Hi guys, so I have recently noticed that when I go to engage four-wheel-drive in deep snow or mud that even after letting it engage for a few seconds and then begin to drive I'm still getting a loud thump from directly under me some times 1 -3 of them am I not letting it engage enough ? I mean is it not suppose to be on the fly ? So far nor the locker or 4hi seems to be on the fly . Has anyone else's truck done this

 

My '11 clunks when I engage 4wd. In South Mississippi we usually engage to go through a mud hole. For me that is seldom. So I asked my brother n law if his '13 clunked and he said yes. So I would assume that the clunk is a norm with the F150 4x4. I'm not worried about it.

 

I have a '13 f250 & f150 and both clunk once in awhile or take there time engaging. I had a Chevy work truck before and it NEVER did this. Makes me mad that ford couldn't do the same

 

Ya it was scaring me was kinda embarrassing as it is noticeable outside does any one have and tricks to help it engage quick I kind of keep wheels straight , light on the gas , and some times reverse then fwd even that doesn't allways work

 

Mine used to clunk, even when driving 40km/h and putting it into 4hi without accellerating after would clunk. But after enough uses it has seemed to stop clunking, and yes it is still engaging. So maybe over time it stops.

 

A thunk is always heard when the IWE hubs lock in when engaging 4x4, always try to engage it below 35mph and without tires spinning or you may hear a clunk with grinding too, and grinding leads to breaking things.
Our trucks need to be rolling forward about 5-10 ft before the hubs lock in and are ready to go, it's normal operation

 

Clucking while engaging is normal. This happens on most 4wd and it has on everyone I've owned.

As to why some are quieter than others it depends.

You can be sitting still and engage and it still doesn't mean it's engaged, the cluck you hear is when you start moving and the transfer case finally meshes with the other gears and slips into place.

Then the hubs are another story as they also need to be moving to engage.

So if you're engaging 4wd sitting still, you will hear thugs as the actuators try to engage but when you get moving you will hear another series of things when they actually engage.

 

^^^x2

 

my 11 does it. It didn't before. This last 2 snowfalls i had to use 4wd even with just a coating as the stock hancooks suck *** in the snow. But the clunk is way to loud even if just going 10mph. My 97 and 98 f150's never made a peep when switching with the shift on the fly switch. Could be doing 40mph and you would here a slight click then its in 4x4.

 

I used my truck in 4x4 the first time yesterday and good lord talking about a clunk. I thought the hammer gremlin was under the truck beating the **** out of it. When I went from 2h to 4l I was stopped. I placed the truck in 4x4 and set it back to drive and then it was like bam. Scared the **** out of my son, he thought I ran over his atv.. he he.