I have a 2000 ranger with the live axle set up. How long does it take for all of your trucks to come out of 4 wheel drive after you flip the switch? Mine feels like it stays in either for awhile or until I put the truck in reverse to take the stress off of it. The only idea I can think of is that my rear tires are slightly newer than my fronts and maybe that is putting some stress on the system. Im not using it on dry roads, only in the snow and gravel roads. Thanks

 

mine usually goes out like a second after i turn the switch. and what o u mean u have a live axle setup? did u convert? if not then u have the pulse vaccum setup. and your tires wouldnt affect it unless u have a big tire size difference

 

From what I understand Ford switched from the PVH to the live axle set up sometime during the 2000 model year. When I jack up the front of my truck and spin the front wheel it spins everything back to the front driveshaft. My dad has a 99 and his only spins the wheel and thats it. I wasn't sure what system I had until I looked at his cause I knew his has the PVH system.

 

oh. well it should come out right away. when i had trouble with my 4x4 all i did was change the transfer case fluid and everything was back to normal. my truck did the same thing as your did. try it. how many miles since u changed it?

 

That is actually the only fluid I have never changed. The truck almost has 50,000 miles on it. What is the best fluid to use for that? Im trying to use synthetic in everything that I can. I know to fill it to the bottom of the fill hole but how much to get to that point.

 

i think its like 2.25 quarts of Mercon (not Mercon V) ATF but not sure. check the manual. i just used some Valvoline ATF and Lucas oil stabilizer. i forgot the mix rate. 20% lucas i think. Lucas does make their own synthetic ATF but u have to order it.

 

Sounds good, I'll do that very soon. I appreciate your help.

 

no prob dude

 

I replaced the transfer case fluid with Mobil One ATF and got a new set of tires (265-75-16). It now disengages im about 2 seconds. Thanks guys.

 

Ford tells you in their literature that different size front and rear tires will cause that. It is too much stress on the mechanism for the motor drive to disengage it.

Never run different size tires front to rear like you are and expect it to behave on pavement or high traction surfaces of any type.

It's also VERY important to rotate your tires on a 4x4 to spread the wear and keep the diameters as close as possible.

What you're experiencing is ENTIRELY normal for a 4x4 with new tires on one end.

In the future, balance the wear by rotation and always replace all four at once whenever possible.

 

Yeah but they are the same size tires. Would a little tire wear really effect it that much?

 

Absolutely. The force that occurs is ADDITIVE -- the more rotations, the more energy is stored in torsion in the axles and drive.

Simple physics. All 4x4's suffer from it, but manual ones have much more force you can exert on it. The motor drives have very limited force to disengage and so they suffer from it.

It's a front-to-rear case of making a turn with a locker in a differential. ANY turn will cause a rotation difference and that adds up with each continuing rotation of the tires until the force builds up. Then either the tire slips, or something breaks.

The same is true here. In high traction (pavement) situations, there is enough traction to put SERIOUS tension on the mechanism as you drive.

 

Didnt realize that. I mean, I knew different size tires would put a strain but just wear. Wow time to stop pealing out. Well at least i get rotations done on time.

I like my dads Montero Sport only because it has an AWD transfer case with a center locking diff and LOW. So u get the AWD when in snow then u can lock it and do some ok offroading. Other than that it sucks.

 

Recommended interval is 60k, IIRC.

Regular mercon is whats needed. I put in mobil1 atf in.

I changed mine at 115k for the first time and it was clean. Although it was full of borg warner gear oil and was black as sin. My truck has very little 4wd time and maybe 5 instances of muddy experience.