I have a question on my 2001 F250 4x4. This question has probably been asked a zillion times but I cant find the answer on this forum.

When i flip my pickup into 4x4 high it seems like it "kind of works." I still slip a bit on the ice but its not as bad when im in 2 high.

I then will manually lock my hubs and PRESTO its better!

Is this NORMAL for this pickup or do I need to get it checked out?

This is my first pickup with hubs and I am not familiar with the 4x4 system. Thanks much!!

 

There's a good chance you have a vacuum leak. If you still have the factory lock outs. You can trace the lines find your leak and fix it/them. Is your heater defaulted to the defrost setting? When you have the key turned over and engine off can you hear a pump running all the time under the hood in the passengers side? If any of these seen right it's a vacuum leak assuming you have ESOF.

I tried for days to find my leak and came up empty handed. I got rid of the vacuum lines (the ones I could) and put a set of warn lock outs on my truck. Only down fall is I have to hop out of my truck turn the hubs and climb back in. The upside is I know there going to work.

EDIT: I made a correction and added all this stuff below.


With ESOF you can set your hubs to auto and forget about them, just use the switch on the dash. You can set them to lock so they are always locked in but this will rob mileage. If they are hard to spin... I would replace them. I have one good one sitting in my garage and one garbage one that I took a hammer to to get off (not recommended!)