dhodges45

Ok, I've posted on this subject before but I'll go over what I have tried so far. To start with the the truck is a 2005 F-150 King Ranch. When you turn the switch on the dash the light for 4W Hi comes on but no pull from the front end. 4W Lo drops the gear ratio but no pull up front. With the truck running and out of 4wd the front axles turn and the front drive shaft will turn by hand. When in 2wd neither turn when driving the truck fwd or in reverse. If you lock in the front axles won't turn by hand nor the fwd drive shaft. I ordered the IWE solenoid because it was cheap and it will go on tomorrow but given the above info I don't think thats the prob. The vacuum system seems to be working since the axles lock in. If I lock into 4w Hi on a dirt road and spin the back tires there is a rattling noise under the truck. It leads me to believe there is something in the transfer case thats broken. The motor on the transfer case makes a clicking noise when the switch is turned but I haven't taken it off yet to see if there is anything obvious going on with it... I have a bad feeling this is going to be expensive because I don't have the tools to drop the transfer case by myself. Anyone have the same problem? The truck only has 91,000 miles on it and never really taken "offroad". I only use the 4wd when pulling my boat out of the water or towing a trailer in the pasture and not getting traction in wet grass. I don't beat the truck up so I am kind of at a loss here. So what are you guys take on this?

Darby

Bennyv83

Sousa like you IWE's aren't engaging. Try the solenoid. If that doesn't do it then get a vacuum gauge and check at the wheel hubs.
I'll bet you good money that transfer case is fine.

lariatboy

With the troubleshooting you've done so far, the only thing left is the IWE solenoid or shredded IWE's.

dhodges45

The solenoid will be here at 8am so we'll see then. I sure hope that's it. It's definitely the cheapest solution...

techrep

iTrader: (1)

(The vacuum system seems to be working since the axles lock in. ) to lock your hubs this system removes the Vacuum (vents it) Vacuum keeps the hubs un-locked. sounds like something in your T-case...

dhodges45

TechRep-That's exactly what I am afraid of. Like I said, when I click into 4WD the forward axles lock in. At least I can't turn them by hand anymore... The when I take it out of 4WD they turn freely. That's with the truck running. When its off the vacuum bleeds down and you can't turn them anymore. Just seems like everything is pointing towards the Tcase. I'll let you know in about 2 hours...

black06

Just got my 06s fix both iwe were stripped n drivers side hub too , also had some broken vacuum lines... Wasn't a cheap fix but I have 4wd now!

dhodges45

Well it wasn't the solenoid. I put the new one on and it actually didn't work. After starting up the truck and trying the 4wd no dice. Then I tried to take it out of 4wd and the damn thing started grinding because the hubs wouldn't completely disengage. I put the old solenoid back on and it disengaged fine. Just for the hell of it I took the motor off of the transfer case in the hopes that it might be something there but it looks fine and moves with the switch. Guess its time to fork out some cash and crack the Tcase open. One thing though. When all this was transpiring I was tracing the vacuum lines and the one leading from the solenoid to the right hub has another small tube about a foot and an half down that isn't hooked up to anything. It doesn't look like it has anywhere to be attached and from the looks of it it hasn't been attached to anything in a while. The 4wd worked about 3 weeks ago too so this is a recent development. Any ideas what that tube is for?

av8roc

The tube with nothing attached is a vent tube, its normal. Each actuator has a vent tube that vents to the engine bay.

Rather than blindly throw parts at it trouble-shoot the system. You could have easily tested the solenoid by checking for vacuum just downstream of solenoid in 2wd (should see pressure) vs 4wd (no pressure).

Check that the actuators themselves hold a vacuum. If not seals are bad and a bad seal creates a vacuum leak in the system. Also with vacuum lines at actuators detached run the truck in 2WD and verify vacuum pressure from the larger diameter hose. (should see about 20-22psi). If not find the leak in the system.

Here is a fantastic write up someone did on trouble shooting the IWE system:

http://www.f150online.com/forums/art...then-some.html

dhodges45

av8oc-If you read the entire thread you will see that I had pretty much isolated the problem to the transfer case to begin with. The reason I put the solenoid on was simply because most of the threads I have read said that the new part came with a water shield on it that could prevent later problems. I don't have a vacuum gage so I have no way of testing the exact pressure but I can tell that the hubs are engaging and disengaging. My problem is in the Tcase. I don't know what has failed in there but that is a problem I can't tackle in my garage. I have a decent shop but I don't have the time or patience to drop the transfer case and frankly wouldn't feel comfortable doing that kind of work anyway. In any case the solenoid that I ordered and installed was defective and I took it back and got a refund so no big deal there. I'm lucky to have a parts guy at the local store that I have known since I was about 6 who doesn't question me if I bring something back. He knows I'm not using the parts to trouble shoot and the take them back if thats not the problem, the part actually was defective. I guess I will be calling my mechanic today I suppose.