Right front Aisin hub is wrench turn only and likely not engaging. (FJ62) (1 Viewer)

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View attachment 2813071View attachment 2813072View attachment 2813074So the 4x4 system has never worked while I’ve owned this FJ62 and I had thought it did. So far I’ve had the hubs serviced, right side twice. Replaced the top vacuum actuator. Gotten the transfer case moving again by using a brake bleeding kit on the lines.

As of now, no 4x4 light comes on in the dash no matter the state of the transfer case or front driveshaft engagement. However the 4 hi and 4 low lever works and the front driveshaft engages.

I need some help isolating if the right front hub is the holdout on the 4x4 actually working and if so, how to potentially fix it. (Can’t jack or lift the truck at the moment).

The other part I need help diagnosing is if I have an electrical switch issue since the actual 4x4 light never works, could be just the bulb, not sure.

Here’s the state of the hub switch itself:
 
View attachment 2813071View attachment 2813072View attachment 2813074So the 4x4 system has never worked while I’ve owned this FJ62 and I had thought it did. So far I’ve had the hubs serviced, right side twice. Replaced the top vacuum actuator. Gotten the transfer case moving again by using a brake bleeding kit on the lines.

As of now, no 4x4 light comes on in the dash no matter the state of the transfer case or front driveshaft engagement. However the 4 hi and 4 low lever works and the front driveshaft engages.

I need some help isolating if the right front hub is the holdout on the 4x4 actually working and if so, how to potentially fix it. (Can’t jack or lift the truck at the moment).

The other part I need help diagnosing is if I have an electrical switch issue since the actual 4x4 light never works, could be just the bulb, not sure.

Here’s the state of the hub switch itself:
You can pull the bulb out and see if its burned out or not. then you can use a multimeter to see if the switch opens and closes when 4wd is activated. If it does not then you should get at the switch itself and see if the harness is good, the wires are not broken, and the connector is connected. If all that is good you can pull out the switch and check to see if its making a connection when cycled.

Should look something like this...2 wires, little push button on the end. Not sure if the 60 and 62 use the same switch in the same location.

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Well hell, after I put the hub back on after taking those photos, I get the green 4x4 light on now. Does that mean maybe the tech who did the hub put it back on wrong?
 
The 4WD indicator light doesn’t talk with the front hubs. It has no idea what’s going on with the hubs. Fiddling with the hubs didn’t fix the light.
 
When you move the transfer case lever to LO, there is a switch that turns on the 4WD light. Seth S posted what the switch looks like above. The switch screws into the transfer case housing under your rig. Moving to LO does 2 things: 1. Engages the front drive shaft, 2. Turns on the 4WD light. Moving the lever back and forth may have loosened the sticky 4WD switch.

To get 4WD, you need to lock the front hubs. The 4WD system on your rig is all mechanical. Even if the light does not come on. You will be 4WD, provided you locked the front hubs and move the t-case lever to low.

4WD Hi is slightly different. To use 4WD Hi you would press the 4-HI button by the ignition switch. This turns on a vacuum switch (VSV) that shifts automictically (via vacuum from the engine) to engage the front drive shaft. Again you would need to lock your hubs. The mushroom looking thing on your transfer case is the vacuum diaphragm that moves the t-case in/out of 4WD Hi.

There are 2 vacuum switches on the firewall close to the wiper motor that control 4WD HI. One switch to engage and one switch to disengage 4WD HI. The vacuum switches are known to freeze up after 20 years or so. When 4WD Hi is pressed, the 4WD light will turn on using the same trigger switch used for 4WD LO.

4WD Lo is the t-case lever and front hubs.
4WD Hi is the button on the dash and front hubs.

If your front hubs are hard to engage. Then the locking hub needs to be rebuilt, there are many how-tos on Mud or YouTube.
 
When you move the transfer case lever to LO, there is a switch that turns on the 4WD light. Seth S posted what the switch looks like above. The switch screws into the transfer case housing under your rig. Moving to LO does 2 things: 1. Engages the front drive shaft, 2. Turns on the 4WD light. Moving the lever back and forth may have loosened the sticky 4WD switch.

