So I have this noise that's bothering me.

This is when the everybody on the other side of the keyboard rolls their eyes. "What is it now Tug?"

Along with the noise in the front, there's a very slight shimmy. It's not the usual suspects, they've all been addressed. I popped the locking hub on the passenger side and gave the bearing a spin - it's a grincher. The hubs were serviced a few months ago and they seal properly, but the bearings are shot after 290K miles. Before everybody goes into convulsions with "Just put some Warns in there.", I will state that I love the ESOF and it works perfectly - so I'm not giving it up.

I found a pair of new ones on Amazon for $500 (with rush shipping and tax). I haven't road-tested the truck yet, but I'll report after I have.

 

I'm with ya Rich, I like the ESOF also. Not a bad price for the OEM ones. But still they dont need to be that much, not like their made out of gold.

 

I like the bigger dials on the Ford OEM hub locks.

The Warns have little dials, with an inexplicable bulge in the center, and very little room for fingers to fit inside the dinky depressions on either side of that bulge in the dial in order to grasp the dial. I don't like Warn hubs for that reason alone.

My favorite hub locks are the MileMarker Selectro style that I had on one one of my 1979 Fords. With these, you grasp the entire outside collar to rotate. You can do this with thick padded snow gloves ON, without having to freeze the fingertips with gloves off to fit inside tiny dial depressions such as on the Warn.

 

I wonder if I can adapt those to Stinky. I wouldn't have to take my gloves off, I could "override" any icing, and I wouldn't even need my glasses to know which way to turn it - or in which mode I'm already in. They even have that steam punk thing going on.

Those are really cool.

"Selectro", eh? I should have something like that on Stinky's tuner - the far-right setting would read "Destructo".