Fella's
Last night we was pounded with 6" of snow ,so here it was christmas eve and at 8:00 p.m. I had to venture out to pick up my kids, as I walked out with confidence I soon was humbled. I live of a county road, with a driveway 1/4 mile long, as I engaged the 4by4 all appeared as normal but I couldnt make progress. The front left and rear left engaged but the front and rear right hand side did nothing. I had to park it and drive our front wheel drive van. What should I look for causing the right side not to engage? Thanks in advance, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

Unless you have lockers or at least a traction lock rear diff. that's about all your going to get. Test it by raising the side in question and carefully putting it in 4 wheel drive / drive or first gear and see if the raised wheel(s) spin. Without locking differentials or at least traction lock that's all you going to get. oh yeah... BLOCK the wheels very well on the side still on the ground and DON'T get in front of it when you try this.

Brian
90 BII EB
brian31@xmission.com

 

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays all,
Both left front and left rear wheels spin simultaneously and the right side does nothing? Your problem sounds like normal operation for open differentials. Could the spinning wheels be on ice? A front wheel drive van will never get more traction than a 4x4 in the "same" conditions. Try again, 6 inches of snow never prevented my Bronco2 from moving. It's actually good in snow, will go through a foot or more without much of a problem.
Mark

 

Okay, heres what it seems . The other day as I was backing a trailor up a small incline which was soft and muddy, at that time the left front and back was spinning. I came home and went into the field locked it in ,dumped the clutch and same results, last night I couldnt make it out of my drive. So tonight, I went out locked it in ,got on a small incline ,put it into first, with ice and snow on ground,causing bronco to be stationary, and found rear left and rear right alternating( limited slip), but the fronts,neither one spinning. Now Im believing what everit is that engages the front axle is not working. Dont the front axles engage by some solenoid motor? Where is it located and how can it be tested?

 

manual or auto hubs? the hubs are engaged when the axle shafts spin.

 

It is push button auto hubs

 

Engage 4WD, drive for 10-20 feet to lock the front hubs. Lift one front wheel with a jack and try to turn it, it should not turn. If it does look to see what is spinning. If the driveshaft spins then the transfer case is not engaging the front drive. If one front wheel spins independant of the front axle shafts then that auto hub is not engaging. My advice is to replace the auto hubs with manuals regardless of what you find.
Mark

 

Thank you and I appreciate your help and advice. This is what makes this site so neat.

 

No problem, and yes this site is great. You will probably find that one or both of your auto locking hubs are not engaging correctly. They might be intermittent as mine became. Keep us posted as to what you find.
Mark

 

I had defective autohubs which Ford replaced ($600 a shot) on my 1997 Ranger (I had asked for manuals as a replacement for 1/2 the cost) and they would unlock at the worse times, under load on a slippery uphill surface.

Go manual hubs and you will not be sorry. I have had my manual hub BIIs up to the grill in snow and ice with only P235 tires and had no problems.

I use to take my BIIs down ATV trails, which is a lot more challenging than most driving and I had no traction problems unless I high centered the rear axle.

On icy roads and such, I found running 20 psi gave me a nice footprint and traction.