4WD not working

[POONFINDER]

went into a mud pit after hyping my pathy up to my friends, had to be towed out By a Ford FKN Ranger because my 4wd wont engage. 

symptoms: no workie

Concerns: 4wd Light comes on shifter feels fine, stuck in mud my friends said my fronts weren't spinning. even when I was mobile. So I test on dry pavement, shift through 2wd and 4wd and nothing feel wise, changes. you know how you can feel 4wd? yeah no. I cant. 

anybody got any ideas?

[Slartibartfast]

 

Sounds like the hubs weren't locked. The stock hubs on these are supposed to lock automatically, but they're not known for their reliability. Manual hubs are a huge upgrade and an easy mod.

[POONFINDER]

thanks for the quick reply, thats what I was lead too from what research ive done. Is it just a remove and replace or is there more that goes into it?

im looking to buy manual hubs but im not trying to spend very much. all im finding i some cheap ebay junk and super expensive oreilly junk 

[Slartibartfast]

Pretty much just R&R. The Allen bolts may fight you, mine were stuck pretty good. The service manual wants you to select new snap rings of the correct thickness to set the end-float on the CV axles (and the tension on the seals at the back of the hub), but I don't think anyone actually does that.

 

Hawairish started a thread comparing different brands of hubs. Even the cheap-looking ones he looked at seemed pretty decent inside. The OE manual hubs are supposed to be the strongest, but good luck finding a set of those. Warns are popular. I'm running Mile Markers on mine, and apart from the chrome plating being crap, they've been great. I also posted a video in that thread (second page) from when I replaced mine, showing what's involved.

[POONFINDER]

22 hours ago, Slartibartfast said:

Pretty much just R&R. The Allen bolts may fight you, mine were stuck pretty good. The service manual wants you to select new snap rings of the correct thickness to set the end-float on the CV axles (and the tension on the seals at the back of the hub), but I don't think anyone actually does that.

 

Hawairish started a thread comparing different brands of hubs. Even the cheap-looking ones he looked at seemed pretty decent inside. The OE manual hubs are supposed to be the strongest, but good luck finding a set of those. Warns are popular. I'm running Mile Markers on mine, and apart from the chrome plating being crap, they've been great. I also posted a video in that thread (second page) from when I replaced mine, showing what's involved.

okay sounds good. Ill do some research. currently working out a fuel issue as well. My fuel gauge reads empty only when its cold outside but when its warm in the air it works fine. tryna unfskcerate it. also my pathfinder spins the front driveshaft, but my cv's dont spin. is that still a issue with my hubs you think?

[Slartibartfast]

If neither CV spins when the driveshaft spins, something is very wrong with the front diff. That said, it's an open diff, so if one hub is locked, it'll spin up the CV on the other side rather than doing anything useful. The diffs are also hell for stout on these, and surrounded by weaker components, so, unlikely failure.

 

The fuel gauge knowing about the outside temperature is weird. Not sure which way to send you on that one. I'd probably check under the access plate in the back first (under the rear carpet), see if there's a bunch of mud around the wiring connections that's shorting them out when it's wet or something.