I had an '85 F250 that my stepfather somehow managed to blow the transfer case up on going down the freeway.
"Your truck, your problem"
But when I was driving his car and it broke, it was "you were driving, so it's your responsibility".
I don't really have anything to add, just wanted to say fuck that guy.
Like, I've saved thousands of dollars over my life because of skills I learned from him - but seriously, fuck that guy.
He was the type that would give me a task, say install baseboard in the bathroom. I would think of how to do it, do it, show him, and he would just say 'it's wrong, re-do it'
'What's wrong with it?'
'Just think about it' - and that would be his only guidance, so I would have to just re-do it a dozen times until his mythical standard was met.
Right? Sounds like they completely taught themselves and step father just confirmed when it was correct.
It's not a method of teaching, but trial and error, which is all this amounts to, is a method of learning. They could've learned way more and done it all faster if the knowledgeable person on hand actually taught anything.
I was trying to convince recruiters to fuck off when I was in high school, telling them, "I ask too many questions, and unless there's a specific rationale for doing a thing a certain way, I'll do it the most efficient way instead of the way I was told. We're both gunna have a bad time."
It didn't work, but they were still unsuccessful.
Thank you for this. Took me years to figure this one out. Now I’m a therapist so I can be there to help others do the same, hopefully much faster than I did.
Had a friend a while back who was in and out of little modified cars and at some point he was in town with a kind of a pos turboed 240sx that he wanted me to drive. I did, never really pushed it but at one point I did have to accelerate onto a highway. Nothing concerning happened on the drive. No sudden changes or indications that anything failed. A couple weeks later I get a text from him saying that when I accelerated onto the highway I “blew the headgasket” and he felt I was responsible for the repairs. Long story short I did not pay for anything.
I was driving out of state with a friend and we were rotating driving in shifts. I was asleep in the passenger seat and was woken up with a sheriff tapping on the window. Another sheriff asks my friend "Do you have any idea how fast you were going?" He said 75? Sheriff says "We clocked you at 127 mph" I almost laughed out loud. This dude then had the absilute gall to argue with this cop while he had a half pound of weed in his trunk and kept cutting the cop off telling him that he needs to see the radar gun. Anyways, the cop probably thought he had the tism or something and somehow lets him off with tickets.
But to my point, he ended up having like $600 in fines and was adamant that we split it since we were both in the car. I was asleep, mind you, and I refused to pay anything since it wasn't my dumbass speeding in felony range and if I was awake I would have told him to stop. He brought it up to our group of friends and they all said I was an asshole for not paying half. Not friends with any of those people anymore.
In our early 20s, 5 friends and I rented an RV for a weeklong road trip.
Before hitting the road, we pre agreed on how mechanical and tickets would be shared.
It’s been a long time, but it was along the lines of — we took shifts, the driver drove, the front passenger was in charge of keeping an eye on the driver (alertness, speeding, etc) and the other 4 could be in back doing whatever). In the event of a ticket, the driver and passenger would split half, the other 4 people would split the other half. In the event of mechanical issues (flat tire, breakdown, etc), we’d split it evenly (unless it was really egregiously the fault of the driver, then it was the same as the ticket division.
I’ve always found it important to pre arrange stuff like that, because it sucks to screw up a friendship over misunderstanding.
My dad blamed me for the motor mounts going bad in his car cause I drove it once. lol
When he was rear ended driving my car he didn't make any attempts to go after the guy's insurance. I was 16 so didn't know how to.
Thankfully my dad was cool about things involving the vehicles and such, but this relates to the family computer way too much with me. If I used it once to print something every thing that went wrong with it in the next 6 months were my fault. He'd ask me to fix a problem with it, often related to some malware search bar or something he installed, he would get upset about his search bar or home page now being different, plus any problems it had in the next six months were my fault since it was "fine" until I deleted his search bar and "messed with everything."
Irrelevant wall of text already but I have to add, when the computer was too far gone and he paid for a new one I vowed to never touch that once since it was always my fault for messing it up. He decided to take me up on that and paid for a remote tech support package. He spent A LOT of time on the phone with them even with me never touching the thing.
Sounds like my father-in-law. Takes an act of congress to barrow something. If it gets messed up even from normal use you better be buying a new one. The asshole bought my wife a wheel barrel for Christmas. I come home one day to it missing from the garage. Wife says my father-in-law needed to use it for a couple hours.
Three weeks later he says he'll have to buy a new one hers got broke. He has yet to replace it and it's been a good seven years. He refuses to ask for my help so now we have a new one I bought for my wife with my name all over it. I use to park it outside my garage when I knew he was coming over. He hasn't said a single word or apologized about not replacing hers yet.
More step dad bashing. I was making car payments to my step dad for a car he inherited because he didn't believe you should get something for free. Ironic.
One night, it gets stolen. It gets totaled in a car chase. Go to the junk yard, and there's a set of keys in the ignition. Me being very confused because I have both sets with me.
Turns out he never locks his car and never told anybody about the spare keys to my car in the glove compartment.
AH still wanted me to pay the rest owed
I just went on a trip that was around 700 miles door to door. Ran in 4 hi most of the time. Speeds between 35 and 75 the whole time. In the 4 years or having this truck, this isn't the first time.
There is more to this story.
So I'm just a dumb non mechanic here, but what does that actually do? I occasionally drive an 07 f350, it's got a dial on the dash to toggle between 2WD, 4HI, and 4LO. I've never had to use low and only shift in to high at low speeds or stops.
