Need General 4x4 Information

[cblackb]

Hey All, this may sound elementary but I've never owned a 4 wheel drive vehicle before. Is there any special maintenance that I should be aware of? My truck has the shift on the fly feature..anything special for upkeep or known issues with that? Any special front hub maintenance necessary? Is there an interval for changing the fluid in the transfer case? I don't use 4 wheel drive much but I've been told I should at least engage it every month to make sure everything stays loose and operational. If anybody has any general advice on the upkeep of the 4x4 system I'd appreciate it, thanks!

[Brian]

follow the maint. schedule. also if you get in a bunch of water, you may want to replace the fluids also.

[99Smokin73Stroker]

Yeah, and make sure you check those u-joints....

[Diesel Nut]

Engage the hubs every oil change and drive around a few miles is what I always did with my Ford. You don't have to actually engage the 4wd, just the hubs and that gets the whole drivetrain moving, coats the inside of the front diff with oil, ect. Like posted, check your U joints. I would say check the trasfer case fluid ever oil change and if it ever looks black or smells burnt, swap it out! Transfer case takes ATF (2 quarts).

[cblackb]

Ok cool, thanks for the info, I appreciate it. I didn't get a manual w/ my truck. I just downloaded one on PDF though. How hard should it be to move the hubs from "auto" to "lock"? I checked mine and they didn't want to move very easily, one of them wouldn't move at all but I didn't know how hard to push it.

[99Smokin73Stroker]

I had to give mine a decent amount of pressure to turn them. If you have to turn them really hard something may be wrong, i'm not sure.....Marc?

[mschn99]

the less the hubs are used, the tougher they tend to be to use....i would turn them pretty hard...the more frequently they are engaged, the better....

if they just wont engage, i would say they are just siezed up from lack of use....

[kazlx]

I was actually curious about the 4x4 as well. On the hubs, you can have them set to 'auto' and engage the 4x from the switch inside, or manually lock the hubs?

Wasn't sure what was actually required to engage the 4x or if there was a reason to use one over the other, or if they were equivalent means of getting 4 wheel drive.

[mschn99]

kaz, no matter what you have to turn the switch......but in the auto mode vacume is applied to lock the hubs. In theory, if its working properly, there is not benifit from manually locking the hubs other than the lack of a "clunk" from stuff catching up to speed....

On the other hand, i wouldnt trust anything "auto" as far as serious four wheelin.....i would use the manual lock as much as possible.....plus if you engauge at higher speeds, it is better for the drivetrain if the hubs are already locked in.....

[Log Dog]

The first mod any of us that use four wheel drive should be a quality set of hubs, from warn, superwinch, or the like. The stock hubs (on all late model Fords) use primarily plastic for the engaging mechanisms. A good set from Warn for example, will be 100% steel. And much more reliable,