Hubs locking in 2WD?
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Posting Guru
Joined: Jun 2009
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From: Anderson, SC
Hubs locking in 2WD?
Got a friend with an '06 6.0 FX4 250 and his hubs are staying locked in 2WD when in the auto position. But, his 4WD doesn't work at all. I was riding with him the other day down the interstate and at high speeds it'll start making this loud screeching howl sound. He can flip it to 4WD and then back to 2WD real quick and it'll just stop. We started messing with it a little bit tonight and noticed that his compressor is sucking air both in 2WD and in 4WD...is that normal? Also, he said he can unhook one of the vacuum lines and then run it down the interstate with no problems but as soon as he hooks it back up and runs high speeds it'll start the howling. Any ideas?
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,800
Likes: 52
From: Southern Colorado
You need to determine if the hubs themselves are working correctly. They lock on a full vacuum pulse and unlock on a half pulse (half as much vacuum). You can test the hubs with a vacuum pump (MityVac), and test the truck end by putting a vacuum gauge on the hose that goes into the hub and seeing what it reads upon going in and out of 4WD.
The screeching sound is a different issue - perhaps the needle bearings inside the hub body, which can be lubed through the ABS hole.
When you say '4WD doesn't work at all' - that could be a fuse or an xfer case actuator issue. You need to isolate all these problems to find out exactly what is/isn't happening.
As for the automatic hubs, mine frequently would fail to unlock and after much debugging and messing around (on two different Super Duties), I installed manual hubs on my '01 and put a small sticker on the dashboard so that any other users won't forget to lock the hubs. You can make a crusade out of fixing and maintaining the OEM vacuum hubs, but I refuse to. They are designed like a Swiss watch but live in a fairly harsh environment.
There are literally thousands of posts on the Ford hubs in the various Ford forums, so read up and you'll learn all you need to know.
The screeching sound is a different issue - perhaps the needle bearings inside the hub body, which can be lubed through the ABS hole.
When you say '4WD doesn't work at all' - that could be a fuse or an xfer case actuator issue. You need to isolate all these problems to find out exactly what is/isn't happening.
As for the automatic hubs, mine frequently would fail to unlock and after much debugging and messing around (on two different Super Duties), I installed manual hubs on my '01 and put a small sticker on the dashboard so that any other users won't forget to lock the hubs. You can make a crusade out of fixing and maintaining the OEM vacuum hubs, but I refuse to. They are designed like a Swiss watch but live in a fairly harsh environment.
There are literally thousands of posts on the Ford hubs in the various Ford forums, so read up and you'll learn all you need to know.
Thread Starter
|
Posting Guru
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 1,373
Likes: 0
From: Anderson, SC
You need to determine if the hubs themselves are working correctly. They lock on a full vacuum pulse and unlock on a half pulse (half as much vacuum). You can test the hubs with a vacuum pump (MityVac), and test the truck end by putting a vacuum gauge on the hose that goes into the hub and seeing what it reads upon going in and out of 4WD.
The screeching sound is a different issue - perhaps the needle bearings inside the hub body, which can be lubed through the ABS hole.
When you say '4WD doesn't work at all' - that could be a fuse or an xfer case actuator issue. You need to isolate all these problems to find out exactly what is/isn't happening.
As for the automatic hubs, mine frequently would fail to unlock and after much debugging and messing around (on two different Super Duties), I installed manual hubs on my '01 and put a small sticker on the dashboard so that any other users won't forget to lock the hubs. You can make a crusade out of fixing and maintaining the OEM vacuum hubs, but I refuse to. They are designed like a Swiss watch but live in a fairly harsh environment.
There are literally thousands of posts on the Ford hubs in the various Ford forums, so read up and you'll learn all you need to know.
The screeching sound is a different issue - perhaps the needle bearings inside the hub body, which can be lubed through the ABS hole.
When you say '4WD doesn't work at all' - that could be a fuse or an xfer case actuator issue. You need to isolate all these problems to find out exactly what is/isn't happening.
As for the automatic hubs, mine frequently would fail to unlock and after much debugging and messing around (on two different Super Duties), I installed manual hubs on my '01 and put a small sticker on the dashboard so that any other users won't forget to lock the hubs. You can make a crusade out of fixing and maintaining the OEM vacuum hubs, but I refuse to. They are designed like a Swiss watch but live in a fairly harsh environment.
There are literally thousands of posts on the Ford hubs in the various Ford forums, so read up and you'll learn all you need to know.
Senior User
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 301
Likes: 0
From: Duluth,MN
Try this thread from the tech section and let me know what you think.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...with-pics.html
There are NO aftermarket Manual hubs for 05 and up Superduties!!
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...with-pics.html
There are NO aftermarket Manual hubs for 05 and up Superduties!!
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