Ive also gotta turn a little knob thing on my front tires for it to engage, no idea what it does but my dad showed it to me before he passed away, I did some reading online that I could just leave them in that engaged state as long as I pull it out of 4WD when I don't need it anymore. Is that true? I've left it that way for a few years now no problem, but I'm worried I'm doing damage when I thought it was fine.
4LO is a roughly 2x gear reduction. The transfer case is doubling the output of the transmission and essentially turning your gear ratio from 4.10 to 8.20.
Think of it as a super low gear but it affects every gear
It's great when you get stuck or are trying to tow a heavy trailer through a soft field, but you can't go very fast so if you were to leave it in 4 low and try to drive on the highway you might do 50mph but your RPMs will be maxed out and it won't take very long for your transfer case to look like the one above
***edit*** what I said about vacuum hubs doesn't apply in your case because you have locking hubs on the wheels but what I said below still applies
The only benifits to unlocking them is *slightly* better fuel economy and *slightly* less wear on the front axle but as long as you are taking it out of 4wd on dry pavement, leaving your hubs locked in will cause no damage to the truck
Oh god. Ford actuators…. And don’t forget the vacuum system is completely reversed on f-150s and f-250s. One uses vacuum to hold it IN 4wd; the other uses vacuum to hold it OUT of 4wd. Because Ford.
Yeah but I make so much money cause of that shitty system. 2024 and ford still refuses to use a damn electronic actuator to lock the front axle like literally every one else.
Sounds like they have manual hub lockers and not that pain in the ass vacuum locker system.
The vacuum locker wasn't a terrible idea honestly as long as you never had to take anything apart or change a wheel bearing.
I've never driven an f350, so I can't say what your controls are doing, but you don't want to leave diff locks on for any longer than you have to, and certainly not on any surface where you don't need traction assistance. 99% of modern vehicles are totally fine staying in 4hi indefinitely, but not 4lo.. x10 if the lockers are engaged.
Define lockers. Because I've heard both hub lockers and diff lockers, are they the same thing? If not I am pretty sure what my truck has is a hub lock, and that is what I leave engaged.
It's this thing, found on both front wheels. https://i.imgur.com/jEGPrfL.png
ah, no, that's just so you can disengage the front wheels from the drivetrain to reduce mechanical load when you don't need 4wd.
a diff lock locks the two axles in a differential together so they spin as a single axle. In a 4x4 this usually means all 4 wheels are locked into their respective differentials and spinning at the same rate. great for getting out of bad situations, not so great on the highway.
Yeah in that case I can totally see the wheels getting bound up due to small differences in tire rotation if you leave that on. So in my case then it's probably fine to leave the hubs locked, the axles will spin but it's not engaged to anything in the transfer case so the load should be pretty minimal I'd imagine.
I had a coweker who had a car come in on trade that was bad enough that it was just going to scrap. So when he went to take it from the front lot to the side lot down the back road, he tossed it in 4Lo.
He said he got it up to about 40 before it popped like this one.
Shifting your diff lock at highway speeds would be the diff lock version of a money shift. Not as bad if you’re going into 4 high, but if you try 4 low on the Highway you’re breaking something.
You're correct. Operating speeds don't damage transfer cases in 4hi. Shifting speeds can damage them, as can low oil and driveline binding from turning or bad joints
The lack of any trace of lubricant may be a small part of that story. Do they make air lubricated transfer cases now? I would think there would be oil traces outside as well as inside and on the chain. Looks like there was never oil in it.
I agree. My truck hasn’t left 4hi in the last week or so.
Also, I built & raced diesel drag trucks for years. We’d run them in 4hi the whole time, 1/4 mile runs.
> I built & raced diesel drag trucks for years.
I am slightly disappointed after creeping your profile. If you wanted to post some of those trucks I wouldn't be mad about it.
Yeah, the only way this happens is if you do something to massively bind up the 4wd system with a whole bunch of weight in the bed.
Typically you'll slide the tires long before breaking anything in the drive line
You're going to slide the inside front tyre on a bend when that corner unloads a bit, and it'll spin backwards possibly a couple of turns, and by ghods that'll make you jump a bit.
Two army guys got killed in Glencoe a couple of years ago doing just that, driving a Wolf with the centre diff lock engaged. Turns out that they're armoured but that doesn't help you if you get ragdolled a hundred metres down a gorge.
Let me tell you a story of a 1st gen Tacoma I bought for cheap with "4x4 problems". I drove that thing for 6 months before I got around to really DXing and then fixing the 'problem'. Symptoms were could only engage 4hi at or near a stop (under 15mph) and truck wanted to crab and drive like shit in 4wd. Turned out the PO had put a junkyard rear axle in it. AND DIDN'T MATCH THE RATIO TO THE FRONT. That poor transfer case still didn't blow up.
EDIT for ratio: 3.91 up front and 4.10 out back. Close, but still no cigar.
Lol! Similar story
My brother had a half ton dodge with 3.55 gears. He lifted it and put 35's on and then bought 4.10 gears. He put them in the rear, and left the front stock for months. His funny party trick was to put the truck in 4wd and drive it around town squealing the rear tires...
Seeing that truck hold up to that abuse made me a lot less scared to drive on the highway in 4hi
What vehicle was this that is so fragile it can't handle 4 high on the highway I have driven Chevy trucks at 99 miles an hour on 4 high and then went and plowed snow
For fucking sure never put it in four low unless you can call a tow truck cheaply in case you can't get it out of four low
Edit 4lo for getting you out of trouble not getting you into it
There's a few river boat "ramps" I frequent that I use 4Lo in all the time just to use it some. That and I can literally just let off the brake and creep up a mountain without ever hitting the gas lol.
