Fried IWE actuators?

[vegascarnut]

Easy button is just delete the IWE's. They're a known issue due to vacuum line failure as well as breaking under high load offroad. Save yourself all this work and head scratching, toss the RCV deletes in.

It's very tempting. After speaking with someone who does A LOT more off-roading than I do, and has gone through a few IWEs, his advice is "if you drive your truck more than 10% of the time off-road delete the IWEs." The reasons he recommends keeping them are largely for preventing wear on axles and cvs, better turning radius, negligible mpg gain, smoother road feel if you take long highway trips, etc.

I'm on the fence because I'm on pavement 95% of the time, and this is my road-tripper too.

 

[Dane]

I connected a T between the actuator hose and the solenoid, and ran a vacuum gauge into the cab so I could watch what was happening on the way to work this morning. As expected, in higher gears, low RPM, slight uphill I can watch the vacuum drop from about 20 all the way down to below 10. It's downhill to work, so I didn't have a chance to try a couple of spots on the freeway where I always hear the "detonation (LOL)" but I'm confident that when I do try it on the way home I'll see that vacuum reading get down to 5 or less on those hills, and will start to hear the familiar sound.

Can you send a picture of how you did this please? I've seriously contemplated a permanent gauge for this since I run into so many issues with it. I already have an onboard air gauge and am thinking about just swapping it out for a dual gauge that displays my OBA pressure as well as the IWE vacuum.

I'm going to replace the vacuum line to the IWEs, because that is leaking for sure. The question I have is about a sound I hear when I engage the hubs (disconnect vacuum) in 2WD. There's no noise backing out of the driveway, turning, or starting out, but when I get up to about 20 mph I hear a clanking noise. It's not regular, but random. I'll hear clank, then nothing, then clank-clank-clank then nothing. Almost like a nut in a coffee can.

CVs would make a sound turning, and you would hear it all the time if they were bad, right? Could one of the IWEs be chewed up enough to make a noise like that when engaged? Would a loose axle nut sound like that? What else do you think it could be. I'm planning to start checking things out and just looking for advice.

Thanks!

The vacuum line is easy to pressure test with a vacuum gauge. Just pull the line off of the actuator solenoid, and remove/plug the IWE lines. Then pressure test. If you are losing vacuum, then voila, it's a crack in the line or something. The vacuum line is about $30 and takes about 15 minutes and only minor swearing to replace. 10 is low enough to start seeing problems. The sound you will hear is a rattle. Nut in a coffee can is a decent description. I can't picture what sound the CVs would make - they shouldn't be spinning in 2WD. I don't think this is a CV thing at all. Loose axle nut likes to make 4WD pop out and a REALLY nasty version of the above coffee can noise (also you lose 4WD and that's fun).

It's possible to chew up the wheel bearing, IWE gear, or gears on the CV enough to cause engagement issues. Basically you would be rounding out the gears. Personally I've never managed to make that happen and I've been through a bunch of them - but it's sure possible over a long enough time and depending on how bad it is. Remember, the IWE has one gear that physically meshes the CV to the wheel bearing (in 4WD when vacuum is released).

 

[vegascarnut]

Can you send a picture of how you did this please? I've seriously contemplated a permanent gauge for this since I run into so many issues with it. I already have an onboard air gauge and am thinking about just swapping it out for a dual gauge that displays my OBA pressure as well as the IWE vacuum.

Sure thing. I can tell you. Basically, I ran a very short piece of hose off the nipple on the solenoid that feeds the IWE lines to the hubs. Then, put a T in that, and attached the straight end to the IWE feed line. The T nipple connected to a long vacuum tube that I ran down from the solenoid, under the fender liner, and around the inside front edge of the driver door jamb, and up into the driver corner of the dash area to a manual gauge.Worked great for testing. For a permanent solution, I would go through the firewall of course.

I can't picture what sound the CVs would make - they shouldn't be spinning in 2WD.

Actually you can engage the hubs and spin the CVs in 2WD if you just unplug the vac line going to the hubs at the solenoid and put a cap on the solenoid nipple. It's a poor man's way of creating IWE deletes. Plug all the vac lines at the IWEs and the solenoid, and you're deleted—hubs will be locked all the time!

I'll know soon enough what this new sound is, as I'll be tearing into it this weekend. I'm trying to plan my attack with all the info I can get though! Thanks!

 

[Dane]

Sure thing. I can tell you. Basically, I ran a very short piece of hose off the nipple on the solenoid that feeds the IWE lines to the hubs. Then, put a T in that, and attached the straight end to the IWE feed line. The T nipple connected to a long vacuum tube that I ran down from the solenoid, under the fender liner, and around the inside front edge of the driver door jamb, and up into the driver corner of the dash area to a manual gauge.Worked great for testing. For a permanent solution, I would go through the firewall of course.



Actually you can engage the hubs and spin the CVs in 2WD if you just unplug the vac line going to the hubs at the solenoid and put a cap on the solenoid nipple. It's a poor man's way of creating IWE deletes. Plug all the vac lines at the IWEs and the solenoid, and you're deleted—hubs will be locked all the time!

