60DRB

..."But first I am going to give it a good combing over and make sure all my lines are good and see what the vacuum gauge has to say."

^Do that!

Sounds most like a vacuum problem. Maybe coupled with intermittant solenoid malfunction. Both are easier and much cheaper than replacing the IWEs.

Be careful when clearing lines if using compressed air. High pressure may damage lines and/or check valves.

lyricspap

this is just a guess, but what i have read about these things sounds like your solenoid may have stuck open and when you gunned the engine enough it dropped the vacumn enough to engage the hubs

homer

Like VTX1800N1 said though, read the post first. My passenger side was gone and caused my drivers side to make the grinding noise while climbing hills (low vacuum). So it can be deceiving... I had to vacuum test my hubs individually to ensure that 100%. In your case, icing up or even the solenoid going bad could cause that.

Dusterdude72

Thanks again guys, I havent yet had a chance to check it out ( been shoveling snow and it was -12 outside today and on top of it I am having water issues with my house. so Maybe this weekend Ill get a chance to look at the truck.

BUT, I have been driving the truck and it has yet to give me any issues since. So I am guessing it likely iced up somewhere and caused the issue. But I am going to check everything as mentioned previously just to be sure and I will go ahead and clear the lines out while I am at it.

Ill keep you guys up to date.

Dusterdude72

Well guys,

here in lower MI we just got pounded with about 19" of snow!.

I swept my truck off and hopped in and took off and 4x4 was working good. Went to the gas station about 3 miles away and got gas. took off and had lost 4x4 function again. Decided I would head back and put it in the garage to take a look at it as 4x4 is a must here right now. (almost got stuck a couple times...luckily my bed was loaded down with snow from all the snow that has fallen so after a few back and forth stabs I managed to get myself free again).

ANYHOW....cranked the wheel and shined a flashlight at the passenger side hub and found that one of the clips that holds the vacuum line had popped off and allowed the vacuum line to work its way into a loop after a period of time and eventually must have popped off the hub when I turned the wheel at some point.

At this point I was thinking to myself (cool....I found the problem and its an easy fix!). So I blew out the vacuum ports on the hub and the vacuum lines (didn't blow direct air pressure into lines so I wouldn't damage the check valves or vacuum canister). hooked it all back up and gave it a try. STILL NO 4x4!.

SOOOOO I started brain storming.....and I didnt have a vacuum pump on hand to check the hubs for operation BUT I got to thinking about it and I decided to leave it running and put it in 2 wheel drive. Then pull the vacuum line off at the hub. I felt the end of the line and it was pulling vacuum as it should.

I THEN put it in 4x4 high. At which point it SHOULD kill off the vacuum going to the hub which would in turn engage the hub. HOWEVER it was still pulling vacuum!.

SO I tried tapping on the solenoid with a screw driver to see if I could free it up, I tried unplugging and re plugging in the vacuum lines to see if I could get it to free up...but no dice.

I ended up disconnecting the main vacuum feed that goes to the solenoid and plugging the line. And 4x4 is working flawlessly now!.

So I think what happened originally was that the passenger side vacuum line popped off . which is when the issue first came about (which would explain why I heard the grinding on the drivers side like someone else had mentioned being that the passenger side hub was engaged and the drivers side was not.

And I think it managed to suck some snow in to the line which caused the issue I had with it today which likely froze up the solenoid.

In summary I believe that a new solenoid should fix the issue which I am fine with being that it is a fairly cheap repair and an easy repair.

also on a side note ....the solenoid on my truck is the style with the rain hood on it . I believe my truck is a late 05 so they must have already discovered the issue by the point that my truck was manufactured.

I just wanted to update the thread on my findings so anyone else that runs acrossed a similar issue might find some info they could use.

I will update the thread again after I purchase and install a new solenoid.

sorry for the long post.

80575

Needless to say I had a similar situation happen to me recently. I heard grinding at all speeds while driving. My truck is lifted so I can't fit it in my garage, nor do I have a jack. I was finally able to get it to the dealership that is thankfully 2 miles from my house. After an hour or two, they gave me a call and told me that my wheel bearing had practically exploded. Make sure you double check your hubs/wheel bearings. Mine probably went the way they did due to the offset on my wheels and my high mileage.

MDJ1993

On my 2002 Dodge ram 1500, it would grind when I would put in 4x4. Took of the CV axle and the little shaft that stuck out that splines into the CV had all the splines wore off. That was the cause of my grinding but I don't think these Fords are like that are they? I know the CV's bolt on but what about going into the front axle housing

Dusterdude72

Like I said in the last post guys, I have narrowed it down to the solenoid. I am familiar with a bad wheel bearing sound and the grinding noise I was describing was not the same as that and it happened only under certain rpms when the vacuum would drop enough to try and engage the hub. The grinding noise is gone (was cause by one hub being engaged and the otherone disengaged but trying to engage due to the vacuum issue which was making the grinding noise. Luckily I caught it soon enough and noticed the noise before it caused any major damage. But After plowing through almost 2 foot deep snow (went down a mile long stretch of 3 foot deep snow drifts that was above my headlights) I can confirm the mechanical end of my 4x4 is working flawlessly and without any odd noises.

also forgot to mention my truck has a 2.5" leveling kit up front.

I was only able to nose the front of my truck into the garage. The roof was just shy of clearing to get the entire truck in lol.