To get 4WD, you need to lock the front hubs. The 4WD system on your rig is all mechanical. Even if the light does not come on. You will be 4WD, provided you locked the front hubs and move the t-case lever to low.

4WD Hi is slightly different. To use 4WD Hi you would press the 4-HI button by the ignition switch. This turns on a vacuum switch (VSV) that shifts automictically (via vacuum from the engine) to engage the front drive shaft. Again you would need to lock your hubs. The mushroom looking thing on your transfer case is the vacuum diaphragm that moves the t-case in/out of 4WD Hi.

There are 2 vacuum switches on the firewall close to the wiper motor that control 4WD HI. One switch to engage and one switch to disengage 4WD HI. The vacuum switches are known to freeze up after 20 years or so. When 4WD Hi is pressed, the 4WD light will turn on using the same trigger switch used for 4WD LO.

4WD Lo is the t-case lever and front hubs.
4WD Hi is the button on the dash and front hubs.
So even if this hub is hard to turn, the fact that it does turn means it’s engaging?
 
If the hub goes to LOCK. Yes usually. The locking hub moves a lock ring to lock the front wheel to the axle. To confirm the hub is ONLY hard to turn. You would need to lift the front tire and check for rotation.
 
Or put the t-case into neutral. Lock only the sticky hub and try to rotate the front driveshaft by hand. If the hub is unlocked the drive shaft will spin freely. You can do this for each hub. Just lock the hubs one at a time. Leaving the other unlocked.
 
The hub should not require a wrench to turn. The locking hubs are super simple to work on. Remove the six bolts on the outside ring, withdraw the locking mechanism from the housing, slather some grease in there and put it back together. Unless somebody has really mangled the hub, it probably just needs some grease. You get extra points if you actually clean the old grease out and replace with new.
 
Rebuild process is the same as the FJ62
 
Or put the t-case into neutral. Lock only the sticky hub and try to rotate the front driveshaft by hand. If the hub is unlocked the drive shaft will spin freely. You can do this for each hub. Just lock the hubs one at a time. Leaving the other unlocked.
Looks like with t-case in neutral, neither hub locks the front driveshaft. But now putting it in 4low with the dash button not engaged does trigger the 4x4 light and locks the driveshaft. As well as putting the 4hi/4low lever in neutral and only the 4x4 button engaged. Both of those will lock the driveshaft.
 
When the transfer case is in neutral, there’s no engagement between the transfer idler gears (and thus your transmission) and the rear output shaft or front output shaft - they can spin freely.
So if both front wheel hubs are locked but the transfer case is in neutral, the front wheels will spin freely because the front driveshaft isn’t engaged in the gear cluster - it’s in neutral.
 
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Has anyone mentioned how the pawl is attached to the clutch or hub dial? It’s been a minute since I’ve seen the guts of a locking hub, but I’m almost positive this ain’t right.
 
View attachment 2813410Has anyone mentioned how the pawl is attached to the clutch or hub dial? It’s been a minute since I’ve seen the guts of a locking hub, but I’m almost positive this ain’t right.
I think it got forced back together last time you had it serviced. Someone had it misaligned and just jammed it together causing it to bind and bend. That’s my two cents.
 
The hub dial has to be installed in the correct notches in the hub body. One has more area machined out as there is a tab on the dial assembly that will interfere in any other position. And it will not lock if it is assembled wrong.

E06B6CC2-81A8-401A-9242-953855661344.jpeg
 
Not a new hub - just a new hub dial assembly.

But the hub dial assemblies are really simple to fix. One of the hub dials was installed incorrectly on my 62, and I made the same mistake you did - using a pair of pliers to turn it. It did the exact same thing as yours - bent up all the tabs and separated.

I took off the good hub dial, cleaned all the grease off. Looked how it went together, and then disassembled the bent up one. I bent everything back to the way it should be, and everything was just dandy after that. Watch the video that was posted, they're very simple to take apart.
 

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