99 F250 SD 4x4, Auto--Took off while parked and not started?

I've heard of no such thing with other owners. Do you have pictures of where your vehicle took off from? I'm trying to picture your driveway...it must be really long because it sounds like this fiasco happened over the course of several hundred feet. I can't picture my Excursion running away from me like this and having there be enough room for it to make a 45-90 degree turn and run into a tree causing nearly $10K worth of damage to itself.

I have a video of it. The truck went about 50-75 feet before it turned into the trees. I haven't taken actual measurements yet, but that's pretty close. As I said, it was sitting pretty much on level ground with the front tires just at the point where my driveway starts a decline.

Ford refuses to at least inspect the drivetrain/electronic 4x4, so I have put off making a claim with Progressive (they say I have 3 years to make a claim). The last option I have which I just recently thought of is to go through my extended warranty company. I have a 6yr 100,000 mile ext warr. that covers everything. So, I figure if I can get them to look for a problem in the electonics of the transfer case they would be also liable to fix the damage, and quite possibly they would be willing to talk to Ford.

The 1st estimate on damage is $5950.26 (trailer included) Progressive said it will probably be a little more on the final est.

I don't quite remember where I read this , but....
It explicity stated for my '85 Bronco, NOT to leave the t-case in 4X4 when parked.
Doing so, could cause the vehicle to roll forwards or backwards depending on the conditions.
If I ever find where I read that again, I'll post it.

I realize, we're talking manual hubs/t-case vs your automatic set up, but maybe there's something to it.

WD-40

please let me know if you find this and where it was. Manual from Ford, magazine, or wherever. Thanks, Earl

In about 1980 my father had his Jeep Cherokee Chief do the same thing with a Camper trailer. My dad didn't have a new rig so he took it apart, He haden't set the parking brake. The weight of the trailer and the incline broke a tooth out of the tranny in the park position. He heard his rig ticking, almost like a ratcheting sound, that was the tranny tearing up the parking gear as the rig rolled forward. I don't know about the wheel not locking. Maybe it turned the wheels and then locked. if at all. Anyway I hope this helps. I feel for ya man

Yep. Broken park pawl was my first guess as well. FWIW, my 98 Explorer will sometimes roll as much as a foot before the park pawl catches. With enough weight behind it, it could easily gain enough momentum to prevent the pawl from engaging at all.

So Earl, what have you found out about the truck,
Was it mech failure or what.