so my 05 5.4 has been running doing something very different lately it has started making this humming noise when I am driving and it only comes from the front end. the way I would describe it is having a set of huge mud tires on the front that hum away and once and a while it will do the grinding noise where the hubs are trying to engage but if I put it in 4 the grinding goes away the humming does not. I have already replaced my IWE solenoid. any help would be greatly appreciated

 

I actually figured out that the passenger side hub won't unlock it is just stayed locked I pulled the vacuum line off and there is vacuum to the hub how do you tell if there's enough

 

I just had a new transmission put in my truck, and while it was there i told them to replace my drivers side hub because it would engage on its own and has to be all rounded off. Instead of doing that, they put a new transfer case motor in and gave me my truck back. I never had the noise or vibration before they did the work, but now i have the exact same noise that you are describing. I took it back and went for a ride with a tech, and he thought that it was the hub also. So it goes back in tomorrow and i will be making sure that they replace that hub this time.
I'm taking full advantage of my warranty, just saved over $2500 on the last repairs. This truck will damn sure be perfect before i will call their repairs complete.

 

I had the same exact noise like wom wom wom wom going down the road from my front left. So i jacked up the truck and wiggled that tire bottom to top and there was play. Replaced the hub and no more noise. Bearings were just worn out at 102k and added wear prob from 33-12.5 tires lol

 

102k i can understand, but i only have 40,000 on mine.

 

yah mines got 102,00 and no warranty :'( but I have done a lot of searching on line and it sounds like it is the IWE actuator because there is vacuum to the hubs but it is not releasing I am thinking about tearing it apart to find out what kind of shape the actuator is in

 

I went out and messed with the hub some more and I disconnected the vacuum line then hooked it back up and hit the IWE a little and was able to get the hub to unlock to the point where there was clicking then I was able to get it to fully unlock I just don't know how long this will last and I don't want to burn anything up any ideas.

 

Did you figure anything out? I went to pick my truck up from the dealer for the 3rd time last night. They replaced the passenger side hub/bearing, not sure why as the noise is clearly coming from the drivers side. Today they are doing that one.
Getting extremely frustrated with the service dept. at my dealer. Went for another ride with a tech and after he could clearly hear it, he first blames it in my tires, which it definately is not. Then asks me all pissed off, "well, what to you want to do"? I said that i am not taking my truck home until it is fixed, because it doesn't make any sense to me to take my truck home in worse shape than it was when i brought it in there. He gets pissed, whips my keys on the counter and walks away. Good thing i did not fill out the customer survey yet.
I can kind of understand their frustration, but they are not the ones who have not had their truck for over a month. If its not fixed today i think i am going to just take it to my mechanic, and mail them the bill.

 

Here is how you determine if its your IWE Actuators. Jack your truck up and place on jackstands. Unhook the actuator from the vacume lines. Get a handheld vacume pump and a piece of fuel line. Place one end of the fuel line on the pump and the other on the big nipple on the actuator. Pump it to about 15 lbs. See if the actuator unlocks and the wheel spins freely. If you loose vacume quickly, then you have a bad actuator. You can rent the handheld vacume with guage at your local parts store loan a tool program. Also make sure that other Actuator is plugged in on the other wheel. Check the vacume on both actuators FIRST. If those test out fine, Then follow your lines up to the check valve, there should be two in line. When you remove these, you should be able to blow through one end and not the other. If you can blow through both ports, then replace the check valve. If these test out good, there is a reservoir behind the battery, pull this and check for any leaks, cracks, ect. Also I reccommend upgrading your Solenoid if you have the old school one that does not have the protective rain cover over it. I had to go through this headache this past weekend and ended up replacing a CV axle, Actuator, and a Hub Assembly. But that is only because I ran 50 up a driveway that looked like it had been hit with IEDs. LOL.

 

Have you replaced your IWE solenoid yet ??