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I have a 2001 Ford Ranger XLT. It seems to work OK in 2hi but when I put it into 4hi or 4lo the hubs seem to lock. I have a RFW (remote free wheel) switch on my dashboard and when I press that it does not disengage the hubs. When I put it back into 2hi and press the button it works then. I often need to use 4hi and 4lo but can not turn corners while these wheels are locked. Please help?
Unfortunately, what you are describing is normal ops.
When the front wheels are being driven, the differential does not allow the front wheels to spin at different speeds as easily as when the front hubs are unlocked. This makes it harder to turn corners and, in fact, if you turn the wheel to one lock or the other the axle will bind solid. The only fix is to turn corners wider.
when 4WD is engaged, the freewheel button is locked out. When you think about it, this makes sense because you wouldn't want to split power through a transfer case with half of the power not driving the vehicle.
It does help. Thank you very much. I thought there was a problem with the truck but thanks for telling me otherwise. The only thing I could do with knowing now is if I was having to tow our machinery at work up a hill in 4lo that doesnt let you turn wide what is the best way of going about this?
If you don't have a wide enough space to turn in, it will require some planning or shifting back and forth between 4Lo and 2Hi or a few well placed "K" turns. I bound up the axle one time on my Ranger and it stalled the motor; The only way out was to rock the truck back and forth to get the right line. The saving grace was that I had to old auto-hubs that would unlock if you rolled backwards (mine was a '96)
email Lorn Campbell
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