4x4 is sticky

[nipplesNchowder]

Truck has 340,000 kms. After some -38°C ditch driving and letting the truck unthaw fully in a shop... Turn the switch, the 4x4 light comes on as it should, there is some light grinding noises and after a while it will engage and work as normal. Disengaging 4x4 is a little more tricky and you have to flick the switch multiple times and drive around a bit, and it will make a clunk and disengage. Putting the truck in reverse and driving a bit also helps it disengage more reliably. Tested the actuators and they engage and disengage when they should. The 4x4 light on the dash turns on and off when it should also. Anybody have an idea what's wrong? Possibly a sticky, worn out transfer case motor?

Note: When the truck is stuck in 4x4 (while the selector is in 2x4), it still turns terribly like the IWEs are also locked, so not sure why that is. You would think the IWEs would disengage and the front tires wouldn't fight each other.

 

[CoronaRaptor]

I bet you need some new grease in the hubs, actually with that mileage, I would order new complete hubs with the iwe's and replace them. I noticed my left front iwe was a little sticky when it was -26c here, I have about 240km's on mine, it was slow to engage that hub but not when releasing, since it has warmed up, it's fine again.

 

[FordTechOne]

When there is an issue with the transfer case motor it will generally set DTCs; that can be checked using ForScan. If there are no DTCs, you can remove the shift motor and manually turn the shift cam using a wrench to see if the issue is with the transfer case or shift motor.

 

[nipplesNchowder]

Now that the truck has unthawed even more, it seems to be working normally again. Maybe the IWEs were totally packed with ice or something and having a hard time.