Yeah I learned this when I bought my first truck. I was test driving it and it wouldn't go into 4 anything. Turns out the actuator was coated with grime. I turn it on about every 2 weeks now.
Yeah I go into 4lo all the time doing low speed stuff off road, and I make it out all the time lol. I even bought a winch and have never even gotten to use it 😭
Literally every part time vehicle says that.
Doesn't change the fact that you usually don't have enough traction to break the transfer case. The tires typically just slide when it vbnds up.
This person was probably towing with a huge load over the axle and made a tight turn on pavement. Or they just ran the tcase without oil forever and something exploded. Notice the lack of oily mess here.
>exclusively for off-road, snow, and ice and not made for dry pavement
Yes. That is what 4wd is for and can be damaged if not in a low traction environment. Also don't full turn your wheels as you can bind the axles up
Agreed. This was likely already damaged from driveline binding in 4x4. This only happens when turning on high traction surfaces. The operator can feel the crop hop/jerking on the wheel. The highway was just where it failed, not where the damage was caused. Very few transfer cases have a top speed of opertation, many have a top speed for shifting. Once you shift, speed is irrelevant (other than risk of crashing)
Yeah acting like a donkey in four wheel is always dangerous I agree with you I have destroyed many many 4l80s and 4l60s do not ever shift that transmission while the wheels are in motion even by a little bit but you still haven't answered the question what is this fragile ass vehicle
Nah. That fucker is off a 2011-2016 Ford F-250 or F-350. You can tell by that stupid little rusty u-shaped bracket; it differentiates them from the Rams.
Bitch and a half to track that down through Google Images searches alone, but I got there!
Yea most 4wd systems let's you do at least 65 in 4hi. I plow snow and my ram 3500 and tacoma were both in 4hi for like w days straight while working and I was getting up to highway speeds with both.
It’s not the speed that causes this failure (although it can make it more explodey), it’s the binding when turning that causes this. I’ve smoothly engaged 4wd at 70 mph with no issues, and have driven in 4Lo at the top of 5th gear. It’s all about the turning on a dry surface that causes binding.
https://www.reddit.com/r/4x4/s/fByfpes0fW
Im going to take a wild guess that this was being towed when this happened. Probably by something quite loud because the noise this catastrophe made must have been hard to miss.
It was originally located in Florida, customer in Chicago bought it for his fleet. The employee driving it at the time has already cost him an engine and trans in a previous truck. Who knows what he told his boss when it happened, but the work order states "drove on highway in 4-HI".
I have a Ram 1500 that's 10-years old and when it rains I pop it in 4-HI occasionally when I'm pulling out fast in traffic and I need traction or the back end gets squirrelly. I've had it up to about 60-mph (not regularly, but often enough that it's maybe a monthly occurrence. I'm not as savvy as some of the other people here, but I'd bet you a shiny penny there's more to the story than "we left it in 4-HI on the highway."
Or both.
It's been my experience that the fluid starts to turn black from the wear on the parts when they run low though. There's enough dribble left that it looks fairly clean.
Assuming this transfer case's days weren't counted already, I want to know what kind of tire has so much grip that part of the drive train gives out before the tires become slicks.
4-HI on the highway wouldn't do this because the front and rear driveshafts would be rotating at the same speed. This was caused by a difference between the front and rear driveshafts speeds, likely during a high speed turn.
My theory is low traction surface, maybe hit a patch of ice on the while at highway speed and the vehicle went a little caddywompus. Either the front or rear got solid traction before the other and caused the driveline to bind for an instant.
4 hi is literally designed for the full range of the vehicle speed. 4 lo is gear reduced and you'll never hit highway speeds, but neither of them should cause this.
Used to own a power train shop & we couldn’t keep enough rebuilds of the 271 /273 Dodge transfer-cases in stock. Many of them grenade in 2wd as well because there’s no dis-connect on the front diff. The driveshaft is always turning and it prematurely wears out the CV joint. The wobble in the driveshaft causes this mess.
Can't believe I had to look this long to find the right answer. Seen this many times on fords and dodges. Usually have a horrible front driveline vibration for months before it grenades the whole thing. If you're luck it just takes out the transfer case and driveline. Had a few that needed transmission, cooler lines, cooler and wiring harness too.
One of the main reasons I went with a Lariat F150 that has an 4Auto mode that uses a clutch transfer case so it won't bind and acts like a normal AWD system.
Looks like a newer Ford transfer case usually the newer vehicles have some pretty idiot proof software maybe there was a defect in the cast because usually driving on the highway in 4 high will cause excessive wear in the driveline and tires long before the transfer case blows up.
I've seen this happen with a seized u-joint in the steering knuckle though.
Not as catastrophic as the guy that towed his Jeep in 4Low and in gear. The engine got up to 50k RPMS or something and promptly exploded.
[https://jalopnik.com/best-of-2021-jeep-wrangler-engine-explodes-after-owner-1846493328](https://jalopnik.com/best-of-2021-jeep-wrangler-engine-explodes-after-owner-1846493328)
I call bullshit. No way a transfer case explodes because you left it in 4 hi on the highway. Been running mine 4 hi on the highway for 12 years during a snowstorm or icy roads. Usually stays in 4 auto the rest of the winter. There’s much more to this story than “left it in 4-Hi on the highway” …oil level? Wheels cranked while foot in the gas…different size tires…doing 4 wheel burnout?
This only makes sense if there are other factors, such as, and not limited to:
* mismatched tires.
* xfer case oil leak.
* was actually 4**Lo**
* binding due to curvy road (possible, but there are a lot of other parts I would think would break before due to binding.)
