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Leaving the hubs locked in winter . Ok or not ok ?

T

tunerautomotive

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So my 89 has warn MT locking hubs.
Was wondering if its ok to leave the hubs in the locked position during the winter months even when Its not in 4wd engaged ?
Was wondering so I could drop it in and out of 4wd without having to get in and out of the truck to lock the hubs.
 
Sure, your gonna use more fuel though and have a little more wear on parts but you can get away with it.
 
Thanx . Im only gonna do it in the winter months when driving from the house to the ski hill 20 miles away .
Just lock em before I leave and when I get home just so I dont have to pull over and lock em on the way up.
 
Sure, unless you are running a spool in the front, all you will get is a little more wear on the front components, and maybe slightly less gas mileage.
Just be sure that the front end fluid level is good, all your front U-Joints are OK, and that everything is greased.

Lots of times front end joints are pretty badly worn, but are not noticeable under slow off-road conditions, but show up fast at highway speeds.
Also, if you have not packed your spindle bearings lately, might be a good idea. If your front end will accept one of the spindle bearing greasers, its a good investment.
You take off the hub, screw this closed end sleeve onto the spindle on the same threads that the spindle nuts use, and the end of the axle goes inside the sleeve.
Then you pump in grease, and it goes around the axle, through the spindle bearings and out the back side.
You stop when it comes out clean.

Beats tearing everything down.

One advantage of having them locked is that, unless you are spinning the rear tires faster than the front, it gives you shift-on-the-fly.
 
Thanx, yes shift on the fly is what Im looking for . This summer the truck is going thru an complete inspection as I have 5 months to prep it for next winter. Its the winter beast as I park this in the garage during the winetr months and drive it in the summer :)
BMW.jpg
 
I lock my hubs in around the end of October and they stay locked until mid march , I notice my mileage drops about 2-3 MPG BUT that could be caused by the increased idle time for warm-ups
 
I do it.

Sometimes you just need help turning into a tight spot or sometimes you come off a snow covered road onto a clear highway. It's fine to put in/out up to 30mph, something like that.
 
I keep the hubs locked all year round, even on the daily driver.
You'll never know when you need 4wd...

If I'm going on a longer trip and know I won't need 4wd I sometimes disengage them though.

But if I lived in a city and mostly drove dry paved roads I'd probably have them disengaged more often...
 
Fordum said:
Sure, unless you are running a spool in the front, all you will get is a little more wear on the front components, and maybe slightly less gas mileage.
Just be sure that the front end fluid level is good, all your front U-Joints are OK, and that everything is greased.

Lots of times front end joints are pretty badly worn, but are not noticeable under slow off-road conditions, but show up fast at highway speeds.
Also, if you have not packed your spindle bearings lately, might be a good idea. If your front end will accept one of the spindle bearing greasers, its a good investment.
You take off the hub, screw this closed end sleeve onto the spindle on the same threads that the spindle nuts use, and the end of the axle goes inside the sleeve.
Then you pump in grease, and it goes around the axle, through the spindle bearings and out the back side.
You stop when it comes out clean.

Beats tearing everything down.

One advantage of having them locked is that, unless you are spinning the rear tires faster than the front, it gives you shift-on-the-fly.
Click to expand...

Where can we find one of these? Seems like no matter how good of a seal I use, some moisture manages to find its way onto my bearings and I need to repack them about twice a year. It would be nice to have something like you're talking about.
 
That would do the outer bearings though...not the inners right?
 
In the description it says inner bearings, although I don't see how they could get back there. I may try these. Thanks for the post Sweet.
 
Hrmmmm...



Oh, for the record, when I lived in Northern Michigan I'd just lock the hubs in sometime in November and then unlock them around April when the snow went away and the roads were dry. Like yellow said I lost a bit of mpg in the winter but you do anyway...hard to say how much extra was from spinning everything and not increased idle time, more warming up time, and winter fuel blend.
 
We don't get snow where I live but I've left mine locked before and I didn't notice any decrease in mileage (it's already dismal). I could feel a slight vibration at highway speeds though.
 
Yep, I was talking about spindle bearings.

Wheel bearings are much easier to pack and replace than spindle bearings. And get a lot more attention.
Usually you don't think about the spindles until you start hearing noise and see rust leaking out.
Also, don't forget that if you are getting water into the wheel bearings, it may not be coming past the wheel bearing seals.
It can come in past the spindle bearings, along the axle, and around the end of the spindle to the wheel bearings.

Spindle bearings don't have much of a seal to stop water.
If you use this greaser, you not only grease the bearings, but you fill the spindle with grease too, and this acts as a barrier to water.

But, it does not grease the wheel bearings.

When I started using the greaser, my wheel bearings stayed a lot drier longer.

And I also use this grease. It seems to stand up to water a lot better.

http://www.amazon.com/CRC-SL3121-Marine-Trailer-Bearing/dp/B000CPJMY8

But, there are a ton of great greases out there now, so it might be outdated.
 
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