well i bit the bullet and decided to take the truck to kentucky for vacation and to look at purchasing some land. the trip up was good and i averaged around 10 mpg (yuck). the truck did great minus the fuel mileage. very smooth ride and a fairly quite ride considering the lift and 37" tires. everything was going great until we took the truck to the property to do a drive around and get a good look at the property. the parcels are divided by a little creek about 12' wide and about a 1 1/2' deep with little inclines on both sides. the vehicles with me were my brothers 2008 f-350 and a jeep wrangler. we all get across fine and do our little drive around. on the way back through is where i have problems. as i make my way out of the creek my truck starts to spin going up the incline. i back up and put the truck in 4Low and start to creep up the other side. when i get up the other side the truck won't come out of 4 wheel drive low. i try backing the truck up, shutting it off, and pulling fuses. we tried for over an hour to get the truck out of 4 wheel drive. so, being 45 miles from the nearest dealership and not having a cell phone signal to call a tow truck, i had to drive the truck in 4 low 45 miles to the dealership (20 mph the whole way)! when i get thier the service advisor told me that i shouldn't have driven it thier in 4 low. i told him i didn't have a choice with the young kids in the car! well the dealership has the truck for about an hour and tells me that the truck was fine and it shifted out of 4 wheel drive for them with no problem(B.S.) now since i got the truck back when i shift it to 4x4 it makes a grinding noise for about 15 seconds and does the same when i take it out of 4 wheel drive. i wonder what new problem is going to arise from this? just when i start feeling good about my truck (no problems for 3 weeks) this happens. drops my faith in ford even further.

 

I've had this happen twice before on 2 different superduties. One was an 06 F-250 V-10, the other an 08 F-250 V-10. They would work in 4 high just fine and come out no problem, but when put in 4 low and some power is put down neither of them would come out of low. I also couldn't get them to go into reverse. Both had the auto lock front hubs. The only way I got it to come out was to switch to 2wd and floor it to 4000 rpm and it would come out, with a loud bang. (I wasn't worried about the 08 because it was a rental truck) So just to let you know you're not alone.

That's why I ended up getting manual hubs and transfer case on my truck.

 

I have to admit the ESOF 4x4 on my 08 is a POS. My 06 was flawless went in the second you hit the switch, takes my 08 10-15 seconds to engage.

 

to get my 03 out of 4lo i have to move the shifter to N and wait a second or two...
it wont come out anyother way...
Other than that no problems at all, and I wheel the crap out of my truck... Very happy with it!

 

There is a procedure to follow when shifting from 4L to 4H or 2H in the owner's manual. This was copied from the 2004 manual, but they are all the same:

Shifting from 4x4 LOW (4WD Low) to 4x4 HIGH (4WD High) or 2WD
(2WD High)

1. Bring the vehicle to a complete stop.

2. Depress the brake.

3. Place the gearshift in N (Neutral) (automatic transmission) or depress the clutch (manual transmission).

4. Move the 4WD control to the 4x4 HIGH (4WD High) or 2WD (2WD High) position.

5. Hold the shift conditions until the LOW RANGE indicator light shuts
off.

6. If the LOW RANGE indicator light does not shut off within 15 seconds, drive the vehicle above 5 mph (8 km/h), then repeat steps 1 through 5 before reporting any shift concerns to your dealer.

Hey, this is post 5000!

 

I knew there was some procedure... thats it

congrats on the 5000th!

 

Yep...Thats what I do to get mine in and out of 4x4 low. Never a prob with my ESOF.

 

yea maybe i didn't follow appropriate steps. i did try puttig it in neutral and switching back but that didn't work. oh well

 

I found with my '01, going into 4LOW and back out was a little weird at first and took some getting used to. First and foremost, put it in PARK and wait. Then, put it directly into neutral without stopping in R or D. Then switch to 4LOW.

The grinding means the output shaft of the tranny was still trying to spin when you switched into 4LOW (or back out). The best method is to go into Park, wait, go directly to neutral, then turn the ESOF switch to 4LOW. I think if you switch it, and THEN go into neutral, you'll get some grinding.


There also might be enough bind between the front and rear axles that it keeps it from coming out of 4LOW.

 

well turns out it wasn't driver error. the vacuum pump needs to be replaced.

 

well turns out it wasn't driver error. the vacuum pump needs to be replaced.

 

Well thats always good to know....Your not nutts.

Is this that pump that is sitting on the pass fender well?

 

Having been a 4X4 owner for as long as I can remember, I've experienced many situations where the truck would not easily shift out of 4X4 low. Even old Jeeps were notorious for locking up in gear. High 4X4 is never a problem. My solution is, after I get out of the situation where 4X4 is no longer needed I simply put the truck in reverse and give it quick pump on the throttle to relieve the pressure on the gears. It has worked every time for me.

Jack

 

i don't know.

 

This exact situation is why (among other reasons) I went with Manual tranny on my 04 SD. Manual hubs, manual transfer case and nary a problem shifting in/out.

Good luck on the Vaccum fix