Leper said:
This is a big problem that a lot of manufacturers overlook. When running the slugs, the screws pull the slug into the stubs snap ring, providing the tension on the seal that IS necessary. The big problem I had was that while running my warn lockouts or my plates and caps (no slugs), there was no tension pulling out on the axles. This caused the yoke on my inner axles to grind into the axletubes causing a horrendous and difficult to track noise. Apparently, the grinding is only a problem with the new 4340 yukons and superiors... the yokes are BIG. My solution was to make spacers out of some DOM tube. I wanna say it was 1 3/4" by .083 wall??? Both sides needed spacers apx 1/4" thick and sized perfectly so that the lockouts could still slide in and out properly. As for running the slugs- when running them, it's no problems. When I pull the slugs and use the plates and caps, i'm not wheeling so I'm not as anal about anything getting in there. I found out the other day about the springs that were behind factory style slugs. I always wondered how they got them to work right. All I know is that after rebuilding my entire front axle, I sure wish I could have figured all this out beforehand.
