Ford F250 question

WEFs99 · August 12, 2003

My neighbor just bought an F250 Xcab (or whatever Ford calls it) 7.3 Powerstroke 4x4 and it has locking hubs. The Ford dealer told him you can use the 4WD in any kind of bad weather, even a drizzle and the only time you need to lock the hubs is in 4 WDLO His pushbuttons on the dash say 4HI, 4LO and 2WD. It doesn't say anything about automatic 4WD or allwheel drive etc. He says when he makes turns it does want to do a sideways crawl and makes a lot of noise. I told him to keep it out of 4WD until someone besides the salesman tells him how it works before he wears out his tires and driveline. It all says to me that it is a regular transfer case with locking hubs.....no slip clutches or anything automatic. He swears by what the dealer told him. Is anyone actually familiar with the Ford driveline and options? I think the poor guy is going to break something because of an ignorant salesman.

Shaners · August 12, 2003

His salesman is full of crap!!!

If the hubs aren't locked in then what is the 4wd going to do for you? Locking the hubs in only 4wdLO is only showing that the salesman should be selling Escorts.

I think what he meant to say was it's OK to leave the hubs locked in all the time if you want to, and then you can engage the Transfer Case from inside the cab and be in 4wd. But that will cause uneeded wear and tear.

If it were my truck, I'd "freewheel" the hubs until the weather looked bad. Then I would lock them in and drive in 2wd until I really fealt I needed the 4wd at which time I would engage it from the cab.

422 SS · August 12, 2003

My 99 F-350 4X4 had manual hubs and a shifter on the floor.It had to be shifted into 4x4 and the hubs turned manually.I think the guy at the dealer is nuts.If its crawling in turns thats a big no-no.I would put it in 2-wheel and forget about it until its needed.

HillHound · August 12, 2003

Here's the deal: The new ESOF 4wd F250/350s have manual hubs with two settings. "Auto" and "lock". If you set them to "auto" the hubs will only lock in when you engage the 4wd control on the dash. When you run 2wd the front axle is not engaged.

If you turn them to the "lock" position the front hubs stay locked in all the time just like a manual 4wd system's hubs. The "lock" setting on the ESOF Superduties is just an override in case the automatic lock in system malfunctions. They should be kept on "auto" unless it won't work as running them in the "lock" setting will cause unecessary wear on the front axle and decrease fuel mileage.

F250/350s have no differentials or whatever in the transfer case or any auto transfer cases so it's not good to drive it in 4wd on pavement uless there's snow or ice on the road.

The hubs work the same for 4lo and 4hi. The only difference is that you can engage 4hi while the truck is in drive and moving while for 4lo to engage you have to be stopped with the truck in neutral.

Mine works great so far-no problems with 14000 miles on it. I have it in 4hi at least every other day, keep the hubs set on auto & it always locks in fast and smoothly.

Tell your friend to leave both hubs on "auto" and keep it in 2wd unless he's offroad or there's snow or ice on the road. Print this out, give it to your friend and tell him to take it to the dealer he bought from so the salesman will be able to give out correct info to future buyers.

frdfandc · August 12, 2003

Here's the deal: The new ESOF 4wd F250/350s have manual hubs with two settings. "Auto" and "lock". If you set them to "auto" the hubs will only lock in when you engage the 4wd control on the dash. When you run 2wd the front axle is not engaged.

If you turn them to the "lock" position the front hubs stay locked in all the time just like a manual 4wd system's hubs. The "lock" setting on the ESOF Superduties is just an override in case the automatic lock in system malfunctions. They should be kept on "auto" unless it won't work as running them in the "lock" setting will cause unecessary wear on the front axle and decrease fuel mileage.

F250/350s have no differentials or whatever in the transfer case or any auto transfer cases so it's not good to drive it in 4wd on pavement uless there's snow or ice on the road.

The hubs work the same for 4lo and 4hi. The only difference is that you can engage 4hi while the truck is in drive and moving while for 4lo to engage you have to be stopped with the truck in neutral.

Mine works great so far-no problems with 14000 miles on it. I have it in 4hi at least every other day, keep the hubs set on auto & it always locks in fast and smoothly.

Tell your friend to leave both hubs on "auto" and keep it in 2wd unless he's offroad or there's snow or ice on the road. Print this out, give it to your friend and tell him to take it to the dealer he bought from so the salesman will be able to give out correct info to future buyers.

I couldn't have said it better myself. I worked for 4 1/2 years at a Ford dealer. All we worked on was trucks, no cars.

One thing that I think was forgotten was that when you have the electric switch inside of the truck, do as above. but if you have a lever, you have to get out and turn the hubs to the lock position before pulling the lever into 4x4. BTW, this procedure only works on 99 + Superduty's. Anything earlier than this, is the old way..... Get out, lock the hubs, hit the button/pull the lever.

timk49 · August 12, 2003

Figures Ford would complicate something simple.

WEFs99 · August 12, 2003

Thanks guys, especially you, HillHound. The "auto" setting on the hubs is why I didn't want to give him an absolute no-no.

HDChuck01 · August 12, 2003

Who cares! It's only a Furd!!!!!!!!!

HillHound · August 13, 2003

No problem WEFs99 . I hope your friend likes his new Superduty. The dealership where I bought mine has a salesman that only sells trucks and the guy knew his stuff. Knew all the tow ratings for different axle gears/cab configs etc off the top of his head and even was honest with me when I asked him about mileage.

He even offered to install my brake controller for me while I was inside doing the paperwork! Not many car salesmen even know what a brake controller is I'll bet!

awdvkd · August 13, 2003

The key word in this is "F**D that sums it up!

cowboy02 · August 13, 2003

Amazing what enginers will think up.......... No pun intended to thoose on this forum but man can we make things more screwed up??

What ever hapened to just locking in the hubs and going? Are we so automated now that we are too lazy to turn a nob?

Kansas Kid · August 13, 2003

Figures Ford would complicate something simple.

Maybe so, but Fords four wheel drive setup is a lot more reliable then GM's. Even the ESOF setup on the Ford (which I am not that big a fan of) is better then GM's pushbutton/CAD setup. Although the electronic shift t-case occasionally goes out on the Ford and keeps you from using 4wd, it is nowhere near as often as GM's. And atleast Ford offers you a choice of manual hubs and lever shift t-case. Can't get any more reliable, or less complicated then that....

CMNTMXR81 · August 14, 2003

Funny I don't recall a large number of GM trucks coming back for front hub engagement/disengagement issues. The system has proven relatively flawless. Transfer cases on the other hand had intermittent issues. The switches on the newer trucks also have had their problems, but the locking/unlocking mechanism's in the front differential have proven very reliable.

HillHound · August 14, 2003

Also don't forget, with Ford's esof system the front axle can still be engaged even if the auto hub locking mechanism fails. The electronic transfer case mechanism can still fail the same as any esof system but with the hub override it's one less thing to worry about.

It's nothing complicated unless you have a hard time understanding how to turn a dial on the front wheels!

cowboy02 · August 14, 2003

Did GM ever go away from a Chain driven Transfer case?? I think that was one huge advantage of the Ford's over the GM's. Ford was all gear driven thus nothing to snap when under a load, and even if it did tweak some you always have the next set of teeth to grind on....... HOwever in a GM once you snap the chain she's over........