i just had my truck into the shop to fix my four wheel drive...... after getting it back they informed me that it was just my front actuator so they replaced that and said it worked so i took it from the shop and put it into nuetral and put it into 4 high and the light came on which it didnt before and so i figured they fixed it not thinking anything else was wrong i took it up snowboarding last week and got stuck in the parking lot because it wasnt engaging into 4 wheel drive the light would come on and the front drive shaft spins but not engaging.... is this a front hub problem? or what could it be the shop doesnt open tell after christmas so i cant just take it to them to fix it again and would like to now what it could be before i take it to them and have them fix it! if it is a front hub situation what should i go with..... front possi lock? or what?

 

Sounds like the actuator still not working. I would prob put a posi lock on it and then try to go talk to the shop about what happened. If you need it now. If not see if the shop will make it right, or if they will put the posi lock in for you.

You don't actually have hubs. And the driveshaft always spins.

 

so you think the actuator is not engaging all the way but engaging enough to turn the light on again? doesnt the light come on and engage from the actuator?

 

Yes, it does. I would guess that maybe they didn't get the fork on the collar right and it isn't engaging the shaft. If the light is coming on, it would seem that the actuator is going over far enough. When you pull it into 4x4 see if you can turn the front drive shaft by hand. If you can, you have a transfer case issue, if not, then it's definitely front axle. You also could have a collar that has the splines worn or an intermediate shaft with worn splines, although I would guess that you would get some 4x4 and popping and clanking with either of those.

Unfortunately, without taking it apart you won't really know. If you can pop the CAD off and snap some pictures, we can help diagnose what is happening.

 

I have seen posi lock kits on ebay for around $160, when mine goes out I plan out getting one of them

 

Just fixed one the other day, it was the vacuum switch on the TCase, it worked sometimes, but not always.

 

ok ill have to try and turn my front driveshaft when its in and see if it will spin! i tried to see if it would pop or anything turning sharp in 4 wheel drive and nothing so its not engaging at all! thanks for the info though any more info would be great thanks guys!

 

I just bought a posi-loc kit from discount jeep parts for mine. It was about $170 with shipping, so even better than I could do from ebay. It does take a little getting used to, but it is so much nicer knowing that it's locked in rather than hoping.

From not quite locking in with the factory system I got the pleasure of replacing both the collar and the inner axle shaft. Both had wear on the splines and wouldn't hold in. Get it fixed before you have to do that.

 

Pull the 4 bolts off of the actuator and remove it, then re-install it making certain that it the fork is in the groove in the collar. They most likely installed the actuator and didn't get it into the collars groove. The switch that turns the light on is part of the actuator assembly, so the light being on tells you the actuator is moving enough. Sounds to me like your collar isn't engaging. It won't take you 10 minutes to check it if you have a few tools.