front axle 4wd prob

[ShortFuse]

passenger side, i can spin the front axle and the auto lock works just fine. On the other hand, on the drivers side the axle coming out of the (I think is) the front differential to the hub doesn't move, thus for the i cant say if it would lock.

I jacked the truck up so all the wheels are off the ground, I then spun the front axle on the passenger side and the hub locks. If I put the truck in 4wd the passenger side again auto locks also.

On the drivers side I can get the hub to lock by turning on the front axle shaft when still in the air, I tried to engage the 4wd again passenger side works fine, but the axle on the drivers side is idle.

So i have the truck off the ground and in 4wd, 3 tires spin, drivers front does nothing. axle on this side does not move. AGAIN, I can turn it by hand and it will lock but still wont spin like all the other tires.

Is this a problem or is this 4wd a one wheel wonder? If not what else could be the problem?

SO...

In4WD

Main drive shaft turns while in gear. Drive shaft out of the front of the transfer case turns while in gear. Front axle to the passenger side turns while in gear. THE ONLY SHAFT NOT TURNING is the front axle towards drivers side.

NEED HELP BAD. If you can shed some light on this please do. If something is broken, PLEASE direct me in some way of what needs to be done to fix it.

This is main mode of transportation and i need to fix this and I need the 4wd working.

THANKS

 

[MrShorty]

Front diff is an open diff (assuming it's still factory), so I don't know that I see anything "wrong" in what you've done. What happens if you put the passenger front wheel on the ground? Will it then drive the driver front wheel?

 

[ShortFuse]

Yes everything is stock. I will try again this time with the front passenger tire on the ground in the next few days. Either way I have no real 4wd power coming from the front which got me starting to look at this. It worked fine during deer hunting, but today in snow it drove like an el camino... with the butt end fish tailing which didn't happen last year in the snow while in 4wd.

If anyone else has input please feel free to poster up, in the mean time I will try the passenger wheel down.

 

[1993fordexploere]

have you tried actually using the 4 wheel drive? this is how i new after doing manual hub conversion, that my 4x4 was working: i took it to some loose gravel( im sure dirt would work) then spun the tires in 2 wheel drive, then tried in 4 wheel drive. if the 4x4 is working you will see a big difference compared to when its in 2 wheel drive

 

[ShortFuse]

Yes the difference is getting out of my drive way when it snows, I know that there is something wrong.

The last time I can actually say it was working correctly was during deer hunting. After we got snow and put it into 4wd I could tell immediately that something was wrong when I wasn't getting any front end traction, thus not working correctly. I went through some motion found in other threads here and came up with what is going on in the first post.

Yes I tried 4wd even with the described problem. the results are no power coming from the front. Something isn't working correctly. I jacked up the rear to see if the truck could pull me and only the passenger side tire works. One of the reasons of asking if it supposed to be a one wheel wonder.

PS:loose gravel is frozen under about 12" inches of snow.

 

[JDraper]

You need to do the test with one front wheel off the ground. Because you have an open front differential, the power will transfer to the wheel with the least resistance, not both wheels. If your rear is also an open differential, then you will only have power to one front wheel and one rear wheel when using 4WD. With the truck jacked up off the ground, you could see exactly what you did and have the system be functioning properly.

It's also possible that one or both of the autohubs are not working properly. I know you said you could get them to engage manually, but they are known to be a weak point and may not be engaging correctly when you drive the truck. If you indeed do have a problem, your symptoms would point towards the hubs.

 

[1993fordexploere]

to check if the auto hubs are out, turn the axles in th housing. if after a full turn or so they should not be able to be turned. if they still turn its ur auto hubs, if they stop then its something previous to the auto hubs.


and another thing is if thats not your problem then start your truck and engage ur 4x4 system and get under it and try to turn your drive shaft if its turning it has something to do with electrical or your transfer case. if it locks your all good anywhere before the transfer case.

GOOD LUCK!!

 

[DeRocha]

Since you indicate the passenger side works fine, then it's hub is good. Swap the passenger hub to the driver's side and redo your test.. If the driver's side now works and the passenger side doesn't then you've found a bad hub.

 

[mshuler009]

I am also encountering this problem....