My truck wouldn't go into 4wd the other day, but the transfer case would shift into low range. I noticed when I was trying to back up my travel trailer in some snow. The truck is a company truck, so I took it into the dealer and they said it was a "broken shift fork in the front diff" It cost 450 bucks to repair. I have always engaged the 4wd at least once a month to make sure it worked when I needed it. Has everyone ever heard of this problem? Any idea what caused it. Thanks.

 

I've seen a couple of these. It's not a real common problem though.
It seems like it's just something that happens for no real good reason.

 

Well don't feel too bad, I've broke 2 now on my '03 Screw. The first time when they were fixing it they had two other ones with the exact same problem. I was told it was just a part failure.

 

This broken fork or fork not actuating properly seems to be a trend...

I remember when the xfer case motor was the big issue...

-Kerry

 

I am sure that I have the same problem on my 02 F150 SCrew. I read that the fork can be accessed from removing the passenger side axle tube. I assume that this is the straight hunk of metal between the CV joint and the differential. It does not look like it is hard to remove.

Is there anything that I should look out for before I try to do this? Is it a lot harder job than it looks like?

Thanks for the help...

Hartwa

 

It is probably a bit harder than it first looks. It's possible to remove the axle tube without removing the whole diff but to me it's harder to do. I remove the whole diff from the truck. Unbolt both axles and the driveshaft and then there are only 3 bolts holding the diff to the truck.
If you don't remove the whole diff you have to at least drop it down to remove the axle tube.

 

Thanks

Since the axle tube does not spin I figured that there would be some length of it's internals in the differential and I was not sure how I would be able to remove it without taking the whole differential out. I thought that there maybe enough play in the CV joints to slide the tube away from the differential.

In any case I might as well take the whole thing out. It's aways fun when you do stuff like this flat on your back. I always told myself that I would build a shop with a lift...I guess I'm a liar.

Thanks for the help.

Hartwa

 

I took the font differential out and the axle tube. The white plastic keys fill out right away...so I knew that the fork was busted.

For the do it yourselfer's out there......The whole ordeal took about 5 hours. It took me about 2 hours to take it out and 3 hours to put back in. To get it back in it is easier to loosely bolt the drvie axles on before installing the front differential. Using a jack position the differential at about 4-6 inches to where it mounts and connect the drive axles. Once they are bolted together loosely start jacking the differential into position.

The part kit costs about 150...Even though all you need is the fork they stick you for 2 gears and other things in the kit. That is how they justify 150 bucks. In my opinion the fork itself is worth about 30 bucks...not much to it. I really think that they should not rip off the customers by doing this. If they know that the wear item is the fork they should allow the consumer to buy it separatley.

Everything works good now...the only thing that I question is that I lost the marks that I made on the drive axle and the front differential so that I could bolt them up in the exact same way. The marks wore off from handling. I found the ones on the drive shaft and hooked that up as it originally was. Is this significant? Does anyone know the purpose of why they say you should do this?

Thanks for eveyone that helped.

Hartwa

 

I had my front diff worked on once by a ford dealership tech and he told me that the "shift" fork was installed backwards.....from the factory.
He assembled a new fork and I have had no problems since.