I'll know soon enough what this new sound is, as I'll be tearing into it this weekend. I'm trying to plan my attack with all the info I can get though! Thanks!

Gotcha. I have an old vacuum line, I think I can pirate a piece of that, then I suppose I just need to find the correct T for it. Did you just have one sitting around or do you have a specific one you could suggest?

I know you can engage the IWEs as you described - had to do it before. But that makes it super easy to isolate the CVs or not. I don't think it's your CVs.

One tip - weirdism I ran into last year. I had one IWE having issues - just one side. Tore it all apart and swapped it. Long story short, that side was fine. I was TOTALLY losing pressure on the other side (so other side was fully engaging) which was causing enough loss on the whole system to cause problems on the good side. I should have tested more thoroughly first. Lessons learned.

 

[vegascarnut]

Gotcha. I have an old vacuum line, I think I can pirate a piece of that, then I suppose I just need to find the correct T for it. Did you just have one sitting around or do you have a specific one you could suggest?

I had one of those multi-piece vac connection kits from NAPA, and there was one in there that worked.

I know you can engage the IWEs as you described - had to do it before. But that makes it super easy to isolate the CVs or not. I don't think it's your CVs.

Oh, ok. Yeah, I don't think it's the CVs either. Most likely related to the IWE or the axle nut under the dust cap may be loose.

One tip - weirdism I ran into last year. I had one IWE having issues - just one side. Tore it all apart and swapped it. Long story short, that side was fine. I was TOTALLY losing pressure on the other side (so other side was fully engaging) which was causing enough loss on the whole system to cause problems on the good side. I should have tested more thoroughly first. Lessons learned.

Good info there. I am going to do a vac test on both the IWEs indidually while replacing the line. Even though the lines are old, and definitely due for replacement because a small piece broke off in my hand with very little effort, the leak could actually be in one of the hubs.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[Dane]

I had one of those multi-piece vac connection kits from NAPA, and there was one in there that worked.



Oh, ok. Yeah, I don't think it's the CVs either. Most likely related to the IWE or the axle nut under the dust cap may be loose.



Good info there. I am going to do a vac test on both the IWEs indidually while replacing the line. Even though the lines are old, and definitely due for replacement because a small piece broke off in my hand with very little effort, the leak could actually be in one of the hubs.

Thanks for the replies.

Cool. I MIGHT have one in a little kit in the garage. Time to go rummage.

Testing the lines and each IWE is a good call - and really easy. I've had the IWEs go bad and lose pressure FAR more often than the vacuum lines. I've replaced the vacuum lines twice, but once was in error (see issue from last year). I can't tell you how many IWEs I've replaced. I now carry a spare.

My most recent coffee can rattling issue seems to have been resolved by replacing the solenoid (though I'm still suspicious of the check valve and have a new one in my glovebox).

 

[letsgetthisdone]

It's very tempting. After speaking with someone who does A LOT more off-roading than I do, and has gone through a few IWEs, his advice is "if you drive your truck more than 10% of the time off-road delete the IWEs." The reasons he recommends keeping them are largely for preventing wear on axles and cvs, better turning radius, negligible mpg gain, smoother road feel if you take long highway trips, etc.

I'm on the fence because I'm on pavement 95% of the time, and this is my road-tripper too.

There is no change in turning radius or road feel, and no concern for "wear" on the cv's and front diff. The mpg difference wasn't noticeable on my truck. I still get 12.5-13 depending on my street/highway mix.

 

[vegascarnut]

There is no change in turning radius or road feel, and no concern for "wear" on the cv's and front diff. The mpg difference wasn't noticeable on my truck. I still get 12.5-13 depending on my street/highway mix.

That's good info, thank you. Just curious. About how long to most Raptor owners get out of their CVs with deletes? When I say most, I mean people who drive them on pavement 90% or more of the time.

 

[letsgetthisdone]

I can't answer that, but its a cv joint. It just turning with no load on it (it's not transmitting torque to move the truck) doesn't really effect its life span.

The boots might wear out a little faster, but those are easy to replace. Certainly cheaper and easier than dealing with recurrent IWE issues. Check them every oil change and they won't turn into a catastrophic failure.

My IWE's never had vacuum issues, but I had one fail off road. With the open front diff I had a 2wd truck. Even with the torsen front diff 100/0=0, you basically won't have 4wd. I had to get helped/towed out of where I was. Never again

 

[vegascarnut]

I can't answer that, but its a cv joint. It just turning with no load on it (it's not transmitting torque to move the truck) doesn't really effect its life span.

The boots might wear out a little faster, but those are easy to replace. Certainly cheaper and easier than dealing with recurrent IWE issues. Check them every oil change and they won't turn into a catastrophic failure.

My IWE's never had vacuum issues, but I had one fail off road. With the open front diff I had a 2wd truck. Even with the torsen front diff 100/0=0, you basically won't have 4wd. I had to get helped/towed out of where I was. Never again

I am definitely leaning toward deleting the IWEs, especially since I'm making 200+ hp over stock now, I could easily see an IWE shattering.