I'm new to the F150 world, having driven Grand Cherokees for the past 20+ years. I'm driving a 2013 super crew 4x4, new(ish) to me, I've only had it 5 months. a few days ago, it started a low pitched squeal from the front end when making a low speed hard left turn. The sound does not happen when driving straight or when turning right, and is only there when making a hard left turn at low speed, below about 15mph. I think I know what the issue is (2 of them actually), but could use some feedback from the hive-mind.

To troubleshoot the issue, I jacked the front end up, one side at a time, and gave the wheel a good hard shake in all directions, suspecting a bad wheel hub. Both hubs are tight, zero wiggle, and they turn smoothly. When I was turning the driver side wheel, I heard the clack sound of the pinion gear engaging the driveshaft and the driveshaft was turning. I checked the passenger side and same thing happened. Now, my understanding is that these trucks have vacuum controlled hubs and should disengage in 2wd mode. Since the driveshaft turns when either front wheel is spun, this tells me that both hubs were still engaged. I think that the odds of both wheel hubs getting stuck at the same time is probably fairly low, I suspect that the valve that controls the hubs is the culprit there.

The issue started Friday. It dawned on me that I put it in 4wd on Thursday night to run the front axle and make sure everythig was lubricated, I do this every so often, a haf mile or so, just enough to keep everything lubed on the front end. After I did my diagnostic, I shifted in & out of 4WD a few times while stationary, and I think it has disengaged the hubs (I haven't had time to jack it back up to confirm yet) since the squeal has not happened since I did that. This leads me to believe that the hubs will disengage some of the time.

problem #1 - the front hubs are not disengaging properly while in 2wd mode. I believe the valve that controls this is located on the drivers side of the vacuum booster. How can I troubleshoot the issue with the hubs not disengaging properly?

Problem #2 - the squeal, since it ony occurs while making a hard turn at low speed, I suspect a bad CV joint. If I can get the hubs to disengage, the CV joints will be disconnected from the wheels, and I don't need to rush to get them replaced since I rarely use 4wd.

Thoughts?

 

They are called IWE, if you want to search for the key term. We've had countless threads on this topic, I won't attempt to repeat everything already said. Some people have had success just replacing the valve, but often times the noise means the IWE got damaged.

But one point....Vacuum disengages the IWEs, so when vacuum is off, they are engaged. (like when the truck is off) Noise usually happens because of failure to full disengage to 2WD. IWEs are constantly going in and out of 2WD/4WD modes.

 

https://www.f150online.com/forums/ar...then-some.html

 

Thakns, this matches what I knew already more or less. The system seems to be able to shift, it's in 2wd now. The squealing sound is also gone, which seems to confirm my cv joint theory.

 

Hi there,

I am having the same issue, but my IWE are working and the truck switches from 2wd to 4wd no problems.

My truck is squeeling only when i turn left at about 15-20km/hr. It doesnt make a noise turning right or going straight or in reverse. I just replaced the upper control arms, the outer tie rod ends, the lower ball joints and the sway bar bushing and the noise didn't change. I ordered new sway bar end links as well...pretty sure it's not these but thought I would change them as all the other components have been changed. I sprayed all the rubber in the suspension with WD40 Silicone spray today and no change. I changed my hubs 2+ years ago and they are quiet as can be.....I just wanted to see what you replaced to get rid of the noise?

I am just wondering what was causing your truck squeals? And what did you replace to get rid of the noise..IWE?
I am losing my patience with this truck.....every Nov/Dec something starts going wrong with the truck. 3 years ago, the radiator T cracked, than 2 yrs ago the hubs, last year my head gasket went, and now this squeeling this year.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you A.

sorry the truck is a 2013 FX4 Super Crew Cab 5.0 with 169,000Km's

 

Hope you have a swivel head 18mm box end wrench for those links, ratcheting preferably. The bottom side is stupidly buried in the LCA.

Is it an electronic motor whine? That's what controls the steering. The EPAS rack is expensive, if that's it your are going to hate that cost. Try cleaning and lubricating the 2 steering shaft joints, might help.

 

Hi, yes i have a swivel 18mm for the links.

I watched over a dozen videos on youTube today of a bad EPAS on the f150. My noise ounds nothing like the bad motor noise. I'm actually thinking that the noise is coming from the swivel joint in the rubber protector on the passenger side inner tie rod. There was a video i watched and it sounded similar. Im just going lubricate and grease the hell out of it and re tighten the inner boot style cover. While im at it i will clean amd lubricare the 2 shaft joints. Now just gotta wait for the weather to clear up.....winter here in Vancouver BC is rain allll day!

Thank you for the response

 

I actually haven't resolved it yet. It only does it once in a while, always when turning left. It did it the other day, hadn't done it in a few months.