Hey guys. Been having a small problem with my ranger for the past couple years but now it seems really bad. When I shift into 4wd the truck wants to pull to the right hard. If I let go of the wheel it will pull me off the road. If I switch back into 2wd it continues this until I steer both ways a few times while moving forward. Any ideas?

 

Any chance that a) only one front wheel is engaged with the rest of the drivetrain or b) there is damage to/worn parts related to the steering, suspension or frame (accident damage/bent/dogtracking/other)? The answer to this requires an understanding of how to correctly inspect these items so as to not overlook an item that may be contributing to/the cause of the problem.

 

Truck has never been crashed, or under severe stress of say off roading or anything of that nature. When it’s not in 4wd it tracks straight as an arrow. I decided to lift one wheel off the ground and spin it while I had a guy engage 4wd. The wheel locked up as it was engaged. Weird thing was when disengaged it stayed locked until I let pressure off the wheel. Not sure if that’s normal. Did the procedure to both sides with same result. My first thought was maybe worn cv shaft/wheel bearings as they’ve never been replaced and the truck has over 120k.

 

Anyone got any ideas?

 

Again and if me were diagnosing the cause of the problem, I'd want to know that BOTH front tires are capable of pulling the vehicle when 4WD is engaged and that the rest of the items noted in my previous post were carefully investigated. There's a reason this is happening, gotta leave no stone unturned/ignored in the search for it. I assume there are NO mods to the vehicle since none have been noted in a signature in the OP and that everything is therefore, bone stock. No aftermarket wheels noted, correct tire size for the vehicle, etc.

 

Only exterior mod was load adjusting shocks for the rear. Which wouldn’t affect this. I’m wondering if tires could be the reason. They are 4-5 years old. Possibly wear?

 

I wonder if there is power available to both front wheels and if the suspension/steering/frame/etc is all tight. This because, it sounds as if something significant happens when 4WD is engaged, be it one tire up front is pulling hard or something in the just noted areas is moving/shifting. Which is why these things have been mentioned twice, along with stressing the importance of correctly inspecting and verifying condition. This because, if it's not done right and if a problem part, etc is *assumed* to be good and ignored, then everything done after that is a waste of time and eventually someone will have to go back and find the oversight.

***Edit: just because it hasn't been wrecked or off roaded hard doesn't automatically mean that everything can be assumed to be ok. Something(s?) is NOT ok, gotta methodically inspect items correctly, and rule them out until the problem is identified.

 

Can I even tire wear cause a binding in the 4wd system and therefore also cause it not to disengage. Would also explain why it goes to the right...if the left tire wore less than right side. Would be it has larger circumference therefore making that track to the right more.

 

IMO, maybe. With 4WD especially, it's important to try to have 4 tires of the same brand/size and of course, equal wear. Good maintenance (tire pressure and rotation) along with replacing the wear items I've mention a couple times already when needed (status is??) take care of this one.

Unknown at this point as it might depend on the answer to the other things noted earlier and the severity. Uneven tire sizes on the front/rear axle contribute to accelerated wear of the transfer case; uneven tires on AN axle contribute to accelerated wear of the parts within that axle including posi clutches if so equipped. It's always smart to keep all four tires wearing evenly, to the greatest extent possible.