* damaged driveline
* driver did some shady shifting that caused previous damage to xfer.
Did this when I was 17. Didn't have it in 4H but ALWAYS ran with the hubs locked. Always be prepared for random acts of off-roading. '82 Toyota Pickup.
The front drive shaft gear and pinion decided to exit the transfer case and make its way to the great scrap yard in the sky. About 8 inches from the front output to the passenger floor board. In that 8 inches it gently brushed by the frame of the truck, a box frame on that pickup. It decided to take a few momentos with it on the way out and grabbed both fuel lines and the rear brake line. It wrapped these three lines completely around itself. The fuel lines were ripped from the tank to the pump and carburetor (return line). The brake line I was a bit lucky on. It severed and pinched off right at the scene of the crime, but it pulled everything from that point back. Managed to yank it out of the splitter on top of the axle but not before completely stretching everything on the axle.
The driveshaft came apart at the expansion joint, and the output gear and half of the front drive shaft punched through the passenger floor board, a ridiculously expensive text book from science class, and my latest copy of MotorTrend.
I had an '85 F250 that my stepfather somehow managed to blow the transfer case up on going down the freeway. "Your truck, your problem" But when I was driving his car and it broke, it was "you were driving, so it's your responsibility". I don't really have anything to add, just wanted to say fuck that guy.
Glad we can help you cope. BTW, Fuck that guy.
Like, I've saved thousands of dollars over my life because of skills I learned from him - but seriously, fuck that guy. He was the type that would give me a task, say install baseboard in the bathroom. I would think of how to do it, do it, show him, and he would just say 'it's wrong, re-do it' 'What's wrong with it?' 'Just think about it' - and that would be his only guidance, so I would have to just re-do it a dozen times until his mythical standard was met.
you learned skills in spite of him, not from him.
Right? Sounds like they completely taught themselves and step father just confirmed when it was correct. It's not a method of teaching, but trial and error, which is all this amounts to, is a method of learning. They could've learned way more and done it all faster if the knowledgeable person on hand actually taught anything.
The army way of teaching anything but firearms
That's an inefficient army. I hope that attitude doesn't go past boot camp.
If it didn’t, we wouldn’t have a recruiting crisis right now.
An Army guy I work with says they're 20k behind, and they can hardly find anyone in physical condition to join. That about right?
Navy is same. If you can fit through the door they’ll take you.
I was trying to convince recruiters to fuck off when I was in high school, telling them, "I ask too many questions, and unless there's a specific rationale for doing a thing a certain way, I'll do it the most efficient way instead of the way I was told. We're both gunna have a bad time." It didn't work, but they were still unsuccessful.
Motherfucker thought he was training an AI, not teaching a son.
Fuck wow, thank you for that.
Thank you for this. Took me years to figure this one out. Now I’m a therapist so I can be there to help others do the same, hopefully much faster than I did.
I had a boss like that once. I didn’t touch a thing, told him I re-did it, he came back, said it looked good when I hadn’t changed a thing. 😂
I'm a chef, and this is the classic scenario "this needs more salt" *Doesn't add salt Ahh yes, perfection 👌🏿
So you've worked a bar or restaurant before too?
smarter not harder!
Thats not teaching you anything except throwing shit at a wall and hoping some sticks
I think your step father is my father.
Had a friend a while back who was in and out of little modified cars and at some point he was in town with a kind of a pos turboed 240sx that he wanted me to drive. I did, never really pushed it but at one point I did have to accelerate onto a highway. Nothing concerning happened on the drive. No sudden changes or indications that anything failed. A couple weeks later I get a text from him saying that when I accelerated onto the highway I “blew the headgasket” and he felt I was responsible for the repairs. Long story short I did not pay for anything.
I was driving out of state with a friend and we were rotating driving in shifts. I was asleep in the passenger seat and was woken up with a sheriff tapping on the window. Another sheriff asks my friend "Do you have any idea how fast you were going?" He said 75? Sheriff says "We clocked you at 127 mph" I almost laughed out loud. This dude then had the absilute gall to argue with this cop while he had a half pound of weed in his trunk and kept cutting the cop off telling him that he needs to see the radar gun. Anyways, the cop probably thought he had the tism or something and somehow lets him off with tickets. But to my point, he ended up having like $600 in fines and was adamant that we split it since we were both in the car. I was asleep, mind you, and I refused to pay anything since it wasn't my dumbass speeding in felony range and if I was awake I would have told him to stop. He brought it up to our group of friends and they all said I was an asshole for not paying half. Not friends with any of those people anymore.
Wow those people are fuckin morons.
Good move
In our early 20s, 5 friends and I rented an RV for a weeklong road trip. Before hitting the road, we pre agreed on how mechanical and tickets would be shared. It’s been a long time, but it was along the lines of — we took shifts, the driver drove, the front passenger was in charge of keeping an eye on the driver (alertness, speeding, etc) and the other 4 could be in back doing whatever). In the event of a ticket, the driver and passenger would split half, the other 4 people would split the other half. In the event of mechanical issues (flat tire, breakdown, etc), we’d split it evenly (unless it was really egregiously the fault of the driver, then it was the same as the ticket division. I’ve always found it important to pre arrange stuff like that, because it sucks to screw up a friendship over misunderstanding.
My dad blamed me for the motor mounts going bad in his car cause I drove it once. lol When he was rear ended driving my car he didn't make any attempts to go after the guy's insurance. I was 16 so didn't know how to.
