Hi all,
First time posting in this section due to just buying a 2000 F150, 7700, 5.4L, 4X4, manual shift transfer case.

I've been restoring a 1960 Fridge 4X4 so that is normally where I spend my time.

The front axle does not put power to the pavement. I've done a bunch of searching here so I've done all the checks prior to posting. Axle mounted vacuum diaghragm pulls in to engage when the floor lever is shifted into 4X4 mode. With the truck in the air, I manually pull in the diaghragm while rotating the driveshaft. All I feel and hear is a light clicking. Am I right to assume that if I pull it in manually while turning the driveshaft, I should be able to get one of the tires to spin or does it take a bunch of spinning to get the hub to engage?

I've read a bunch about broken shift forks. Should I just drop the axle and check it?

Lube looks to be brand new which leads me to believe that previous owner thought there was a problem so he had it checked out. I only checked that the truck shifted into 4 high and 4 low - never stood on it to see if the power hit the pavement.

Truck looks to be in real nice condition with 142000 miles and the guy was asking a grand so I should have figured something was up. Haha. Live and learn.

Nick in WI

 

Hi all,
Just thought I'd update everyone since no one answered back to my original question and maybe someone will wrangle with this in the future.

By manually pulling in the lockout shift fork and turning the driveshaft by hand, you should be able to engage the 4X4 axle shafts. If it doesn't engage, something is wrong.

I dropped the axle out of the truck since there's only 7 bolts plus the driveshaft and CV shaft bolts to unhook. I split the passenger side axle tube to expose the lockout fork and gears. The fork has 2 plastic pads that direct a splined gear. Both pads had fallen off.

New kit from Ford was $207.00 and included the fork with pads, the gear that engages both the outer and inner axle shafts, and a gear that supports the outer axle shaft.

I reassembled everything, topped off the diff with new lube, and took it for a spin. Locks into 4X4 mode like how Ford intended.

Hope this helps,

Nick in WI

 

good post... i had not heard about the pad problems before. sounds like a good fix.

 

I'm sure I have the same problem.....I removed the actuator and manually moved the fork lever towards the actuator-lock position while turning the front driveshaft, and it just clicks....so something seems broken in there....guess I will find out when I tear it apart??!!

 

Yep, when the pads are worn and broken off, the coupling gear just doesn't slide far enough. Sometimes the splines will click together as they turn without engaging.