Vehicle is 2004 F150 SuperCrew 4X4.

I ran across a couple of threads describing turning of the front 1/2 shafts to check IWE operation, but I can't seem to locate them again??

With the motor off, I grabbed each shaft just outside the front diff and tried to twist. No go.

Started the motor, repeat. No movement. Just a bit of play. Clunk, clunk.

Should they turn with the engine running and in 2WD? Is there a way to test engagement of the front hubs other than what I described?

THANKS!
jtexfisher

 

Lift the tire off the ground and try to spin the tire with the engine running. When you try to turn the shaft you have to turn the entire axle assembly all the way to the transfer case. Probably requires more effort that your bare hand can muster.

 

With the tire off the ground, the only thing that should rotate is the tire, hence, not in 4wd. When the truck is off, there is no vacumn to the IWE so the IWE(hubs) stay locked in. Only with the engine running doe s the IWE solenoid pull a vacumn to the IWE to "unlock" them out of 4wd. This is whay there is special towing requirements for flat bed towing our trucks when you have the electric shift T-Case, as, the Electric shift case has no neutral position.
Rich

 

my driver side is not disengaging so when the truck is running and I spin the tire the axle shaft moves along with the drive shaft. I lifted the pasenger side and its working. What causes the hub to stick? I'm getting vacuum in the lines too.....

 

Your IWE is probably bad then.

If the IWE is good...and you have vacuum at the lines...then the IWE will disengage when in 4x2 and motor running.

you under warranty?
and are you sure you are getting vacuum at the drivers IWE?

 

no I have 43k on it. Yeah I made sure the line was sucking. The drive shaft isnt turning now just the axles when I spin the driver side wheel. It must be the vacuum actuator on the hub thats leaking. The passenger side is free like I said and the 4x4 ingages when I turn it to 4x4. The actuator has to be stuck.

 

ouch...sorry man.

I know a few guys on F150online.com who have changed their hubs out several times. You may want to drop into there and ask what all is involved.

 

Thanks for the info!

 

I have the same prob. Drivers side is almost engaged everytime I start the truck and start to drive away. But put it to 4-high and back to 2wd and the noise is gone, usually. There have been times when the hub tries to engage right away again. So switch to 4-high for a few seconds, wait for noise to go away, then back to 2wd.

I've started to chase down the vacuum lines. Since they are routed through some tight areas I run out of time or energy to continue chasing. I can't seem to follow the drivers side vacuum line through the skid plates and to the passenger side. I always get lost in there. LOL.

 

well here is what you need to do and this is from experience. Take off the vacuum line down at the hub to make sure the line has vaccum. If it doesnt most likely its your IWE solenoid. This is up on the fire wall behind your battery. Very easy to change out and the part cost me $40 + at the Ford dealer. That fixed my problem that I had that you are explaining here (exactly). I had another problem with the IWE vacuum actuator that I just replaced because my axle was locked in on the driver side. My other side was free when I would turn the wheel with the truck running. The seals in the other side acuator were bad. When I replaced it problem solved. These are very easy fixes but try what i said to do and you should have yours fixed too. Do it soon so you dont strip the gear teeth off when its trying to lock in 4x4 due to vacuum leaking or just not working.

 

glad to hear it was fairly easy Roller150

could you post part #'s for those coming up with the same issue

 

Well I would but I dont have the bags with the numbers and I never wrote them down. I got all my information of what might be the problem off this website. I love this website as its helped me fix the issues I have had. I'm sure I have saved thousands of dollars by doing the work my self with the help of a manual. Just ask for the IWE solenoid and vacuum actuator if you need any one of these or both of these and tell them its for the 4wd system. Its amazing even some of the parts guys at the dealer dont really know what you are talking about until they start looking for pictures on their parts computer.

 

Just trying to understand the operation here. Is the vacuum used to engage the front end or disengage the front end?
I was under the understanding that it needs vacuum to engage 4X4. My reason is I ordered my 2004 F150 with auto transmission and manual transfer case to allow us to tow the F150 4X4 all wheels on ground being towed behind a truck. The instructions I was told are, once the vehicle is connected, with engine turned off pump brakes to remove all vacuum to ensure front end is not engaged. Amazing what you learn from FTE.

 

not 100% sure, but I'm about 99.5% sure that the 04+ F-150 CANNOT BE FLAT TOWED..even with the manual t-case

the problem is your IWE hubs...not the t-case itself



How the IWE Hub Works
Motor Off:Motor On: 4x4 Mode:

 

Thanks for the feedback. I have a brochure (Picture of Motor Home towing a tow rig) from Ford stating with the manual transfer case only it can be towed with four wheels on the ground. It was the Fleet Dealer rep that gave us the instruction on pumping the brakes to confirm no vacuum and place the transfer case in neutral and good to tow. This seems backwards from what I and reading here.