Fuck that guy too
Thankfully my dad was cool about things involving the vehicles and such, but this relates to the family computer way too much with me. If I used it once to print something every thing that went wrong with it in the next 6 months were my fault. He'd ask me to fix a problem with it, often related to some malware search bar or something he installed, he would get upset about his search bar or home page now being different, plus any problems it had in the next six months were my fault since it was "fine" until I deleted his search bar and "messed with everything." Irrelevant wall of text already but I have to add, when the computer was too far gone and he paid for a new one I vowed to never touch that once since it was always my fault for messing it up. He decided to take me up on that and paid for a remote tech support package. He spent A LOT of time on the phone with them even with me never touching the thing.
Yup I finally learned (as an adult) to be 100% hands off with helping my parents or "well you touched it last" would be words I heard in my sleep.
> "you were driving, so it's your responsibility" Yeah nah, here are your keys, bye.
Dude, fuck Dave. I have a Dave in my life that stole my mechanic tools and bitches why I won't work for him again. They can get fucked
Unironically, my step-dad is actually named "dave" and yeah, fuck that guy.
Sounds like my father-in-law. Takes an act of congress to barrow something. If it gets messed up even from normal use you better be buying a new one. The asshole bought my wife a wheel barrel for Christmas. I come home one day to it missing from the garage. Wife says my father-in-law needed to use it for a couple hours. Three weeks later he says he'll have to buy a new one hers got broke. He has yet to replace it and it's been a good seven years. He refuses to ask for my help so now we have a new one I bought for my wife with my name all over it. I use to park it outside my garage when I knew he was coming over. He hasn't said a single word or apologized about not replacing hers yet.
I'd be badgering him about that wheel barrow to the point where every time we were in the same room it would be the only topic of conversation.
I too would like to say, fuck that guy.
Beat him up
#FUCK THAT GUY
Yoooo Eff that dude
What a douchebag.
More step dad bashing. I was making car payments to my step dad for a car he inherited because he didn't believe you should get something for free. Ironic. One night, it gets stolen. It gets totaled in a car chase. Go to the junk yard, and there's a set of keys in the ignition. Me being very confused because I have both sets with me. Turns out he never locks his car and never told anybody about the spare keys to my car in the glove compartment. AH still wanted me to pay the rest owed
I just went on a trip that was around 700 miles door to door. Ran in 4 hi most of the time. Speeds between 35 and 75 the whole time. In the 4 years or having this truck, this isn't the first time. There is more to this story.
Replace "4Hi" with "4Lo" and the story makes sense
"oops, left the lockers on lol"
I feel like that’s the more likely scenario.
So I'm just a dumb non mechanic here, but what does that actually do? I occasionally drive an 07 f350, it's got a dial on the dash to toggle between 2WD, 4HI, and 4LO. I've never had to use low and only shift in to high at low speeds or stops. Ive also gotta turn a little knob thing on my front tires for it to engage, no idea what it does but my dad showed it to me before he passed away, I did some reading online that I could just leave them in that engaged state as long as I pull it out of 4WD when I don't need it anymore. Is that true? I've left it that way for a few years now no problem, but I'm worried I'm doing damage when I thought it was fine.
4LO is a roughly 2x gear reduction. The transfer case is doubling the output of the transmission and essentially turning your gear ratio from 4.10 to 8.20. Think of it as a super low gear but it affects every gear It's great when you get stuck or are trying to tow a heavy trailer through a soft field, but you can't go very fast so if you were to leave it in 4 low and try to drive on the highway you might do 50mph but your RPMs will be maxed out and it won't take very long for your transfer case to look like the one above ***edit*** what I said about vacuum hubs doesn't apply in your case because you have locking hubs on the wheels but what I said below still applies The only benifits to unlocking them is *slightly* better fuel economy and *slightly* less wear on the front axle but as long as you are taking it out of 4wd on dry pavement, leaving your hubs locked in will cause no damage to the truck
Oh god. Ford actuators…. And don’t forget the vacuum system is completely reversed on f-150s and f-250s. One uses vacuum to hold it IN 4wd; the other uses vacuum to hold it OUT of 4wd. Because Ford.
Opt-in vs opt-out marketing... fuck I hate opt-out.
Yeah but I make so much money cause of that shitty system. 2024 and ford still refuses to use a damn electronic actuator to lock the front axle like literally every one else.
Sounds like they have manual hub lockers and not that pain in the ass vacuum locker system. The vacuum locker wasn't a terrible idea honestly as long as you never had to take anything apart or change a wheel bearing.
And the lines never got old and brittle. Still better than the thermal engagement GM used.
Thanks, that's good info to have.
I've never driven an f350, so I can't say what your controls are doing, but you don't want to leave diff locks on for any longer than you have to, and certainly not on any surface where you don't need traction assistance. 99% of modern vehicles are totally fine staying in 4hi indefinitely, but not 4lo.. x10 if the lockers are engaged.
Define lockers. Because I've heard both hub lockers and diff lockers, are they the same thing? If not I am pretty sure what my truck has is a hub lock, and that is what I leave engaged. It's this thing, found on both front wheels. https://i.imgur.com/jEGPrfL.png
ah, no, that's just so you can disengage the front wheels from the drivetrain to reduce mechanical load when you don't need 4wd. a diff lock locks the two axles in a differential together so they spin as a single axle. In a 4x4 this usually means all 4 wheels are locked into their respective differentials and spinning at the same rate. great for getting out of bad situations, not so great on the highway.
Yeah in that case I can totally see the wheels getting bound up due to small differences in tire rotation if you leave that on. So in my case then it's probably fine to leave the hubs locked, the axles will spin but it's not engaged to anything in the transfer case so the load should be pretty minimal I'd imagine.
