Whats up with my Spicer hubs?

[rjfguitar]

So I have had a light "pop" when I make sharp turns with my K30 and the other day I needed to pull on one of my trucks with it and was the first time I had it in 4wd since I bought it.

I started to pull on the truck, tires started to chirp, the front end wen't "pop" "pop", then made a quick ratchet sound, and shut up. After it quit I think it then slipped fully into 4wd. I later drove around the yard making figure 8's in 4wd, everything seemed fine.

Whats up with that? Do Spicers need servicing and "repacked" with grease every now and then? I would imagine it' been a while since the truck was in 4wd. And yes, I had the hub completely engaged (turned as far as it would go to lock). Since then , my binding "pop" went away when I make sharp turns. Can a lockout hub "jam" half in and out?

 

[FWP]

Yup, sometimes if the grease is all dried out or dirty, the outer ring will stay or get stuck in the wheel hub, and not slide into the inner gear. I service mine occasionally.

 

[drop the hammer]

I have repacked the hubs on all my trucks about once a year just to make sure. Its not hard, doesnt take that long and is just good insurance.

 

[blazd88]

I had a set of warns that apparently the PO never serviced. They would pop and make noise too. Upon pulling them apart half of the gears had been stripped off of one side. I wasnt going to be using them too long so I just turned the gear around and voila. Been that way on the K30 ever since. No problems. Of course it hasent been driven much since the Cummins arrived. I think shes a little jealous. Right now they are pouting together on the side of the house. K30 needs new rear axles(stripped the slines) and the Dodge needs a VP. Go figure.

 

[mrk5]

Having just repacked my wheel bearings, I could see how the Spicer hubs would not engage well with old grease.

I am very impressed with their "beef."

 

[rjfguitar]

Well, maybe I need to pull them apart and add some fresh grease then.

Since that day of being in 4wd, I don't have any more poping when I turn, the hub must of been just slightly engaged apparently.

At least they didn't break I guess, I was spinning on asphalt and my K30 has a service body full of tools, I weigh about 8K. I was waiting for it to go "pop pop BANG"...

 

[mrk5]

The teeth on the gears are pretty big. It could even be possible they happened to be directly lined up and the wheel needed rotate a little for them to slip into engagement. Could have been compounded by old grease for that matter.

 

[rjfguitar]

I'll have a looksey tommorrow.

Any special instructions or tools for the Spicers??? I basically figure not as hubs are super easy, but you never know, never owned a 60 before that has lockouts.

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

One of the spicers that came with my 60 was basically unusable. It seemed okay under when I repacked the bearings but when I engaged it a similar thing happened to me. The hub didn't want to lock and you could hear it ratcheting. I never could get it to work right. I think the taper on the gear was too worn out.

 

[rjfguitar]

I took them apart this morning and found that one was lubed fairly good still and is fine, and the other side that the noise was coming from didn't look quite as good.

The grease was getting very pasty and drying up, and clearly there was material in the grease from binding and wearing incorrectly. I took everything apart, cleaned the parts, and repacked them with fresh grease. The hub feels smoother, but I shure hope it holds. The outer ring has lost a lot of material.

 

[rjfguitar]

So, since I have always heard of the popularity of these hubs and the clear lack of parts... where does a guy get a new outer ring gear?

 

[mrk5]

IIRC someone was selling some on ebay. I would have seen it doing a search for "dana 60"

 

[bigjbear]

One thing to remember about the Spicer hubs is don't get too much grase in them and don't use a super sticky grease. If you do things won't slide right, BTDT.

The other thing to watch out for the the coil spring getting week. I'm not sure where to buy the springs or the ring anymore. A big truck spring place local to me used to have be a full line Spicer dealer, but not anymore.

 

[rjfguitar]

Hmm, I loaded those puppies up good with grease too... I use JD grease, it's pretty thin and should be fine.

I think my springs are still ok, I had to push pretty hard on the gear to get the snap ring back on.

 

[nvrenuf]

When I had Spicers on my old truck I usually coated them with a thin lithium grease or gear oil.