4 wheel drive actuator

SOURCE: Chevy Tahoe 2001

Place vehicle in 4wd (high or low). This will hold the front drive shaft still for the rest of the test. Jack up the front end of the vehicle. Remove the actuator. Have a buddy spin the right front wheel while you use a long punch or screwdriver to try to manually engage the diff. The left front wheel should spin in the other direction if the diff is good. Also before you check the diff you need to grab the front driveshaft and make sure it is locked, If it spins freely when the truck is in park and in 4wd with the front end raised then problem is in transfer case. If you can't make the diff engage manually with punch then the problem is in the diff. If front diff engages manually then the problem is the actuator. Hope this helps..

SOURCE: Front wheels do not turn

I did run the vehicle on the lift in 4wd. The actuator is trying to engage. I removed the right side axle housing and found the shim on the end of the shaft had fallen out of place. The small roller bearing in the shaft was damaged as well. This may have happended on a previous axle seal replacement. A new shim, and bearing fixed the problem. Thanks for our reply

SOURCE: 4/04 ford f150 4x4 front axle actuator won' t stay disengaged

Even though you checked the vacuum lines and found no leaks it does not mean there isn't a problem. The check valve in the line closest to the firewall actuator is probably your problem. Had the same issue replaced this line and solved it. The check valves in the vacuum lines are your best next guess.

SOURCE: 1992 chevy k2500 4 wheel drive not engaging

I have a 19934x4 bought it with 4 wheel drive notworking. indicator lights for 4x4 would notlight up but transfer seemed to be shiftin ok. frontaxel woul ot ingauge. I repled the front axel actuator an works fine now no problem. actuator is on the passenger sid back of the front axel pigand has a plug, mine was 2 wireroundpin plug but some have a flat pin 4 wire plug. 70 dollars at NAPA. wasa realy simple replacement didnt even need to jack up the truck. the actuator h a pin that electronically puses out engauging te front axel. a easy test is to put the truck in 4 wheel high. holdthe brak and givei little gas ad havesomeoneelse stand to the side ofthe front of the truck and see if the front axel spins. ifso th actutor is te most likely prblem. hope this helps.

Testimonial: "Ended up being the Actuator. Like you said easy fix and works great. THANK YOU"

SOURCE: My 1999 chevy silverado 1500 four wheel drive

You probably have a bad encoder motor.It is located on the side of the transfer case on the drivers side.It is black.The other problem they had with these was the switch but you have already replaced this so your next thing is the encoder motor.Hope this helps.Good luck.