# Damage to 4 wheel drive hubs

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/damage-to-4-wheel-drive-hubs/28093>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Created:** [March 21, 2009, 7:51pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/damage-to-4-wheel-drive-hubs/28093 "2009-03-21T19:51:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hezethomas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b487fb/32.png) [@hezethomas](https://community.cartalk.com/u/hezethomas)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2009, 7:51pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/damage-to-4-wheel-drive-hubs/28093/1 "2009-03-21T19:51:50Z")

</div>

Last winter I became stuck in ice and snow with my F150 truck. In order to free my self I sitched to 4WD low and like a idiot I tried going from forward drive and reverse rocking back and forth with the tires spinning like crazy.I finally got free but now when I switch on 4WD low the indicator light no longer come on. What damage could I have possible done and if so is this going to be a pocket breaker.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://community.cartalk.com/u/GreasyJack)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2009, 8:43pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/damage-to-4-wheel-drive-hubs/28093/2 "2009-03-21T20:43:27Z")

</div>

What year F150?

You’re supposed to be able to rock yourself out (within reason) and so it generally shouldn’t be a problem. The only issue I could see is that with some auto hub setups, in order to go from forward to reverse, the hubs have to unlock and then relock going the other direction and just the process of you locking and unlocking them so many times in quick succession might have caused something to get hung up.

Otherwise, it may just be that a vacuum hose or electrical connector for the automatic transfer case got bumped or otherwise damaged while you were stuck in the snow.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![waterboy](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/waterboy/32/764_2.png) [@waterboy](https://community.cartalk.com/u/waterboy)\
**Post date:** [March 21, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/damage-to-4-wheel-drive-hubs/28093/3 "2009-03-21T21:18:30Z")

</div>

Did 4wd work after or is this the first time you tried it since?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hezethomas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b487fb/32.png) [@hezethomas](https://community.cartalk.com/u/hezethomas)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 9:24pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/damage-to-4-wheel-drive-hubs/28093/4 "2009-03-22T21:24:47Z")

</div>

1999

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hezethomas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b487fb/32.png) [@hezethomas](https://community.cartalk.com/u/hezethomas)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 9:26pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/damage-to-4-wheel-drive-hubs/28093/5 "2009-03-22T21:26:51Z")

</div>

I switched to 4WD but really could not tell, dry pavement here now.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![FoDaddy](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/fodaddy/32/717_2.png) [@FoDaddy](https://community.cartalk.com/u/FoDaddy)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2009, 9:31pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/damage-to-4-wheel-drive-hubs/28093/6 "2009-03-22T21:31:30Z")

</div>

Well, you could just got to gravel or dirt road, put in 4WD, stomp on the gas and see how many skidmarks/holes the truck makes, if you see 3 or more, your 4WD is working.