I have a 1988 4wd v6 auto trans manual hubs. The 4wd dash light comes on when the 4wd lever is moved to the 4wd Hi position. The front wheels are not spinning. No front wheel traction in 4wd lo. The first time I have needed 4wd in several months. It was working ok the last time I used it. Any suggestions or thoughts about my problem. Thanks, Maury.

 

Probably a broken hub. Manual hubs are ten times better than auto in these trucks, but with that being said the spring that holds the manual locking assembly together can break from time to time. I've also had the locking mechanism shatter into pieces before. Go to a junkyard or search ebay and find some new ones. Grease them up good and don't forget to either get some rtv silicone gasket maker or to get some new gaskets to keep the water out. It's not a hard fix, can easily be done on a weekend afternoon. Just make sure you go slow. The first time I did it the spring popped off and it took me a few hours staring at pictures to figure out how to get the whole thing back together. Other than that, switching the hubs out is not a big deal.

 

Thanks for the information. Sounds like something I should be able to handle.

Maury

 

Easy to test which hub might be bad by selecting two wheel high with both the front wheels on the ground and both hubs set to free.
Your truck is IFS, right??
Set one hub to lock and try to turn its cv shaft. If you can turn the shaft with the hub set to lock, that hub is not working properly.
If it does lock its cv shaft to the wheel, it is OK.
Be sure to unlock the hub again before you go on to test the other side.