johnday in BFE

iTrader: (1)

Joe, are you able to do that now? I'll wait by the 'puter if you can.

Shaw

I have done the diagnosis as mentioned in the procedure. Ultimately I found a bad Iwe. When I replaced it, it still doesn't disengage with a vacuum pump directly on Iwe. I pulled the hub and tested it so I could watch it. The IWE doesn't disengage, but if you manually disengage the collar by pressing it back, it takes no effort to slide it to the disengaged position. It also holds vacuum.

Do I have a faulty new IWE???

joeboy4

Thanks to all for the advice. Ended up replacing both IWE s check valve and solenoid.

Blue2016XL

If I am reading what you said correctly, when you manually apply vacuum at the hub (no line in-between) it does not disengage? It holds vacuum though?

There are two lines going to the IWE hub. One is used to disengage the hub and the other releases the pressure to engage the hub. Are you sure you hooked up to the correct one? I believe the one that is used to disengage the hub is the larger of the two.

skiman747

I have a 2004 that made a grinding sound while driving in 2 wheel that came from the passenger side. I replaced the IWE Solenoid and fixed my noise problem. I thought all was good until I needed 4 wheel and the front wheels did not engage. I could hear a noise again from the passenger side wheel. Got it home and jacked up the passenger side and spun the wheel. It spins and the half shafts spins also but is making a noise from the HUB area. I started the truck and the half shaft didn't spin and no noise. Put in 4x4 and the wheel spins with the half shaft with making the noise. Jacked up the drivers side and when in 4x4 the wheel spun and the half shaft and again could hear the noise on the passenger side. I am thinking that the gears on the hub or actuator striped while it was driven before the solenoid was replaced. Does this make sense with what it is doing?

techrep

iTrader: (1)

VTX1800N1

^This.

CountyMounty

If you dont already have a vacuum pump even the cheapo one from Harbor Freight (or the similar ones on amazon) will work fine for this. I just did this yesterday after replacing both lower ball joints. I used my pump to check both sides after I put it back together. You need to make sure you have the right size hose to fit tightly over the larger nozzle on the IWE and make sure there is a good tight seal with that hose and then pump it up and wait a few minutes and make sure it holds the vacuum. You can do this in just a few minutes without removing anything but the vacuum line at the IWE. You may be on the right track with the thinking that the gears wore from driving with the problem before. If your lucky it will be just the IWE gears and not the hub as that is more expensive. I think the IWE are softer and tend to be the ones that wear the worst. If your vacuum problem was in fact the solenoid that you already replaced it's possible you might still get good vacuum at both IWE's but still have the stripped gears from the driving with vacuum issues before but I would definitely start with a vacuum pump. If you find a vacuum problem you'll no for sure what IWE to replace, if not take apart the passenger side and inspect the gears.

techrep

iTrader: (1)

brad0072

Hopefully someone can help me out. I know this is a very old thread. I have an ‘05 lariat 4x4 and like many I started experiencing the grinding from the iwe’s. Well now my front hubs will not disengage so something gave up the ghost. So far I’ve tested the actuators and they’re holding vacuum. I’ve replaced the solenoid, replaced check valves, and vacuum lines. Everything is checking out. Any suggestions for what to try next?