Interesting observations, guys!

Both my '08 and my '11 have had a whine while in 4wd. But my '08 had the manual transfer case with the lever on the floor. The sound had to be from the transfer case, as when driving around with the hubs locked in 2wd the sound wasn't there even though the entire front driveline was spinning. Pull the handle back to simply engage the t-case and it started doing it. Never bothered me, both my dad's '10 F150 and my '07 F150 did the same thing.

As far as sure-footed-ness I find this one to be ever bit as good as my '08 was. Part of that may be my skinny 245/75R17 minivan tires though. I have the General Grabbers which seem to be a decent tire so far.

As far as engaging the t-case when stuck, I'm not sure what mine would do. My '08 would handle it just fine with a pull of the lever. Sometimes if the gears weren't aligned quite right I'd occasionally have to spin the wheels slowly to get it to go, but I could always get it to engage. Haven't tried it on the new truck, maybe I'll find a snowbank to play with and find out.

I'm sure you guys are aware, but I figure it's worth mentioning anyway. DO NOT spin up the rear end at anything more than an idle when trying to get 4hi to engage! Between each hub having to lock an the t-case, there are a LOT of things that can be broken by a shock like engaging at speed when stuck.

 

I spoke to my brother last night. He stills lives in southern Buffalo, right in one of those snow belts. I am hoping the 2008 -2010 auto locks are different than the ones we are running. He has about 28k on his truck and has had the auto locks worked on 4 times this winter. Once to fix a vacuum leak, once to replace a vacuum source and twice to have the left and right hubs replaced. He told me some of his friends who have trucks in the 2008 to 2010 vintage have abandoned the auto hubs for standard Ford or aftermarket hubs.

My brother is a LONG time Ford truck driver and to hear him utter "I am not sure I will go with a Ford next time" bothered me.

 

Thanks for pointing out the spinning wheels piece. There is a warning in the manual about doing this with the ELD as well.

I also agree about the tires. I had a couple of trucks that I thought were Snow Fairies turn out to be Snow Beasts with the right tires.

 

I towed my fiver from vegas to salt lake in snow and slush, 4wd the whole time at 60mph and I never heard anything. I keep my hubs in lock mode all winter. Have never trusted ford vacuum hubs.

 

FYI - the truck won't engage the 4wd (hi) if the rears are spinning. I unknowingly tried this last weekend when picking up my oldest boy at his buddy's house that had a snowy/icey driveway. I had let off the throttle but the tires, well, I should say TIRE, was still spinning down. Hit the switch and got the 4x4 engagement failure warning that popped up on the display, 4wd did not engage. Didn't realize what had happened until I saw the speedo winding down (was at about 5-10mph at this point), flipped it back to 2wd, then back to the 4wd and it engaged. The ELD was not engaged during any of this, nor did I try it because I keep forgetting I have it!!!

 

Ya, my 4wd won't engage when I am spinning a tire either. Everything works better when I stop and engage at idle. Sometimes after it says engaged I have to spin a tire to get the driveline lined up, and this is when the slight clunk happens. There is a very quick period of time when the rear end spins, slight clunk sound, then the front end is pulling. Depends on the conditions.

I too have found that it is better to engage 4wd before it is needed, just not as fun....

As far as effectiveness? I have been stuck dead in 2wd w/the elock. When I put in in 4wd, it goes like a bat outta he%^. There's not much in between in my experience.

 

Thought so. I skipped the Elock. I put the money towards an accessory... The only off road I do is a beach...
LOL

 

I most certainly will. They called me today and said they had the parts in and I could bring the truck in to get the rear carrier replaced. But a snow just hit so I think I'll wait til this clears up til I drop off our only 4wd. I hope the tech is good at doing gears!
Anyways when I get the paperwork back I'll post up the TSB

 

I have not heard of this TSB - Does anyone have any information on this? And what exactly does it address.

Thanks in advance..........

 

Every time i engage the 4x4 on my 2010 F250 i hear a clunk is this normal?Im going between 10 and 30mph when i engage it.

 

The clunk is normal, mine does the same thing. I've engaged it at aspeeds up to 65 MPH, nothing noticible other than the clunk and a faint whining noise. I believe that's the sound of the front driveline coming up to speed.