I had my truck in for service a few months ago & they replaced both passenger side ball joints. When I got it back, it made a slight noise in the front on a hard right turn, kind of a whirring sound. I took it back to the dealer, they first said they couldn't find the problem then later called me back & said the put it in 4wd, then took it out & the sound went away. They said maybe something just wasn't aligned correctly & the sounds went away so I didn't worry about it. Recently I went to use my 4wd & it won't work in 4h or 4l. It worked perfectly fine up to just prior to getting the ball joints done. I can put the SOTF **** in 4 low & the transfer case kicks into low range, but still the front wheels won't engage. Is there something I can try and troubleshoot myself or should I take it back to the dealer. I'm just wondering if its possible something wasn't put back together right & thats causing my problem. If thats the case, I feel they should make it right. But Its been a few months & I also don't want to pay them for work that is unrelated or worse yet, have them shaft me because its been so long since the truck was in for the service.

 

Make sure they put the vacuum lines back on the hubs right. Check the lines to make sure they didn't pull them and made a crack in one or the other. Let us know what you find.

 

They may have put something on in the wrong order or in the wrong place. Few thrust washers and such in there.

 

Thanks, I'll check the vacuum lines tomorrow.

 

Another question guys.. I checked everything I could & couldn't find anything wrong so I called the dealership, told them what was wrong & set up an appointment. I took it in yesterday & the service manager told me they would check it out & if it was something that was their fault from before, they would take care of it at no cost to me. I got a call 3 hours later telling me they couldn't find anything wrong, did vacuum test, etc.. found no leaks,.. the hubs & transfer case were engaging properly & it was going to cost me $103 in diagnostics.

Well I brought it home, took it down my sloped concrete driveway, put it in 4wd & tried backing up the hill, giving it a little gas & the rear wheel broke loose but nothing in the front. I tried taking the 4wd in & out a few times with the same results. Not wanting to break anything, I went looking for a spot where i could try the 4wd safer & found a loose gravel road.. I put it in 4wd & rode along for almost 2 miles & on several attempts.. all that would spin was the rear wheel. I also had it in 4wd on pavement & made a slow sharp turn to see if the front end would hop like it does in 4wd.. nothing..

I have never had any dealings with the front axle other than changing brakes & rotors so I really don't know how everything works other than a general understanding of a drive shaft from the transfer case to the front axle, etc.. I do know I never had a problem with my 4wd until they changed my passenger side ball joints. What is in there that the could have screwed up, broke or put together wrong that is making my 4wd not work? I have to take it back to them after lunch ( 1-1/2 hours)& take the mechanic for a ride & want some ammo for maybe getting my $$$ back & not getting screwed out of it for something that they did originally

Thanks in advance

 

i would go back and take the SM for a ride and show him the 4x4 is not working to see what he says since he said everything checked out ok and then charged you for the diagnostic. other than that maybe its time for you to make the switch to warn hubs.......

 

Yeah, I have to go back there in about an hour. I've looked over a few other threads & can't find anything. I am just curious if its possible they put something together wrong & thats whats causing the problem. I had absolutely no problems with my 4wd prior to them doing my ball joints & used it quite often last winter.

 

Have you tried moving the hub from auto to manual and see if you get any different results? They said vacuum checked out, but how do the vents and defroster respond when running heat?

 

x2 on the switching it manually. there is a possibility they could have damaged a seal in the auto hub somehow thats not allowing the vacuum to seal properly and engage inside the auto hub. i had this problem in one mine that i rebuild (was my fault). Do you know anybody that you could swap hubs with and see if they work?

 

Inside the hub in the back there is a small plate that goes on the axle (looks like a big gray plastic washer). This plate is flat on one side and grooves on the other. If they installed the plate backwards you won't have a vacuum leak, but your hub will NOT engage with the vacuum pulse of the ESOF.

You originally said that they only changed the passenger side, so your driver's side shouldn't be affected, unless there is a vacuum leak. They would have had to remove the vacuum line at the knuckle, which is known to be weak spot over time for cracking and splitting. It's the tubing that goes from the inner wheel well to the knuckle itself (the only other line to the knuckle is the ABS speed sensor that goes through the dust shield), you can't miss it. You can inspect that to make sure it doesn't look damaged.

Just a couple of ideas to think about. I hope you get it fixed and it's their fault and pick up the tab!

 

I might have missed something, but 4 low doesn't work with SOTF, correct? Thought it was only 4high. Selecting 4 low, then locking the hubs was the only way of engaging 4 low (or so I thought).

 

4 low works when you switch it to 4L when in neutral, it is recommended to lock the hubs for hard use regaurdless i believe.. i've never had to lock my hubs for 4H or 4L while my sotf was working.

 

Yep, your correct Kyle. I too havent put myself in a situation where i've had to use 4L, yet. I stand corrected.

 

The only way to get into 4lo is to be stopped, foot on the brake and the tranny in neutral. You'll know it because the transfer case will "clunk" to let you know you're ready to rock crawl...

And the official term for SOTF is actually ESOF (Electronic Shift On the Fly), in case you wanted to do a search on it in the future...

 

I took it back yesterday & pulled it into the service check in bay & the SM called over the mechanic who worked on it. He popped the hood, turned the key on & did some wiggling around the vacuum pump. I didn't realize it but he also flipped the ESOF switch to 4H. He then said lets go for a test, it seemed like the hubs were in. Pulling out of the bay, I had to make a hard right turn & immediately knew it was in because the front wheels were grabbing & wanting to jump on the asphalt. I took it in & out 3 times & it worked every time. I told him everything I did the day before & that I couldn't get it to engage & he said there must be a small vacuum leak somewhere & my vacuum pump seemed tobe running longer than it should (30 seconds at least) but he was working on another truck & couldn't get it in today & i'd have to bring it back the next day.

When I left the dealer, I was pissed that the damn thing was now working & no matter what I did the day before, I couldn't get it to engage. I took it to the same back road I was on the day before to try it out in loose gravel. I drove about 6-7 miles to get there & when I did get there, I tried the 4wd & once again.. nothing.. just the rear wheel spinning.. I tried taking it in & out a few times.. same result. I went down the road to a level spot where I could pull over, got out & locked in the hubs manually. The passengers side went in very easy but the drivers side was a bitch to turn. When I went back to try it again, this time it was engaging. I got out & disengaged the hubs & once again it wouldn't work in ESOF mode. When I got out to manually engage the hubs a 2nd time I couldn't turn the drivers side hub back in no matter how hard I tried. I tried pulling it forward & back a few times but I ended up giving up. I was able to get it in when i got home, but it was still stiff enough I had to use a pair of pliers to grip it so I could turn it & then om my concrete driveway, it seemed to be engaged.

The question about the heat & a/c controls does bring up something else.. I actually made a comment in a post yesterday about a faint beeping under the dash (and I also told the mechanic too)

I had a similar problem a few weeks ago. While driving you couldn't really hear it, but when we came to a red light you could hear the beep. Later that night I went out to my truck & a clicking noise was coming from the dash in the area below the radio. The truck was off, no keys in the ignition.. It was a fast erratic clicking, sounded pretty much like one of the timers in a kids game. I put the key in, started the truck, shut it off & the clicking was still there. I tried feeling around to see if i could feel something vibrating, ended up taking the little panel off below the ash tray, sticking my hand up in the dash & found it was coming from the area of my climate controls. The main control was in the off position, I started twisting ***** & when I turned the main one from off to another spot it quit !!! To this day I haven't heard the beeping or the clicking again & have no idea what was happening...