kybaseball

I have a 2005 Ford F-150 CrewCab 4x4. I was driving today and heard a noise come from the front drive side wheel. I got my son to drive it while I walk beside it and hear a noise that is grinding. I got him to turn the wheel so I could see if any thing looked weird and what I seen was the cv axle was turning the opposite way that the wheel was going. I checked the passenger side and it was turning which ever way the wheel was turning. I am really confused to what is going on any help would be a blessing!! Thanks

lewissa81

It sounds like your passenger side iwe actuator is engaged, and the driver side either isn't engaged, or is stripped out. Since the front is an open differential, when there is no power from the transfer case, one shaft will spin one way and the other will spin opposite.
Follow the steps in this thread to diagnose what's wrong and what needs to be replaced:
https://www.f150forum.com/f72/how-di...m-esof-186872/

kybaseball

When I lock in 4 high everything works just like it should. This only happens when in 2 wheel drive. I can ride down the road in 4high and change it to 2 wheel drive and it never makes the noise until I come to a stop and then it will do it again. I have put a new acutaror on the truck the won behind the battery. Has been working fine up to this point. Also just had the transmission rebuilt don't think that has anything to do with it but who knows with these things.

lewissa81

The iwe actuators are on the steering knuckle. What you replaced behind the battery is the iwe solenoid. The actuator may have ingested moisture from the solenoid and is now rusted in the locked position. That's just a guess though. The thread I linked will help you pinpoint the problem. VTX1800N1 did a great job on this write up.

kybaseball

just one question are the axle's supposed to turn in 2 wheel drive?

lewissa81

No, they're not supposed to. The axles should be disconnected from the hub via the iwe actuators while in 2wd.

kybaseball

Thanks for the help. We got up a vacuum pump today and found out that the iwe is bad and also seen the passenger is going bad to. So next thing is jack it and fix them. If anybody has done this if you don't mind just how hard of a job is it?

kybaseball

Thanks for your help!!

lewissa81

It's not that bad. There are a few threads describing in detail how to do it. I'm waiting for my steaks to cook, so I'll give you a quick run down.
Take off the caliper, caliper bracket, rotor, axle nut, upper ball joint nut, tie rod nut, and hub. Separate the upper ball joint and tie rod. Pull the steering knuckle towards you and you should have room to pull the axle out of iwe actuator. Replace the actuator, then reinstall in reverse.
The first side may take you an hour or two, but the second side will go a lot quicker.

kybaseball

I appericate all the help I can get. It is my sons truck and they wanted 750 to do both sides. Seems crazy so we going to go for it. Also where did you get you iwe at? I have priced them and have find a 50 to 75 dollar swing in them. Thanks again for your help.