I bought a '01 f-250 last year and am having a problem that hopefully has an easy fix. Right now I'm basicly stuck in my icey driveway because I cant figure out how to lock my front hubs. I have no switch in the cab (that I know of) and the previous owner replaced the factory tires with larger ones and there is no lock that I can see. There may be a lock behind the cover in the center, but I'm not sure how to remove it.

 

Clockwise is lock, counter is auto or unlock. Forward on the pass side is OK but forward on the drivers side is auto or unlock, depends how you look at it. Just trying to clarify so you're not locked in on 1 side.

 

You have no 4x4 switch or lever in the cab?

The centers most likely pop off like if you where going to change your tire...

 

I do have a stick to shift it into 4X4, but its not engaging. I guess I have to figure out how to pop that cover off to lock it manually

 

If you have a manual transfer case I doubt you have auto hubs which means yes you have to take the cover off to lock in the hubs.

Is there a hole in the middle of the cover

 

They are mickey thompson rims and the cover in the center is solid. I tried banging and prying it off, but it wont budge. I'm gonna give it a try again tomorrow when this blizzard subsides and I can see a little better.

 

Might be a good idea to post a couple close up photos of the rims. Someone should be able to confirm what you have and maybe how to access the hubs.

Rick...

 

Sounds like he may have to remove the wheel and take of the center cap to lock it in, possibly the previous owner wanted it to look good but didn't care about removing them , heck maybe the original owner never used 4WD......


This reminds me of a funny story, a few years ago my brother bought a real nice suburban and the day he bought it he brought in over to show my dad. My dad was looking it over and said to my brother " thought you wanted a 4 wheel drive" my brother said it is... dad says aw no its not... needless to say my brother bought it off an individual and the seller was nice enough to take it back but he had to pay all the fees ,taxes, title...etc to switch it back over to the original owner which was about a $700.00 lesson

 

That's one you can poke at him about for years to come.

Rick...

 

Yeah come to think of it they could be attached to the wheels or held in by them.

Are your lug nuts exposed or covered?

A picture would really help

 

I have Mikey T rims. Yes the center cap is held by the wheel, the wheel must be removed.

 

Some caps snap into the center and others have a lip on them and have to pass through the center bore (hole) from the inside of the wheel.

It sounds like yours are the latter. If you can't pop them out, then you need to take the wheel off and push the center cap out of the center bore.

There are many on-line options for replacements if you know the size of your center hole. From there you can pick the style you want and the length you want. Most major wheel makers also sell their center caps separately and you can get a couple of open caps for the front so you don't have to go through this again. The Ultra wheels I bought have the lipped style that pass through the hole so the only way to get them off is to take the wheel off. I had them special order 2 open caps for the front for the very reason you are going through.

If you want to get a couple of caps, you can also go to your local tire shop and see if they have any lying around. The Ultra caps I had were too long (made me look like a Dodge), so they had a couple in the back they sold to me.

Cost of caps from Ford - I don't even want to know
Cost of used OEM caps on-line - $40 or so
Cost of aftermarket caps - $30 or so
Cost of caps lying around Discount Tire - $10 each

Guess which ones I bought...
Just my .02

 

It's odd they would even make a rim for a 4x4 without an easily removable or open center cap.

You either need to leave the hubs locked on manuals or in auto with esof and hope they hold up for you.
They expect you're going to remove the wheel to switch the hubs? sheesh...

Or am I missing some kind of logical explanation for this closed center cap design?

Rick...

edit:
Sounds like Brians post sums it up pretty well. I guess whom ever installed the center caps on pbucko's Truck just didn't install the correct set on the front..

There's a chance that maybe the hubs on pbucko's Truck are in the off possition.