I bought my van and it shifts into 4x4 but it won’t engage. The light doesn’t come on like my other van. It’s a 5 speed with auto locking hubs I plan on replacing with warn manual hub but in the mean time I’m wondering if it’s something simple I’m missing. I checked the fuses and are all good. Thanks to all for all your help if it wasn’t for this forum these vans would be a nightmare
Auto locking hubs are notorious for causing problems, everything from not working to self engaging when they shouldn't (and destroying the fr axle in the process)
The 4WD system is old school, there are no electronics involved.
The auto hubs are fully mechanical as is the transfer case.
(no electrics at either end)
The 4WD light is triggered by a solenoid in the transfer case.
Selecting 4wd on the transfer case should "engage" the front driveshaft (you won't be able to turn the shaft by hand) if that is the case, put on some real hubs and go play.
And remember, the search function is your friend here, tons of info on all of the above including one story of failure on the road while driving.
That one is especially good if your thinking that manual hubs are expensive and maybe you'll just put that expense off for awhile.
Cool. Thank you for your reply that get me moving in the right direction I’ll check to see if front drive line is locked in and order some new warn hubs.
understanding of course, that by engaging the transfer case into 4WD and having the front shaft not spin, all you are confirming is that the transfer case is functioning as intended.
With the case in 2WD, the fr driveshaft should spin freely.
Auto hubs should be replaced as routine maintenance in my opinion. Warn hubs are okay if that's all you can get. In all likelihood they are probably just fine on our low powered non rockcrawling vans but I never liked the way they stick out so far and the Toyota truck guys typically want nothing to do with them either. I recently replaced the warn hubs on one of my vans with a brand new set of Aisin hubs like the factory installed from rockauto. The best part is I only paid $92 each for them plus shipping of course. I was going to find a used set to rebuild but after buying them for the going price in my area of $100 or more, hoping they were as good as claimed, and then the time and cost to clean them up and replace seals and gaskets the new Aisins were a no-brainer. Of course you'll need a conversion kit as well to change from auto to manual hubs. This consists of new bearing retainer nuts and washers as they are part of the hub assembly with the auto hubs and need to be discarded. Whatever you do, DO NOT pay the ridiculous prices people want for the warn kit. I bought mine at 4 Wheel Parts for cheap. There are other reasonably priced places to buy these as well. You'll need two. If your transfer case engages as burntboot described then check these out and ditch the auto hubs as soon as possible.
Thank you for you advise on buying from rock auto and 4wheeler parts. You saved me a couple hundred bucks. I’ve got the parts now it’s time to dig in and install. I’ll let you know how it goes
My bad rock auto only included one hub I thought I was getting two hubs for 90 bucks
Ive got new hubs and started to take auto hub apart and realized there are a lot of moving parts. I’ve looked for a right up on how to change them out and couldn’t find one. Thank to all you guys
I found some good videos on you tube. 4wheel drive is working great now. Light on dash not coming on but I think it’s just a burnt bulb
Originally Posted by originalkwyjibo
THIS^^^^^
Stick with the Aisins. You can score them off Amazon or E-bay relatively reasonable.
Thank you Flecker. Your right ups were so helpful but for some reason I couldn’t open your photos.
Yah, I guess I should reload them at some point. I actually have a few more write up's in word format that I need to drop in the forums... hadn't gotten to it yet though.
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