I've searched the boards and all the issues I find pertain to the auto hubs. I have a 99 Ranger 4wd that I installed manual hubs and plugged the vacuum lines below. 4wd doesn't work. I can tell that the electronic tranfer case is shifting into low 4 . Any help in resolving this would be appreciated. Oh there is also an occassional horrible vibration that stops when I slow way down I originally had rugged ridge hubs and was told one was trying to lock in. I replaced them with mile markers (one of the rugged ridge had plastic grindings inside when replaced) and I thought that had solved it until last night.

 

Leave manual hubs Un-Locked
leave transfer case in 2WD
Engine off
Try to spin front drive shaft by hand, it should turn easily

Lock both hubs
Now try to turn front drive shaft, should be locked, won't turn, if it turns a little or alot then only one hub is locked, Rangers use an OPEN front differential

If drive shaft is Locked then Un-Lock the hubs again
Spin drive shaft to make sure they are both unlocked
Start engine and shift to 4High
Shut off engine
Try to spin front drive shaft, if truck is in Park or in gear, it should not spin
If it spins the there is a problem in transfer case


An OPEN differential is what most cars and 2WD anything use, one wheel/axle gets all the power, the wheel that is easiest to spin is the one that gets the power, lol
So if only one hub is locked to the axle then it gets no power, because it will be harder to turn than the unlocked axle, so no 4WD, drive shaft just spins like neither is locked

 

I'll give this a try, but what made me decide it wasnt working is that I had removed the rear driveline to tow it on a dolly. When I tried to put it in 4wd to move it off the dolly it wouldn't move, had to put the rear driveline back in

 

If one hub is not locked that would be the result, and if transfer case wasn't locking as well, so can't really tell which is the problem from that

 

Ok, finally got a chance to check it out. Spins freely when hubs are unlocked. When hubs are locked it has a little bit of play ( about 3/8" at the knuckle ) and with hubs unlocked in high 4 same thing about 3/8" of play at the knuckle

 

Then it should work :)

 

But it wouldn't drive when the driveline was dropped, are you thinking maybe one side wasn't locked in? Because when I had a u joint go out in my last ranger I just dropped the driveline and drove it.

 

It should drive without rear drive line, as long as both hubs were locked

 

That's what made me think it wasn't locking in it was a high stress point since I was blocking an intersection and trying to get it off the tow dolly (front tire had just came off on my Dodge that I was towing the Ranger with. I think I'll drop the rear driveline again tomorrow and give it a try
Thanks for all your help, the knowledge has been great