4X4 Front Axle not engaging

[Brander]

Front axle will not engage, I can hear the Transfer Case switching when I turn the knob to 4wd but the front axle is not working. Can anyone tell me what wire is what on the 4 wire plug, and what I should be seeing when.or have a pin out so I can jump power to the actuator on the axle to see if that works? Thanks

 

[WilliamS]

You can hear the case switching, does the 4x4 light on the dash come on? If yes then unless Im mistaken the 2008 has a vacuum actuated front differential so you likely either have have a leaky line or the front actuator is frozen.

 

[Brander]

The dash light just flashes will not stay on, I do not recall seeing any vacuum lines to the actuator, just the wire harness. one other thing, if i go to low, again the transfer case switches but its still just 2WD and the dash light flashes non stop

 

[Brander]

SO THIS IS FINALLY WORKING. turns out the left front wheel bearing was bad? the bearing has a wheel speed sensor bedded into it and that was showing up as intermittent speed sensor problem in the ABS computer. It this disables both the front diff and the cruise control circuits! By the way the local dealership could not figure this out or maybe they just wanted to sell parts. After changing both the clock spring and front diff actuator per their recommendation and not fixing the problem, I brought it to a local shop whw was able to correctly diagnose the problem.
Hope this will save someone else some time money and frustrations!!

 

[Brander]

Also there were no lights on the dash for ABS or CEL

 

[pilotcld]

SO THIS IS FINALLY WORKING. turns out the left front wheel bearing was bad? the bearing has a wheel speed sensor bedded into it and that was showing up as intermittent speed sensor problem in the ABS computer. It this disables both the front diff and the cruise control circuits! By the way the local dealership could not figure this out or maybe they just wanted to sell parts. After changing both the clock spring and front diff actuator per their recommendation and not fixing the problem, I brought it to a local shop whw was able to correctly diagnose the problem.
Hope this will save someone else some time money and frustrations!!

So was your cruise control not working?
My cruise control works just fine. But when I try to use 4wd it’s nist blinks. There was plug underneath the truck I noticed that wasn’t plugged in somewhere. Planning on checking that out tomorrow.
Was it very hard/expensive to change the wheel speed sensor?

 

[Brander]

Yes the Cruise and 4X4 were both out of commission, the sensor is actually part of the Wheel Bearing, so while it was not super difficult, it was time consuming because you can not replace just the sensor. sounds like you have something slightly different going on, check the front actuator near the differential, that may be the loose wire your seeing, other wise I have a good used actuator I will be willing to part with it that winds up being the problem