noise from front end?

I have a 57 M38A1. Recently, after running it in 4wd, I have noticed a whinning noise coming from the front end. I'm pretty sure its from my axles. It kicks in around 25mph (whie in 2wd and hubs unlocked). I have original axles (pretty sure if internals are original with older warn locking hubs). My passenger side hub is very difficut to lock/unlock whereas the driver side one is seamless. Any idea is this is from a bad hub or something else?

Thanks,
Kurt

 

Jack up the front right wheel and put the transfer in 4 low. Unlock the right hub and try to spin the wheel. It should spin freely.

 

The warn lock hubs can become nearly impossible to turn if they sit long enough for the old grease to harden to a beeswax like paste. If you remove the 6 bolts holding the hub together and remove the warn hub from the axle, the hub should be extremely easy to turn. Mine was still impossible to turn until I soaked it in a coffe can of gasoline to dissolve the old grease. Greased it with new greas and everything now ok.

If the hubgrease is hardened, then wheel bearing graease also is likely in similar condition. Mine hadn't been apart since '68 when it was new. I pulled the axle nuts and wheel bearings and soaked the wheel bearings a repacked them with new grease.

The wheel bearings should be repacked every 25 years or so ;-). Often neglected on something that doesn't get driven very often.

Old hard grease can be as bad or worse than no grease at all. The roller bearings with no grease will still turn. Old hard grease can keep the rollers from turning and lead to bearing failure.

Failing bearings can be noisy, which may be the noise you hear.

I suggest you get a couple of new front wheel seals and pull the bearings on both sides and re-grease everything.

Let us know how you make out.

 

Thanks for the advice. I have not had time to work on her lately bc of work but this weekend is free so there will be some surgery done. If the bearings do need to be repacked/replaced ill just replace them bc I work for a bearing importer/distributor and can get them cheap.

Ill be giving an update probably Sunday!
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Had a chance to check the front wheels. Neither one of them were able to turn freely. I tried both locked and unlocked on both sides. I haven't had the time to dig deeper. But I'm assuming this isn't good :-(
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My brakes are also really bad I need to bleed them. They tend to sieze up after slowing down...
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That is probably what is locking your fronts and maybe the backs as well. If you open the bleeder valve does the wheel release and spin freely?

 

Okay, sorry it took so long. I had an issue finding my air tools. The wheels spin freely with it in 4w-low with and without the hubs locked. I unbolted them and the grease in them is decent. After inspecting the hubs and cleaning the grease out, I noticed a small needle roller in the piece that is closest to the axle (not the actual locking part) I am soaking the hubs in gasoline anyway just to give them a thorough cleaning. When reassembling them where should the needle piece go? and what type of grease should I use?

This is the pic with the hub cleaned out and the needle roller in it


These are the hubs before I cleaned out some of the grease


This is the broken hub bolt that has half of the threading inside still (must have been broken before I started working on it. It came out as easily as the others)

She's an ongoing work in progress.

 

IIRC, there are 11 more little needle rollers inside the hub. You'll see 'em once you get the grease out of there. Here's a better pic:http://www.jeep-trucks.com/index.php?page=guide&group=locking_hubs&part=warn&action=WL-2&step=2

 

So i finished cleaning everything all up... BUT The 12 needle rollers were all accounted for, the one in the picture was not one of the 12?? I cannot get the hub to rotate from locked to unlocked it seems like it siezed up after soaking in gasoline. What type of grease should I use when reinstalling the hubs? And should I just get a new set of hubs? If so, what type would you reccomend?

I have mechanical knowledge just not that much. Thanks for all the help.

 

You should completely disasseble them and clean up and inspect every piece individually. Those needle pins can get funky and cause the in out to not slide as it should. In the back of the brass hub face there is a allen head screw. take that out and the whole thing comes apart. The back of that hub looks funky to me like maby the bearing is shot? There should be a big c-clip back there to pull it apart. just be real gentle because there is a lot of needle bearings in there. sometimes when that bearing gets locked up the hub that the axle slides in can get so worn down that its useless

 

Try boiling them in water for in a pan on the stove for 20 minutes. Soaking in gasoline may not allow the gasoline to penetrate past the hardened grease. Boiling them in hot water will soften the grease and make them easier to disassemble. Put a little soap in the water.

 

how easily does the lock turn with just the hub face in your hand. Usually it gets hard because the aluminum face oxidizes and mud gets wedged between the brass and the aluminum gap. theres a rubber seal between there that gets hard and old. but if you take it apart dont remove it because itll just get stretched and not fit right afterwords

 

It doesn't turn at all.
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So I have made a decision. After starting the work on rebuilding/thoroughly cleaning I decided to just suck it up and buy some new hubs. I found a great deal on some Warn Premiums for about $150. But i will continue to rebuild the old ones and either sel them to someone looking to restore or keep as backup. Thanks for the help and suggestions. Im sure ill be asking for some help soon!