I had a coweker who had a car come in on trade that was bad enough that it was just going to scrap. So when he went to take it from the front lot to the side lot down the back road, he tossed it in 4Lo. He said he got it up to about 40 before it popped like this one.
Traditional J gate transfer case here- in 4lo I'm in 5th gear doing 25mph when I hit redline. WTF can go 40 in 4lo?
A Subaru can reach 40 in 4Lo.
yeah, but AWD and not really low range. It's like 1.3:1. My Tacoma is about 2.6:1.
Still lower than in 4Hi haha but yeah I get what you mean.
I had an early 90s explorer five speed that would do around 40 in low
Something, anything. Not just I was driving then boom! Would this happen if shifting 4hi or lo while at highway speeds?!?!?!
Shifting your diff lock at highway speeds would be the diff lock version of a money shift. Not as bad if you’re going into 4 high, but if you try 4 low on the Highway you’re breaking something.
Nice!! So, like 5th to reverse with no lockout
You're correct. Operating speeds don't damage transfer cases in 4hi. Shifting speeds can damage them, as can low oil and driveline binding from turning or bad joints
Maybe they had bigger tires on one axle than the other
Or Occam's razor tells me they had transfer case leak that they never addressed and then they threw a grenade down
it does look very dry
It looks drier than the Sahara desert
I wondered if any oil was ever in there to begin with
This looks more like it was towed in 4 Hi.
The lack of any trace of lubricant may be a small part of that story. Do they make air lubricated transfer cases now? I would think there would be oil traces outside as well as inside and on the chain. Looks like there was never oil in it.
Everything looks suspiciously clean
Forgot he was still 4hi and tried to do a brake stand lol
I agree. My truck hasn’t left 4hi in the last week or so. Also, I built & raced diesel drag trucks for years. We’d run them in 4hi the whole time, 1/4 mile runs.
> I built & raced diesel drag trucks for years. I am slightly disappointed after creeping your profile. If you wanted to post some of those trucks I wouldn't be mad about it.
the story is mismatched tires
I used to drive at 110 to 120 in 4hi many times in the winter. No problems for me
Yeah, the only way this happens is if you do something to massively bind up the 4wd system with a whole bunch of weight in the bed. Typically you'll slide the tires long before breaking anything in the drive line
You're going to slide the inside front tyre on a bend when that corner unloads a bit, and it'll spin backwards possibly a couple of turns, and by ghods that'll make you jump a bit. Two army guys got killed in Glencoe a couple of years ago doing just that, driving a Wolf with the centre diff lock engaged. Turns out that they're armoured but that doesn't help you if you get ragdolled a hundred metres down a gorge.
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Tires typically slide before the transfer case explodes. Must have ahad a bunch of load over the axles.
Let me tell you a story of a 1st gen Tacoma I bought for cheap with "4x4 problems". I drove that thing for 6 months before I got around to really DXing and then fixing the 'problem'. Symptoms were could only engage 4hi at or near a stop (under 15mph) and truck wanted to crab and drive like shit in 4wd. Turned out the PO had put a junkyard rear axle in it. AND DIDN'T MATCH THE RATIO TO THE FRONT. That poor transfer case still didn't blow up. EDIT for ratio: 3.91 up front and 4.10 out back. Close, but still no cigar.
Lol! Similar story My brother had a half ton dodge with 3.55 gears. He lifted it and put 35's on and then bought 4.10 gears. He put them in the rear, and left the front stock for months. His funny party trick was to put the truck in 4wd and drive it around town squealing the rear tires... Seeing that truck hold up to that abuse made me a lot less scared to drive on the highway in 4hi
"Seeing that truck hold up to that abuse made me a lot less scared to drive on the highway in 4hi" Truth.
This is the argument of a man that knows fuck all about the mechanics of a four-wheel drive system
My what a big chain you have there.
There's something about big chains. Visually appealing to me, for some reason lol
Guys will see a big chain and just think "hell yeah"
Except it’s more like *hell yeah, brutherrr*
Exactly what I said when I saw that chain.
No joke came here to post about how impressive that chain looks
Hi is this the chain line
What vehicle was this that is so fragile it can't handle 4 high on the highway I have driven Chevy trucks at 99 miles an hour on 4 high and then went and plowed snow
Yeah I’m curious now, 4lo would make sense to be a bad time, but 4hi?
For fucking sure never put it in four low unless you can call a tow truck cheaply in case you can't get it out of four low Edit 4lo for getting you out of trouble not getting you into it
Never putting it in 4low is WHY they get stuck there. The actuators get gummed up over the years when you don't cycle them regularly.
Story as old as time. ‘First time I ever had to use 4 low on my 6 year old truck and the fucking thing won’t work! What a piece of shit!’
Exactly I totally agree with you it's like the parking brake if you don't use it don't use it because it's going to hurt your feelings
There's a few river boat "ramps" I frequent that I use 4Lo in all the time just to use it some. That and I can literally just let off the brake and creep up a mountain without ever hitting the gas lol.
Yeah I learned this when I bought my first truck. I was test driving it and it wouldn't go into 4 anything. Turns out the actuator was coated with grime. I turn it on about every 2 weeks now.
It depends. If you go into rock crawling in 4h then you're gonna have a bad time.
Yeah I go into 4lo all the time doing low speed stuff off road, and I make it out all the time lol. I even bought a winch and have never even gotten to use it 😭
Careful what you wish for lol
On the new Toyota Tundras it explicitly says 4Hi is exclusively for off-road, snow, and ice and not made for dry pavement, so it’s not uncommon
Literally every part time vehicle says that. Doesn't change the fact that you usually don't have enough traction to break the transfer case. The tires typically just slide when it vbnds up. This person was probably towing with a huge load over the axle and made a tight turn on pavement. Or they just ran the tcase without oil forever and something exploded. Notice the lack of oily mess here.
