How do I lock in my hubs to engage my 4 wheel drive? I have my truck hung up in just a little mud. Help !

Generally that will be a problem with the brake caliper.

I had a 4 wheel drive suburban..it had issues with the high-lock and low-lock..I just used the auto setting because all four wheels were getting power anyway..only time you need lock is when you plan to go bogging in really deep mud..on snow/ice all you need is all wheel drive..you actually have better control..as long as it works in all wheel you should be fine..also be checking the front hubs.. are yours full time or do you have lock outs..on the axle hubs..thats my question

Actuator on front axle not working or unplugged ,,

Warn Hubs Installation
A truck or SUV with a four-wheel drive suspension uses locking hubs on the front wheels to engage or disengage the front axle shafts from the hubs. This way, you can drive the truck normally with just rear-wheel drive, or engage four-wheel drive mode when you want to drive off-road. These hubs can wear out, and one improvement is to install a set of Warn hubs. Installing a set of Warn hubs takes about an hour.
1.Park the truck and put on the parking brake. Lift the front of the truck with the jack and put the jack stands under the front axle. Take off the front wheels with the tire iron and put them to the side.
2.Disengage the locking hubs using your hands by turning the knob on the hubs. Remove the snap rings holding the hub locks in place with the snap-ring pliers. Pull the hub off the axle.
3.Install the lock ring wheel from the Warn hub kit in the axle with the factory snap ring and the snap-ring pliers.
4.Make sure the Warn locking cap dial is turned to the "Free' position. Install the locking cap onto the lock ring wheel and hub body with a hex-head key. Reinstall the front wheels with the tire iron and lower the vehicle off the jack stands with the jack.
Thank you for using FixYa. Hope this will help your problem and don't forget to rate me.thanks,
Reymond

four wheel drive is engauged hit the button and should go off.

Under the Battery there is a vacum motor with a cable on it. This cable is stuck or bent as default is the car is in two wheel drive. at the other end of the cable is connected to the front axel. Notmally there is a spring that pulls the cable towards two wheel driove and the cable pulls towards 4 wheel drive, if the spring were to break or get gone once engaged in four wheel it'll stay that way. Normally there is a plastic cover on the axel where the cable enters the cover and this spring in under this cover. It's possible and likly that if used in deep mud and water that this cover will fill completly with mud and dirt and it will need to be cleaned out to work smoothly. if left dirty for a long time the sping and the sliding parts can lock up and it will not engade or disengage. After driving in dep mud and water it's best to clean this area oput and with no disassembly you can wash this place with a high pressure car wash wand and clear all the mud out but if it rusted you'll have to take it apart and clean it and relube it. If you want to run the truck in deep mud regully you need to do this yourself as paying someone else to do it could be expensive. If your not handy with tools and the way things work it'll be best to have a professional do it with you watching. This truck if run in and out of four wheel to run in the mud regularly will do this over and over again and knowing how to do it right, and which tools work best and how hard to hit the stuck parts with a hammer are all best learned from a pro and don't try to teach your self. If your just going to run around all the time in 2 wheel drive just pay to have it done and if you don't put it in four wheel it won't go there unless you turn it on.

Your front differential is what's called an "open" style. It's exactly the same as any differential found in any vehicle with non positraction rear wheel drive. In that type of diff, one wheel is always connected to the driveline through the small spider gears inside the carrier. When you are driving and there is power being applied through the driveshaft, power goes to the wheel with the least amount of traction, which is actually a bad way to do that but it seems to work fairly well except on ice or in mud.
Positraction differentials put fairly equal power to both wheels but you can't use them in the front end because they would make steering difficult. When you are cornering, the wheel on the outside of the turn needs to turn faster to keep up. A posi makes that difficult, a "locked rear" makes it near impossible. That's why you don't see them except in specialized off road vehicles (not in the front anyway).
The component that makes your front diff move the vehicle is the transfer case. On many GC's they use a quadratrack unit. That kind used a heat sensitive fluid coupler inside that locks up when the rear wheels start to slip. Those units can be identified by their shifter which only has three positions. Technically it's always in 4 wheel drive but it only comes on during slippage. The other manual kind has four positions and is engaged manually. Some early Cherokees (not GC's) and many wranglers use a vacuum diff lock up. So unless someone put one in there (lots of mods would be necessary) you have a normal open diff there and that's just how they act when off the ground.
If you cannot turn the wheel assembly at all, then there's a high probability that the hub bearing has frozen or the brake caliper piston is stuck in the applied position.
One interesting fact is that no vehicle is really four wheel drive...most only have one wheel in front and one in back actually moving the vehicle. If you are equipped with a rear posi diff, then essentially you have 3 wheel drive (with the exception of modified vehicles as I mentioned).

Hi,
Do you have auto locking hubs on the front wheels, or manual locking hubs?
If you have auto locking hubs chances are they are not engaging properly and will need to be removed and spline sets checked for broken teeth on locking hub and locking shaft.
If you have manual locking hubs then check that they are firm when turning to engage them in the lock position.If they are light when engaging them to the lock position then they my have broken/worn out the locking hub and spline. Also check that the engaging spring inside the hub has enough tension to engage the hubs they may be broken. If the hub are all ok then you have a problem in the transfer box, where the 4WD lever is not meshing the transfer box properly. Hope this helps, let me know how you get on.

Jason

It sounds like maybe your auto lockers in your front wheel hubs are not locking. You may be able to get them to lock if while in 4x4 you jab your brake pedal several times, sometimes this will work to get them to engage but even if this works I would advise that you either invest in a good set of manual locking hubs or replace the ones you have with new auto lockers. The auto locking 4x4 hubs are great when they work but when they don't they are not serviceable. The manual lockers are allot less likely to fail on you in the future.

I have the same hubs on my truck as what you have. I have been told it can be done you just have to know if you have a dana 50 or 60 front axle. The warn hubs i'm sure are a better quality hub but if your worried about the auto feature of your current hubs. That is vacuum accuated when you 4 wheel drive is engaged. And there fore vacuum engaged. Mine used to work great but after a lot of mudding sand got into seals and vacuum didn't work anymore so i treat them as free/lock hubs.