Hello, I just bought this truck and am having no noticeable problems with it. I did however change the battery connections and upon doing that noticed this broken wire on the firewall. It looks as if it was cut intentionally at some point. I have no idea what the wire is or what it does so I was hoping someone here might be able to help me out as I am recent convert from Chevy to Ford and am a little lost this early in the game.

sorry for the poor quality cell phone pic.

 

Is it a wire or a vacume tube?

 

It is definitely a wire but now that you said that I looked again and there are what appear to be vacuum lines coming from the bottom of the devices the wires go into. Is this something to do with the four wheel drive hub lock system? There is a growl when driving that sounds like 4 wheel drive is engaged

 

Those are the 4WD shift solenoids, they are what engage the front axle. The wires are what control them.

 

So if that wire is broken I may be at least partially engaged? The trucks sounds like it is 4 wheel when I am rolling, you know that low growl sound you get in 4 wheel drive?

 

If the front locking hubs are not getting a vacume signal due to a fault in the control system or a leaking hose they will default to the locked position. in the case of a low vacume do to a leak or obstruction they may only partialy engage causing a grinding noise either way you need to correct it or risk damage to the front axle.

 

I soldered the connection and it seems the growling noise is gone, I will do a vacuum test to confirm but I think it is working correctly now. You guys are great thanks for the Info!!