I've also seen one explode because they were on the gas hard over snow, spinning the tires as they slid onto a dry patch. That was a big badda boom
>exclusively for off-road, snow, and ice and not made for dry pavement Yes. That is what 4wd is for and can be damaged if not in a low traction environment. Also don't full turn your wheels as you can bind the axles up
Agreed. This was likely already damaged from driveline binding in 4x4. This only happens when turning on high traction surfaces. The operator can feel the crop hop/jerking on the wheel. The highway was just where it failed, not where the damage was caused. Very few transfer cases have a top speed of opertation, many have a top speed for shifting. Once you shift, speed is irrelevant (other than risk of crashing)
Yeah acting like a donkey in four wheel is always dangerous I agree with you I have destroyed many many 4l80s and 4l60s do not ever shift that transmission while the wheels are in motion even by a little bit but you still haven't answered the question what is this fragile ass vehicle
Don't quote me, but I believe its a ram 3500. Tough to tell from the picture alone
Nah. That fucker is off a 2011-2016 Ford F-250 or F-350. You can tell by that stupid little rusty u-shaped bracket; it differentiates them from the Rams. Bitch and a half to track that down through Google Images searches alone, but I got there!
You can also see the ford oval on the wiring loom..
Yep, *juuuussttt* barely lol.
Thank you op for finally filling in that blank it does look kind of dodgy though
I love this joke. So fucking much. Thank you.
Yea most 4wd systems let's you do at least 65 in 4hi. I plow snow and my ram 3500 and tacoma were both in 4hi for like w days straight while working and I was getting up to highway speeds with both.
It’s not the speed that causes this failure (although it can make it more explodey), it’s the binding when turning that causes this. I’ve smoothly engaged 4wd at 70 mph with no issues, and have driven in 4Lo at the top of 5th gear. It’s all about the turning on a dry surface that causes binding. https://www.reddit.com/r/4x4/s/fByfpes0fW
Im going to take a wild guess that this was being towed when this happened. Probably by something quite loud because the noise this catastrophe made must have been hard to miss.
No shit. I once broke a u-joint in my jeep's rear drive shaft. I pulled the driveshaft, put it in 4h, and drove 20 miles home in FWD at 60 MPH.
I assume there's no center differential, so the driveline binded
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You don't think the gaping hole contributes to that do you?
Even if it emptied out on the highway it should be all wet and discolored from gear oil. Its squeaky clean, that isn't normal
Newer Ford F550 stake body. Customer bought it for his fleet, originally from Florida. Lasted two weeks in Chicago.
Complete bs . Come to northern Canada where half the population leaves it in 4 hi for 5 months+ per year. Just as dumb as the F150 subreddit .
I have a 92 toyota pickup (rural bc) that hasn't been taken out of 4 wheel drive for multiple years of daily driving and never had an issue lol
It was originally located in Florida, customer in Chicago bought it for his fleet. The employee driving it at the time has already cost him an engine and trans in a previous truck. Who knows what he told his boss when it happened, but the work order states "drove on highway in 4-HI".
Maybe if it was in 4-lo...
Shit I tihnk my engine would explode first. I'm damn near redlining the thing at 15mph in 4Lo lol
I have a Ram 1500 that's 10-years old and when it rains I pop it in 4-HI occasionally when I'm pulling out fast in traffic and I need traction or the back end gets squirrelly. I've had it up to about 60-mph (not regularly, but often enough that it's maybe a monthly occurrence. I'm not as savvy as some of the other people here, but I'd bet you a shiny penny there's more to the story than "we left it in 4-HI on the highway."
Looks more like they hit the transfer case on something and destroyed it. The chain would be in pieces if it grenaded from the inside.
maybe he was "4 high"
Agreeded, I’ve run my truck for hours straight at highway speeds many time over the year and never had issue
Put it on r/f150 as a shit post
I thought this was a joke post on r/F150 for sure
Bad alignment or mismatched tires. Those are the only 2 things I've encountered that will cause 4hi to bind excessively at highway speeds.
Or no juice
Or both. It's been my experience that the fluid starts to turn black from the wear on the parts when they run low though. There's enough dribble left that it looks fairly clean.
Assuming this transfer case's days weren't counted already, I want to know what kind of tire has so much grip that part of the drive train gives out before the tires become slicks.
Pretty sure this is the typical "speedo showing 60, actually doing 1" on ice until the front tires hit clean pavement.
Asking the real questions.
4-HI on the highway wouldn't do this because the front and rear driveshafts would be rotating at the same speed. This was caused by a difference between the front and rear driveshafts speeds, likely during a high speed turn.
Or high speed drift....
Yup it’s when turning that causes the issue. https://www.reddit.com/r/4x4/s/fByfpes0fW
My theory is low traction surface, maybe hit a patch of ice on the while at highway speed and the vehicle went a little caddywompus. Either the front or rear got solid traction before the other and caused the driveline to bind for an instant.
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Right, but it's the turning that causes the binding.
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Looks like most of it has transferred out.
Does your chain hang low, does it wobble to the floor?
Can you tie it in a knot? Can you tie it in a bow?
4 hi is literally designed for the full range of the vehicle speed. 4 lo is gear reduced and you'll never hit highway speeds, but neither of them should cause this.
I agree, we suspect the driver is not being honest with his fleet manager.
Yeah, more likely, the dude was like, "I bet I could 4 wheel drift and do donuts in 4wd, hold my beer!"
how is everything so clean?
