My 1994 F-150 has the automatic transmission and the 5.8 engine. We just received our first significant snowfall and I tried to put it into 4-wheel drive last week. The lever on the floor won't move up or down. I've tried putting the truck in park and in neutral and I've tried backing up, pulling forward and backing up again without any success.

The transmission seems to shift just fine in 2-wheel drive, so I'm assuming the transmission is OK and I can get it up to speed on the freeway. This is the first time I've tried to use 4-wheel drive since last winter. (I know, I should put it into 4-wheel drive every month or so to keep things working right. I forgot. Old age I guess. Me and the truck.)

Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

 

Does your truck have automatic or manual locking hubs? And you mean you're moving the lever forward and backward, right? Just making sure.

 

Try also to lube the linkage underneath truck, they sometimes get hard to shift when not being used sometimes. I tried mine sunday and took me 5 mins to get it in after sitting all year.

 

The hubs lock automatically. I've wondered about lubing the linkage underneath the truck. It's very possible that they've just dried out over the past year. I'll give that a try.

Thanks for your ideas!

 

Could be a problem with the vacuum lines that engage the hubs. There are a few threads here with this same problem and the related suggestions on how to fix.

Good luck!