel, which I find suspiciously close to my axle ratio of 3.73. I have driven about 50 miles with the hubs locked to let the new seals break in. Is this new noise something to worry about? Any ideas? I love this site for venting/information/entertainment/etc/etc/etc