Questions about 4wd assembly

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Jun 13, 2011 | 02:31 PM

BackwoodsF150

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Joined: Dec 2010

Posts: 40

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From: Fort Drum, NY

Questions about 4wd assembly

Alright, so about a month ago I was driving when I heard a terrible noise sounded like a pop can stuck between a bike tire coming from the front end. I figured this was the dreaded noise most folks hear when the 4wd system isn't getting enough vacuum. It did this for about two days, even after replacing the IWE solenoid, then it just stopped and I haven't heard it since. Me being on the cautious side, I'm a bit worried. I haven't jacked the truck up, but I did (brace yourself) lay under it while my buddy drove slowly over, there was no unusual movement.

Question is, if I had to replace anything, what exactly would it be and how much am I looking at? My warranty will be up in about a month or so and Ford has been less than spectacular with repairs thus far so I'd like to go ahead and fix it myself

Thanks in advance folks

Jun 13, 2011 | 07:41 PM

xjcamaro89

Posting Guru

Joined: Sep 2006

Posts: 1,263

Likes: 17

From: New Castle, PA

Its either one of the IWE actuators out at the wheel or one of the check valves in the vacuum line. The sound your hearing is a loss of vacuum. Read the thread in my signature. If its still under warranty i would explain it to the dealership and make them fix it. If you want to do it yourself, i would recommend a good vacuum guage and read through my thread a couple times and know it good, then start testing your system. It probably wont take long to find out where the problem is.

One quick way is to jack up the front end, then start your truck and spin one front wheel, if the half shaft with that wheel spins then there is a good leak somewhere. Then spin the other wheel, if the half shaft doesnt spin, then the other wheels IWE actuator is probably bad, if they both spin, then you will need to get a guage and manually apply vacuum to each IWE actuator and see which one does or doesnt disengage. Then you will know which one is bad. The actuators are about $100 a piece and only available at the dealership.

Keep us in posted