seriously, i want to know if im alone in this or not. i freakin hate the auto hubs ford uses. ive only ever had two vehicles that had auto hubs, and in both vehicles they failed. one was in my old explorer, put it in fourwheel on icy conditions, but the hubs didnt work, we spun and hit a light pole. (this was before i was able to drive). then on my 91 f250, they worked fine when i got up here to north dakota, would lock in almost instantly. but the last two times ive driven my truck, ive gotten stuck because the hubs wont engage. until, now, ive NEVER had to be pulled out by anyone. now im up to twice.

 

Everyone I know with a 90s ford 4x4 has replaced thier autolockers with manuals. My truck came with auto lockers from the factory but the original owner swapped them for mile markers. Even my buddys 95 ranger 4x4 (the danger ranger) has the auto hubs replaced with warns.

 

On my trucks its a 94 and they stick work like a charm i don't have any problems on them, i have about 133333 miles on it, and my 4x4 works still great.

 

when i got my truck, i was really surprised cause they did work so well. then one day, just a couple of weeks ago, they decided to almost completely give out. i can get em to go in, but it takes a lot of finesse and enough wheel spin that by the time they go in, im buried anyway...

 

My auto lockouts cause me to have an...um... incident with the law. If my 4x4 would've worked I wouldn't have gotten stuck and the whole deal wouldn't have happened. Kind of a long story.
I promptly installed manual warns and my 4x4 has been great ever since.

 

ehh was u one of those uninsured motorist and they asked to see ur credintials lol

 

210k miles on my 94. No issues yet. My old mans broncos all worked great as well.

 

Same here....I've had 2 trucks in the past with them and they were intermitent. I strongly dislike them.

 

Yep.. I have seen lots of auto hubs refuse to lock or get stripped if they only partially lock before power is applied. My '90 had manuals on it when I got it but I'm pretty positive an XLT Lariat would have come with autos, wonder how long they lasted. Never had a problem with my manual hub equipped trucks.

 

on that note, does anyone know where i can get a set of manuals for cheaper than $210 a pair?

 

I've never had problems. I don't get myself into too many situations though where I will need 4x4 and I haven't already gotten the hubs to lock in. I always do it well before I'm in anything messy/deep snow so I have a bit of rolling room to make sure everything engages correctly.

 

the first time i noticed a problem, i had put my truck in four wheel a LONG time before i got in the snow. it was on snow pack before i got into the fresh powder, but it was no-go. i bout got buried before i could get the hubs to engage finally and had to do some pretty good rockin and use a lot of skinny pedal to get out. backed up a ways and got a run at it, went through it like a warm knife through butter. so dumb.

 

Give me manual hubs every time. Once they're locked, they're locked, that's all there is to it. Heck, even the Eddie Bauer F-150 a guy has in the next town has aftermarket manual hubs put on it, and I doubt that thing spends a whole lot of time in 4 at all!

 

I've heard that the hubs take the most abuse when trying to rock out of somewhere. Unlike a manual locking hub which is permanently locked, the auto hubs actually disengage and and have to re-engage when switching from forward to backward motion and that accelerating hard while the hubs are transitioning is what ruins the hubs the fastest. Is this true?

 

my truck is a stick. so when i rock it, i leave it in gear and use the clutch, so there is no change of direction. i dont know if this is true or not, i dont think it is, but i stay one direction anyway. how i do it, i rev up and let out on the clutch so it movin a bit then hit the clutch so theres no power and the weight of the truck rolls it back and a bit up the other side, then i hit it again. do this a few times and it will usually get me out.