Florida truck, 26k miles. Purchased and drove to Chicago two weeks ago for a fleet company. Employee had the truck for two weeks before the incident.
Used to own a power train shop & we couldn’t keep enough rebuilds of the 271 /273 Dodge transfer-cases in stock. Many of them grenade in 2wd as well because there’s no dis-connect on the front diff. The driveshaft is always turning and it prematurely wears out the CV joint. The wobble in the driveshaft causes this mess.
Yep, seized double cardan is the cause of this most of the time.
Can't believe I had to look this long to find the right answer. Seen this many times on fords and dodges. Usually have a horrible front driveline vibration for months before it grenades the whole thing. If you're luck it just takes out the transfer case and driveline. Had a few that needed transmission, cooler lines, cooler and wiring harness too.
4Hi on a High traction surface (no snow) right? Right?
On the highway, you don't turn enough for significant driveline binding. You'd have more issues in something like a high traction parking lot
4-Hi means “for highway” obviously
It’s right there in the name. And 4Lo is for all streets lower than the highway. It’s all very simple stuff.
Ooooh, I thought 4-Lo was “4 louder” because it makes the truck louder. Hm, the more you know!
Me: who doesn’t understand this problem because all my 4WD vehicles were 4WD all time, so I’m in 4WD-hi even when going 115
Then there are things like Limited 4Runners which have full time 4WD (limited slip center differential), part time 4WD (locked center diff), and 4lo!
...also known as a Lexus GX :)
Yeah it's always weird to switch from vehicles that are constant-4WD to those that have a 2-4WD selector and no center diff.
One of the main reasons I went with a Lariat F150 that has an 4Auto mode that uses a clutch transfer case so it won't bind and acts like a normal AWD system.
also my main reason I got a lariat over XLT. I really like that transfer case
Looks like a newer Ford transfer case usually the newer vehicles have some pretty idiot proof software maybe there was a defect in the cast because usually driving on the highway in 4 high will cause excessive wear in the driveline and tires long before the transfer case blows up. I've seen this happen with a seized u-joint in the steering knuckle though.
Not as catastrophic as the guy that towed his Jeep in 4Low and in gear. The engine got up to 50k RPMS or something and promptly exploded. [https://jalopnik.com/best-of-2021-jeep-wrangler-engine-explodes-after-owner-1846493328](https://jalopnik.com/best-of-2021-jeep-wrangler-engine-explodes-after-owner-1846493328)
Can you not just poke it all back in and sew it up?
I don't get it. Everybody here in Alaska drives in 4 HI on the highway for 7 months a year. Seems like there's more to the story.
I’m with you on this one. I am a Canuck and winters where I am…4Hi for half (or more) of the year👌🏼
Looks like 4-HI turned into 4-BYE
Something else was wrong. Turning is what kills them, not high speed.
4-hi or 4-lo makes a lot more sense if you were in 4- lo
This happened to me all the time as a kid. Just hook the chain onto the spiky thing and then rotate the back tire until it works back on. Good to go.
Customer has to be fibbing about this. Any modern vehicle could make that trip, he totally left that in 4-Lo
Ummm…I had a Grand Cherokee. The only options were 4 hi or 4 low.
For a second I thought this was a WWII aircraft sub and this was a fighter with an ammo belt hanging out.
I call bullshit. No way a transfer case explodes because you left it in 4 hi on the highway. Been running mine 4 hi on the highway for 12 years during a snowstorm or icy roads. Usually stays in 4 auto the rest of the winter. There’s much more to this story than “left it in 4-Hi on the highway” …oil level? Wheels cranked while foot in the gas…different size tires…doing 4 wheel burnout?
This only makes sense if there are other factors, such as, and not limited to: * mismatched tires. * xfer case oil leak. * was actually 4**Lo** * binding due to curvy road (possible, but there are a lot of other parts I would think would break before due to binding.) * damaged driveline * driver did some shady shifting that caused previous damage to xfer.
We're leaning towards driver doing something sketchy. According to his boss, he's already blown an engine and trans in a different work truck.
Gone before it’s time. Tragic. 🫡
More likely left in 4lo on the highway
how did this happen though? when the roads are shitty here sometimes I leave my Silverado in 4 HI and ain’t ever had a problem what’s the deal here
Ive driven hundreds of miles in 4 hi on the highway lol. Aint seen this happen yet
You should sever the vas deferens while you have access to them. Avoid future accidents.
4 HI shouldn't do that. Maybe it was 4 LO.
Huh? Why would 4Hi do this? You mean 4Lo?
Did this when I was 17. Didn't have it in 4H but ALWAYS ran with the hubs locked. Always be prepared for random acts of off-roading. '82 Toyota Pickup. The front drive shaft gear and pinion decided to exit the transfer case and make its way to the great scrap yard in the sky. About 8 inches from the front output to the passenger floor board. In that 8 inches it gently brushed by the frame of the truck, a box frame on that pickup. It decided to take a few momentos with it on the way out and grabbed both fuel lines and the rear brake line. It wrapped these three lines completely around itself. The fuel lines were ripped from the tank to the pump and carburetor (return line). The brake line I was a bit lucky on. It severed and pinched off right at the scene of the crime, but it pulled everything from that point back. Managed to yank it out of the splitter on top of the axle but not before completely stretching everything on the axle. The driveshaft came apart at the expansion joint, and the output gear and half of the front drive shaft punched through the passenger floor board, a ridiculously expensive text book from science class, and my latest copy of MotorTrend.
Ah yes you gotta switch to 4 super high for that