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Help Me Understand Hubs

k5ryder

k5ryder

1/2 ton status
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Location
Dickinson,TX
85 K5 4wd

I need help understanding what front HUBS do. So when I pull on the 4wd lever inside the truck that only engages the axle? Do I need to engaged the hubs to engage the wheels? Also I have auto hubs and they are getting VERY VERY hot after driving in 2wd. I don't know why they are getting hot but I've done some reading and it seems I should replace the auto hubs to manual one.
 
The shifter on the floor shifts the transfer case, which in turn sends power to the front axle via driveshaft. Spinning the axles inside the front axle housing.

The locking hubs engage the splines on the outsides of these axles to spin the tires.


Manual hubs beat autos every day of the week. Buy those in my opinion
 
Does anybody have a break down of the hub? I'm assuming the bearing are getting hot so I should probably replace them along with adding new manual hubs.
 
k5ryder said:
Does anybody have a break down of the hub? I'm assuming the bearing are getting hot so I should probably replace them along with adding new manual hubs.
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It may be good to plan for them needing to be replaced, but they may just need to be repacked. If it's not your main vehicle, just take it apart first and check it out, it's not difficult or very time consuming, I just repacked my outer wheel bearings the other week, probably 20 minutes per side.

I also have auto hubs, and they work just fine with no complaints. The stigma in the off road world is that auto hubs are absolute garbage and should be replaced as soon as you buy the rig. IMO they're like any other part, of course they're prone to failure after 30 years, what part isn't. That being said however, when they do fail, I will be replacing them with a nice set of manual lockers.

Back to the hubs, as far as special tools, all you need is a set of snap ring pliers, a 4 pronged spindle nut socket, and torque wrench. It's pretty straight forward, take it apart, reassemble in reverse order. Seals and bearings/races are fairly cheap. Once you take it all apart, if the bearing has any play within the race, it's bad, clean both parts very well, if there is obvious heat damage (blueing all over the metal) I'd go ahead and replace them as well. There's an inner and outer bearing, 2 seals IIRC? It's been a while since I've replaced an inner bearing. When assembling, torque the spindle nut to 50ft/lbs while rotating the spindle, loosen slightly, re-torque to 30ft/lbs while spinning it.

There's a write up somewhere here.

http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=294027
and another http://coloradok5.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1504170&postcount=1

Found it, enjoy :D
 
The downfall with auto hubs is that to engage them the tires have to turn about a quarter turn once you engage 4wd. I replaced mine after I got sick of getting stuck because the front wouldn't engage.
That and I grenaded one side with narrow 33's.
 
83ChevyK5Blazer said:
The downfall with auto hubs is that to engage them the tires have to turn about a quarter turn once you engage 4wd. I replaced mine after I got sick of getting stuck because the front wouldn't engage.
That and I grenaded one side with narrow 33's.
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Yeah, forwards driving, or back up a bit, then go forward. That can be a drawback. But planning ahead to engage them can help, just like having to stop and lock manual lockers. By no means am I saying they're superior, just saying that they can work just fine if in proper working order. I'm still running mine cause I wanna see how long 30 year old factory auto lockers can go with me beating the snot out of my truck on a regular basis. Plus, I plan on doing an axle swap sometime soon, so I don't wanna buy 1/2 ton warns, then switch axles and buy new ones again later..
 
Unless you are planning on upgrading to a D60, the half ton Warns will also work in a 3/4 ton axle. I had no problem with my auto lockers either, but figured after 28 years they were on borrowed time.
 
paratrooper307 said:
Unless you are planning on upgrading to a D60, the half ton Warns will also work in a 3/4 ton axle.
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That's some good info I did not know. :waytogo: I'm not sure where I'm headed, would like a D60. But whatever falls in my lap.

I had no problem with my auto lockers either, but figured after 28 years they were on borrowed time.
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I feel the same way, I'm just curious on how much borrowed time, how far can I push them :D I think what I'm trying to accomplish in a lot I do to my rig is to debunk "word of mouth truths" that seem to plague these type of forums. My first K5, one of the firsts things I did was toss on a set warns. The auto lockers worked just fine. But why? Cause I read it on a forum that I should. So now I go into a situation not believing one way or another, and come to a conclusion based on what happens.
 
You will find that failed auto hubs are not "word of mouth", there are (or were through the years I've been here) MANY of us who have gotten stuck when the auto hubs "failed". I certainly don't fault anyone running them that has no issue with them.

I'm not intending to start an argument, simply relate my experiences and thoughts on these...if they work, run them. But being a 4WD component, you will not know they don't work until you need them...can't think of many times you use 4WD that it isn't needed. You throw it in 4WD, hit the gas, and find that you are sitting there spinning the rear tire(s). Pretty hard to determine the front's aren't turning with an open diff, from inside the cab, sitting in a creek. Reallt doesn't matter what kind of hub in this case.

I don't recall any particular times anyone had the auto hubs actually come apart, as in a design weakness. It normally just seems to be a general failure of them to lock automatically, when everything else is working properly. Much if not all of that is probably due to improper maintenance (lubrication), not a design flaw.

I've had the factory (Spicer) manual hubs "fail" me before, and it was a similar issue, one side simply didn't lock. Just appeared to be too much lube or too weak springs. Any time you rely on a spring to push something into engagement, like the hubs, you are going to have variables that can cause issues.

One thing the manuals have going for them as I recall though, is fewer/mainly large parts. I carelessly put one side back together wrong last year, and was able to easily fix my mistake in the field. Not sure I wouldn't have lost parts trying to do the same with the auto hubs.
 
dyeager535 said:
You will find that failed auto hubs are not "word of mouth", there are (or were through the years I've been here) MANY of us who have gotten stuck when the auto hubs "failed". I certainly don't fault anyone running them that has no issue with them.
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Oh and I'm sure they HAVE failed many times, to many people. But I think what gets me is when people read other's experiences, focuses on what happened, and not why, and only passes along the information saying "it's bad". I think what I'm trying to say in this, is I wanna learn WHY these things happened.

I'm not intending to start an argument, simply relate my experiences and thoughts on these...if they work, run them.
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Strange how we seem to say that a lot, especially when we have a different opinion. I know I say it a lot too. No worries here, happy to hear any and everyone's thoughts! :waytogo:

Been thinking about this a lot lately. Keep your eyes open folks! I think I want to start two interesting threads here shortly, one in the lounge, one in the garage.

Sorry to hijack, k5ryder! Hope you got the info you needed before I steered this away :D
 
To the OP, I don't think the hubs would be getting hot from the hubs themselves...there is no gearing or anything involved with them that I can see generating significant heat, I'd be looking at the wheel bearings.
 
dyeager535 said:
To the OP, I don't think the hubs would be getting hot from the hubs themselves...there is no gearing or anything involved with them that I can see generating significant heat, I'd be looking at the wheel bearings.
Click to expand...
ok, I think I'm going to replace the wheel bearings and switch to manual hubs. Does anybody have a picture of the inner wheel bearing location? If understand correctly the outer bearing is on the hub cap correct?
 
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