Hey guys, I know there have been posts about this in the past, but I am not having any luck with the search feature on here. Well my ranger now officialy will not go into 4x4 at all. It started early this spring once in a while the 4x4 lights would flash and it wouldnt engage, but has gotten progressivly worse. Now the best I can get it to do is to click a few times and then the lights start to flash. I have taken the motor out of the t case and it is still engaging, so I am assuming that the problem is my Vaccum hubs. I was wondering if there is a cheap way to just lock the hubs and use the t-case to disngage 4x4? I am in college and have VERY little money, so I cannot afford to replace the hubs, or buy the parts to convert to the explorer system. I am realy starting to regret buying this truck, I looked at all of the consumer reports and stuff, and everybody said that these things last forever. All I can say now is that none of my friends that went with an s-10 are having problems like this. But they are driving a chevy, which is a problem in and of it's self. But back to the problem at hand, I seem to remember someone posting about a way to just leave the hubs locked. Or is there a seal or something that might be bad that is replaceable? I guess any info you guys might have for me would be great. thanks guys

 

Check out this thread

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...hreadid=113363

 

After reading the link in the previous reply, I have to wonder...

I have a 96 4.0L 4x4 5-speed with MANUAL hubs. Is it ok to leave them locked in ALL THE TIME to I dont have to get out when I need 4x4? Or at least during the winter months when ice/snow is an issue? Will it hurt my ranger? I'm sure it will hurt the gas mileage.

 

You should be fine. In fact, the newer Rangers with the "constant engagement" 4x4 systems are locked in all the time, and only the T-case gets switched on them.

 

Dart7383 --- I'm in the same boat. I've had those stupid hubs replaced 2 times already while it was under extended warranty, and now they are going out again, bu tthe warranty is up. I have been planning on doing the "quick fix" for like a month now, but today is my first day off in that time. So I will be doing the "mod" today after i replace my rear brakes. I'll let you know how it goes, but it seems everyone else has good things to say about it....

 

mds79

The only thing I would do is avoid turning too sharply to keep from putting too much stress on the cv joints

 

md there is a thread on the Offroad/4x4 forum about leaving your manual hubs locked. it's called something like

is it ok to leave manual locking hubs locked