Well I finally got time to replace the IWE. I will start off with yes I had the growling noise on the drivers side when breaking. So I pulled the solenoid connector to the vacuum system and that noise stopped. But when turning left I would heard a slight gear chattering noise but this was not every time. Oh I did replace the check valve first also but that was a waist of time.

There is alot of guessing and speculation in here so take it with a grain of salt when reading any forum. I read and was told several times it was the hub bearings. Even though when I pull the vacuum solenoid connector the noise stopped. It's not the hub bearings in my case...

So yesterday morning I decide to tackle this job and at lease get one side done. Will do the other side next week. Also I ordered two OEM FORD IWE's from Ford Parts Prime a couple weeks ago and they only sent one. I am still today waiting for them to figure out if they are scamming me or what. Well I called my CC and told them the story and sent pics and all the back forth emails and they said they wanted to dispute half of the order. I said ok.

So with the help from the wife and my trusty Milwaukee M18 power tools I went at it. Now I'm just doing this at home in out three car garage. I watched a million you tube vids and it looked pretty straight fwd and everyone had there different technique. You don't need to remove the brake caliber unless you just want to add more work to the job. I would highly suggest having an extra jack for under the lower control arm because the strut puts alot of force and it just helps to get it back up when putting things back together. I also highly recommend unplugging the ABS sensor wire and take it completely out from the engine area. It gives you alot more play room and no need to break other things while you are fixing your truck.

The job went well probably took a couple of hours but I took breaks. I'm over 50 and not gonna try to kill myself. LOL

Here are some pics I took more but These will show you what's going on. I will also include some pics of the old IWE and you can see the rubber from the oring all shredded up. Also the strength of the spring in the IWE is much much weaker than the new one.

Yes this fixed all the issues, but I will still replace the other side soon. I ended up just buying another one because Ford Parts Prime decided to screw me. I would not give them a dime of your money.

Well enough jabbering and here are the pics.

 

Great write up, excellent photos. Sorry they screwed up the process, it is a lot easier to do both rather than set up and do one side one day and the other later.

 

What Grease did you use?

 

I used the Motorcraft XG-11 High Temp 4X4 Front Axle and Wheel Bearing Grease 14 oz. Got it on eBay they were the cheapest.

 

Yea for me I would just rather do one side at a time. The other side will go alot faster of course. After you have done something you learn from it.

I was gonna just be lazy and take it down the street to an auto shop I use once in a while but I wanted to do it myself and I'm sure I saved a few hundred... Most places charge 75 to 100 an hr.

 

Great write up and pics

 

See the bevels on the hub splines, they are not supposed to be bevels but supposed to be flat line the splines on the ends of the axels.
So your hub teeth are worn away, but not as bad as mine were where they would not lock into the hub at all when in 4wd. In addition to the check valve which you should have put in a blue/white one rather than an older black/white one, there is a TCCM flash update for 2018 made in like Oct and earlier, which delays the movement of the IWE into 2wd mode until 1/2 mile of driving from engine start to give the vacuum cannister time to build up a good amount of vacuum. Now if you have a truck with the 4A drive mode that brings in a whole different level of TSB recommended changes.

 

Nice job.

I have a set of IWE lines still in packaging I need to install too. You may want to consider changing.thosr as well down the road as they do crack.

 

you have a lift on it ,? right? probably 6". looks like serious axle angle.

 

No 2" Auto Spring lift Front and Rear. Also 1 1/4" Fred Goeske Wheel Spacers.