Messed up 4WD
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Messed up 4WD
My 1998 Ranger from the first winter I owned it had 4WD issues. The front hubs would either not lock...or not come unlocked. I took it to the local ford dealership 4 times in 4 yrs to repeatedly get this problem fixed. At $450.00 each time ...it hurt. After the 5th season of this problem that kept returning I went to a different ford dealership that was in a different city. They informed me that ford knew that this 4WD system was bad from the very beginning and they had a fix for it that would take care of this problem once and for all. The FIRST ford shop never said a word to me about there being a permanent fix for this problem. They just kept taking my money and would send me out the door knowing fully well that it would be going out again by the following winter. ANYWAY....the 2nd ford shop told me the fix would be $1000 and would fix it once and for all. I had them go ahead and do the repair. YES it did fix the problem ...kinda. My 4WD worked everytime after that....the thing they DID NOT TELL ME was....my axles were now locked in FULL TIME. My MPG dropped majorly. Now years later...I found that I can buy manual lockouts for my Ranger. I went to look at my hubs and realized I no longer have any form of lockouts on my hubs. The 2nd ford shops repairs replaced the hubs and axles with some other type of system that has no hub locks. I FEEL FORD REALLY SCREWED ME OVER ...not only on 4 yrs of repairs that would not stay fixed....but $1000 for a repair that didn't truely fix my problem 100%. I don't have the money now to replace the FIX with the standard 4WD system and then go with the manual lock outs. Is there anyway anyone knows of fixing this problem???
More Turbo
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 554
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From: Boise, ID
I have a 1998 with the same PVH (Pulse Vacuum Hub) that you do. At 140k miles I have et to have any issues with it, though I likely just jinxed myself 
Sorry to hear about your bad luck with it and the dealers. The system is definitely known to have issues and was only around for a few years before Ford remedied it.
Out of curiosity, how much did your MPG drop?
Sorry to hear about your bad luck with it and the dealers. The system is definitely known to have issues and was only around for a few years before Ford remedied it.
Out of curiosity, how much did your MPG drop?
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added info
Added Info.......going with aftermarket parts....like Rock-Auto.com.....or others...I have found out I have to replace the axles and hubs to go back to the stock Frt 4X4 system. Without the stock hub lock system and going to a manual lock system ....it will cost about $400 to $600 to do this. (( Doing my own labor )) Wish I would have known this 15 yrs ago...I know I burnt 3 times that in extra gas since the dearlership fix was done.
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