Maybe I'm an idiot... Locking hub removal

Stu - I was turning the axleshaft too. You're exactly right though - without the internals of the hub, it's not locked. Sorry, I had momentary lapse of stupidity...

I *thought* I looked close last night and didn't see any set screws or locking rings, but I'll look closer this evening. I'll take more pictures if I can't come up with something.

Am I correct in thinking that the hubs are suppose to lock themselves when you put the t-case in 4WD? Will the dials turn to "Lock"? If so, I've probably been riding around with them engaged for a while b/c I often slap it in 4WD without locking the hubs, when I need low gear. Most recently was last Tuesday when I pulled it on the rack at the muffler place. This could explain some of the vibration I've been feeling lately...

 

Yeeeesh!!! Rereading what I've written here..... My train of thought seems to be on several tracks at once............ Remembering now why I have two ears and one mouth. Thought it was to hold my glasses up; I'm supposed to listen twice as much as I talk, right?? I'll be over here, in the corner, listening, quietly............

 

Tim, You're not correct. The way they work is that even with the hubs set to lock and t-case is 4wd, you're still in 2wd until the hubs start slipping and 'sense' that 4wd is needed. Then they lock and you're in 4wd. They also only sense slippage in forward motion, so with lock-o-matics you only have forward 4wd. Sort of a poor man's automatic 4wd.

This is my understanding from discussing them with Herm. Herm also said that these were typically found on FSJs rather than CJs.

 

Well, that lasted, what, a minute?

As I understand an automatic hub, yeah, if you engage the front axle, it should move the hubs to the "lock" position. And, yes the dial would move also. You'll see all this clearly when you succeed at dismembering the thing. I really shouldn't be trying to help here; I have no useful knowledge other than my own experience with hubs which obviously aren't the same as yours.

In forty plus years I don't ever remember the hubs locking when they shouldn't have. Maybe they never worked in the first place (automatically, that is....)

One last thought, Tim; I know nothing about the flanged axle setup you have. Is there any way to separate the wheel hub from the flange??

Sorry to ramble so much. Good luck to you.

Stu

 

Well dang! That sucks!!! Guess I'll be trying to get these baby's out and replace them. Seems that needing 4WD in reverse would be a fairly common thing...

 

Scratch my earlier post, just talked to Herm again. Locked the L-O-M hubs work like any other hub. Unlocked with the t-case in 4wd, the L-O-M hubs will automatically lock under accelleration.

 

Okay - that's better then... *IF* I can get these out and back in sucessfully, I'll probably keep them for the coolness factor. But if removal isn't easier than what I've done so far - they'll be sold. I can't imagine doing all this on the side of the trail with a broken ujoint or something...

 

Success!!! (and it only took 8 screwdrivers, two hammers, a flashlight, one can of Sprite, and one brass drift...)



As it turns out, I had everything removed like I should have. Only the two outer snap rings hold the hub body in place. The problem was that the end of the axleshaft was mushroomed out a little, and it wouldn't allow the internal part of the locking hub to slide off. Once I got it off, I used the Dremel to clean up the end of the axleshaft and everthing was hunky-dory. Once this was out, I then saw the threaded ring with the three set-screws and the funky washer behind it. Everything was the same as I remembered from there.



But - I do think that I'm going to get a set of regular Warn locking hubs (if I can find them by Thursday). The outer threaded ring on this side has been beat up pretty bad. All three of the set screws are broken off - I assume from people removing them and not realizing they were there. And it looks like something has rubbed against it for a while, and made a sizeable groove in it. Just to be safe, and to simplify things, I'm going to ditch them. Glenn, I think you were the first to say you wanted them. If so - shoot me a PM and we'll work out the details. The drivers side is perfectly fine - it came out easy, and all the set screws are there and functioning.

Thanks to everyone for all the advise!!!

 

Sell you a whole dana 27 front for $110, it has warn hubs (good shape) good axle shafts, you would have plenty of spare parts including the tie rods. I'll even deliver it as far as Tellico.

 

I don't suppose it would happen to have the one piece tie rod, would it? Single-hole knuckle?

 

Nope. sorry! Standard set up in that respect, and it has 3.73 gears and no locker.

 

Thanks Mike, but I think I'll just buy the locking hubs. I don't really need another axle housing sitting around!!! (as tempting as it is...)