Groaning in 4 wheel drive

I have a post up on the org also so anywho that has seen it over there thanks.

Ok hears the break down. When I engage 4 low or high and drive the truck in forward or reverse I get a groaning from the frontish. I mean its a serious groan. Now if I have it in 2 wheel and manual lock the hubs it doesn't do it at all.

Now when it first started doing it I was getting a humming noise also in 2 wheel normal driving and the hubs were also frozen so I could not manual lock them. I took it in three times the first time they said they road tested and found nothing. Second time the same thing. Finally on the third time they replaced the hubs and it fixed the humming I was getting so I assummed the wheel bearing was what was bad. Not really thinking anything of it I though it was all set. Today I used the 4 wheel drive and what happens, the noise it was making when 4x4 was engaged is still there and as loud as ever. Now all three times they said they road tested and were unable to confirm but I think that was not the case. It is LOUD and it does it all the time. No matter what.

At this point my warranty is out by 100 miles. I would like to hear from some techs how ford handles this. With Honda and Acura, which I worked at for 10 years combined, if there where complaints previous to the warranty expire they would honor the complaint if it the problem was found after the the warranty had expired.

I will be calling them tomorrow. Hopefully they can find the problem and cover it under the warranty from the previous complaints.

Well I will be bringing it in in the A.M. MY adviser told me to bring it back and take my mechanic for a ride with me. We'll see what happens.


Has anyone had issues with the front differential on these.


How does the system work with these things. Front axles are always spinning correct? The front drive shaft is free during 2WD operation.

Someone break this down for me. I am half stupid on this.

If the hubs are unlocked and the transfer case is in 2wd nothing turns up front, not even the driveshaft going to the front axle.

Course Ive seen some that had parasitic drag from the transfer case that would sometimes turn the front driveshaft at times even in 2wd.

If the hubs are unlocked and the transfer case is in 2wd nothing turns up front, not even the driveshaft going to the front axle.

Course Ive seen some that had parasitic drag from the transfer case that would sometimes turn the front driveshaft at times even in 2wd.

OK. That's what I had been thinking but I wasn't sure with the Vaculock hubs on these things. I am used to having a set up like chevy and dodge with just the transfer case and no hubs to mess with.

One thing to do from time to time is to manually lock and unlock each hub. They can get out of sync where ones locked and ones unlocked even when you have it in 2wd. Manually locking and unlocking them fixes that.

One thing to do from time to time is to manually lock and unlock each hub. They can get out of sync where ones locked and ones unlocked even when you have it in 2wd. Manually locking and unlocking them fixes that.


just lock and unlock them without moving the truck?

Yep.

Mine does this also with the hubs in auto and with em in lock. I only have 47K on a 2001 truck.

Well I picked it up today from the dealer and it ended up being a wheel bearing. Now 4WD operation is pretty quiet. Normal operational noises.

Still not sure how it only did it in 4WD if it was a wheel bearing.