I was driving along and there was an area cleared off the road where they had started construction. I decided to go take a look. Never mind the snow and rain we've been having on that mud. So I'm driving back, doing ok, until it came to a dead end. It was nice and wide so I decided to make a 3 point turn.

I back up and the rear end starts sinking into the mud. I put it in drive and go to pull forward, and nothing, the wheels spin. So I switch to 4wd and try. Still nothing. I try and rock it back and forth a bit and remain stuck. Then I realize, when my wheels are turned my mirrors should be getting pelted with mud. I put down the window and leaned out while i was spinning the wheels, and sure enough my front wheels were not turning. I get out to switch the hubs from auto to lock, and realize I can't turn them with my bare hands, and I don't have a set of channel locks in my box in the back. I attempt a few more tries to get out unsuccessfully, so I hop out and start walking home, a good 2 miles.

After I got home I got in my other car and headed to my fathers to get a tow from him in his Escalade. We head out, and he pulls me out, all is well. I grabbed a set of channel locks and turn my hubs to lock because I'm still having a difficult time going anywhere , as the ground had been pretty well chewed up. I turn the hubs to lock and start going. This time I see mud flying up at my mirrors, so 4wd is engaged. I make my way home and turn them back to auto.

Why did my 4wd not engage? What should I look for to solve this issue? I tried both 4hi and 4lo, with the proper shifting sequence for 4lo. Normally in my experience if the **** on the dash doesn't do it the manual locks don't do it either. Where should I start to fix this issue?

 

1st guess would be a vacuum leak since that is how those are actuated...I hate the system in the X, but maybe I'm just used to having to get out to turn the hubs, do a search for vac leak, it's come up before as being a problem, but I'm not sure those resulted in a 2 mile walk

 

WARN manual hubs...sorry but the auto ford hubs arent the greatest thing.IMO.i got the warns and love them.in fact just locked and engadged this last weekend to lube it up.havent used it in a 4-5 months

 

Thanks for the input. I did the vacuum test, put on my front blower, put it in 4wd, and sure enough it went to defrost. Now it's just time to trace the vacuum lines. Thanks for the input guys.

 

There's a possiblity that you weren't able to move enough to allow the automatic hubs to engage. I'd try testing it using the automatic selector and drive it a few feet. The next thing to look for is a vacuum leak. With the selector in 2wd, turn on your heat so that the air is discharging to the floor or to the vents and then turn the selector to 4wd and wait about 30 seconds. If the air discharge changes from your setting and goes to defroster, look for a vacuum leak. I found mine in the hoses that go from the connecter on the frame at the inside fender liner to the connector on the top of the hub.

Of course, the smart-a$$ suggestion would be to park on solid ground and put your boots on to go exploring next time!