So I have done a bunch of trouble shooting on my 04' F150. I put the truck in the air started it. Placed it in drive, 2h. The front driveshaft did not turn. When I placed it in 4h it started to turn. This ruled out the T-case motor.

With the truck in drive and in 4h the front driver's side tire would turn very slowly, and could be held in place. The passanger side didn't turn at all. This tells me the differential is an open diff. not limited slip or locked.

With the truck started and in park. I hand spin the driver's side front tire and it does not turn axle shaft. This tells me that the vacuum is properly disengaging the hub. Turn the truck off, releasing the vacuum to the hubs and the axle shaft begins to turn telling me that the hub will lock in.

On the Passanger side with the truck turned off I spin the tire and the axle shaft does not turn. So... the hub has not locked like it should when vacuum is not present. I start the truck and verify that there is vacuum, spin the tire and the axle shaft still does not turn.

I have concluded that the passenger side hub must be frozen in the unlocked position.

Does anyone know if this is an relativly easy thing to replace? Has anyone come across a write up on it? Are the hubs available through online parts houses or just from the dealer?

Thanks,
Corbin

 

Raise and support the front wheels off the ground. With the truck in Park engine running t-case in 2Hi the front half shafts should not turn when you spin the front wheel by hand. With the truck in Park engine running t-case in 4Hi the front half shafts should turn. The default position with a vacuum leak is hubs engaged. So if in 4x4 the half shafts do not turn release the vacuum by disconnecting the vacuum line to the hub and see if the half shaft turns. If it does not turn the hub is stuck in the disengaged position. If the half shaft always turns the vacuum source has a leak or the hub is stuck in the engaged position. The vacuum system has been known to allow water to be introduced into the hubs and solenoids causing havoc with the system.

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So is it difficult to replace a hub? I am fairly decent at turning a wrench. I think I could handle it as long as there isn't any special tools involved

 

The good news is that you do not need to replace the Hub. The halfshaft slides into the Integrated Wheel End (IWE). You remove the halfshaft and remove the IWE from the halfshaft. 3 bolts hold the IWE to the knuckle. A good shop manual will have the procedure.




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search "IWE" lots of good posts. The one by TN-F150 is great. somewhere in that thread some one posts that you can slip out the drive shaft w/o touching the controll arms. Claims to be able to r+r an IWE in 45 min/side.