If I shouldn't post this here, please let me know.
Ok, 89 f250 7.3idi 4wd
Snow. We have too much of it! I went out yesterday, to try to drive through it. Went about half a mile, and got stuck several times.
While driving along, doing nothing any more unusual than trying to establish a good straight original track down the road, (Makes it easier coming back. )... I heard and felt 'clunking' several times. I would swear it was something like the front end, moving, on the leaf springs. I didn't notice anything unusual about any of the times it did so. Same old deep snow. Same old forward 'plowing'. (No, I don't have a plow.) Uphill, downhill, slower, faster, whatever. It just clunked one side or the other when it wanted to, apparently.
Well, I get back near home, and suddenly have no more 4WD.
I am HOPING that the only damage is a hub. (A bit of history. I bought this truck from a kid. He had huge tires on it, (It now has the right size studded snow tires on it.), and did too many stupid things on it, to mention. The only thing worth mentioning right here, is that I believe he replaced ONE hub. The passenger side. It is the driver's side hub that is now in question.)
Here is what is happening...
Put it in 4wd. Unlock both hubs. Both axles spin. Lock both hubs, the drivers side axle spins, but the passenger side axle does not. Neither tire spins, regardless of lock or unlock. At least, while sitting on the ground. I haven't tried it with the front end in the air, because it is sitting at the foot of my very steep driveway, buried in snow.
Now, from my super-human powers of observation, (), I would assume that at the very least, the driver's side hub is broken.
But I am hoping that I haven't done worse damage.
Here's the thing. I say I suddenly had no 4WD. Well, that's not necessarily true. It's possible it went out, somewhere, further away, or went out slowly, in a process, and when I reached my drive just happened to be when I noticed it. I probably wouldn't have realized it at all, except my neighbor was standing there when I was trying to get up the drive, and he told me the front wheels were not spinning. That's when I investigated and saw the differences in the axle spinning in locked or unlocked, etc.
So. What I want to know is, what are the chances that I did some other damage to the system? I mean, if one hub was broken, it's pretty much the same as having one hub unlocked and the other locked, right? I know on a chevy, you can do some major damage to the transaxle or front end, if that is the case. Are these fords any different?
In a bit, I am going to go out and remove the hub. I hope there is nothing major, like axle damage, in there. If the hub itself has broken, and nothing else, I am hoping that I can just 'permanently' lock it in, and leave it that way. There is no way I am getting out of here without 4WD.
When I get to the highway, I can shift it back into 2wd, and leave the hubs locked in, for a trip to town. (Where I'll buy a set of new hubs.) I'll sacrifice fuel mileage, but I don't think it will do any other damage, will it?
Ok, 89 f250 7.3idi 4wd
Snow. We have too much of it! I went out yesterday, to try to drive through it. Went about half a mile, and got stuck several times.
While driving along, doing nothing any more unusual than trying to establish a good straight original track down the road, (Makes it easier coming back. )... I heard and felt 'clunking' several times. I would swear it was something like the front end, moving, on the leaf springs. I didn't notice anything unusual about any of the times it did so. Same old deep snow. Same old forward 'plowing'. (No, I don't have a plow.) Uphill, downhill, slower, faster, whatever. It just clunked one side or the other when it wanted to, apparently.
Well, I get back near home, and suddenly have no more 4WD.
I am HOPING that the only damage is a hub. (A bit of history. I bought this truck from a kid. He had huge tires on it, (It now has the right size studded snow tires on it.), and did too many stupid things on it, to mention. The only thing worth mentioning right here, is that I believe he replaced ONE hub. The passenger side. It is the driver's side hub that is now in question.)
Here is what is happening...
Put it in 4wd. Unlock both hubs. Both axles spin. Lock both hubs, the drivers side axle spins, but the passenger side axle does not. Neither tire spins, regardless of lock or unlock. At least, while sitting on the ground. I haven't tried it with the front end in the air, because it is sitting at the foot of my very steep driveway, buried in snow.
Now, from my super-human powers of observation, (), I would assume that at the very least, the driver's side hub is broken.
But I am hoping that I haven't done worse damage.
Here's the thing. I say I suddenly had no 4WD. Well, that's not necessarily true. It's possible it went out, somewhere, further away, or went out slowly, in a process, and when I reached my drive just happened to be when I noticed it. I probably wouldn't have realized it at all, except my neighbor was standing there when I was trying to get up the drive, and he told me the front wheels were not spinning. That's when I investigated and saw the differences in the axle spinning in locked or unlocked, etc.
So. What I want to know is, what are the chances that I did some other damage to the system? I mean, if one hub was broken, it's pretty much the same as having one hub unlocked and the other locked, right? I know on a chevy, you can do some major damage to the transaxle or front end, if that is the case. Are these fords any different?
In a bit, I am going to go out and remove the hub. I hope there is nothing major, like axle damage, in there. If the hub itself has broken, and nothing else, I am hoping that I can just 'permanently' lock it in, and leave it that way. There is no way I am getting out of here without 4WD.
When I get to the highway, I can shift it back into 2wd, and leave the hubs locked in, for a trip to town. (Where I'll buy a set of new hubs.) I'll sacrifice fuel mileage, but I don't think it will do any other damage, will it?