preload was right, right grease as well. hard to believe they would be perfect until the hubs got locked in

 

at least im not the only one who had the same problem. with the lockers in the locked position it turns the axle inside the hub with additional stress added stress causes heat. excessive heat will cause grease to become more fluid and seep out of the bearings if the excess heat is applied for too long thus creating dry bearings and bam she's toast. there is grease made to avoid this but not everyone uses it. regular tube grease the stuff thats .99 cents a tube is not the correct stuff for wheel bearings and will melt down but not everyone knows that. oreo probably used the correct grease he seems knowledgeable about this stuff but the point is it can happen the way i stated its apparently not common to happen but the point is it can

 

The important point is its safe (literally: safe = safety) to leave them locked or unlocked and also to switch between 2HI and 4HI while moving if you need to. You're not going to lose control blow something up.

It's not stupid to leave them locked and its not stupid to leave them unlocked. It depends on your uses. Leaving them unlocked all the time can ruin the joints, equally so leaving them locked all the time can ruin the joints, and both have been proven by the users here. If you live in Nevada and drive highways its stupid to leave your hubs locked all the time, if you live in northern Canada in the winter its stupid to leave your hubs unlocked all the time.

If you're hearing unhealthy noises, they are indicative of unhealthy mechnical parts, and while how things were engaged may have eventually lead to those problems, they aren't the reason they're happening now. A large number of people are not dedicated/knowledgeable/interested enough to fully maintain their vehicles, especially their 15 year old vehicles they're about to sell used to people like us who do care for them in detail.

 

id have to agree, it all depends on where your going and what your doing. on dry pavement, leave them unlocked. i only leave mine locked in when its snowing, or when im doin farm work. otherwise your just adding wear to parts for no reason, not to mention your front tires will wear faster, and your fuel milage will drop. you just gotta use your head.

 

[QUOTE:]id have to agree, it all depends on where your going and what your doing. on dry pavement, leave them unlocked. i only leave mine locked in when its snowing, or when im doin farm work. otherwise your just adding wear to parts for no reason, not to mention your front tires will wear faster, and your fuel milage will drop. you just gotta use your head.[QUOTE:]




thats what im getting at

 

i wouldn't run around with my hubs locked in while in 2wd.fuel mileage drops enough with extra idle time,and the cut fuel in the winter.
no reason to add to the problem.
we have 4WD rather than just AWD.it's not that hard to hop out and unlock the hubs when your likely to drive 5 or so more miles,knowing your not gunna use that lever on the floor.
if the roads are nasty,then just lock the hubs in,and use 4hi.
i wouldn't just run around locked in for nothing.
you can tell ahead of time when 4wd is needed/helpful.i just pull over and lock 'em in when it looks like the going is getting rough.
i thought i was squeamish about the cold lol.
perhaps some folks should return back to factory auto lockers so they can stay in the warm cab.

i do agree,your not going to hurt anything besides adding extra rolling resistance/decreased fuel economy.
if something happens,then the parts were worn out,or not properly maintained,or a combo of each of course lol.
keep them wheel bearings packed,and the U-joints tight,front end greased,and properly aligned.
what ever brakes when the hubs were locked in,would have failed even sooner had the t-case been engaged anyway.
preventive maintenance is key,or your gunna be repairing things in the snow bank.

 

This is exactly the "use your judgement" case.
I know 4WD is going to be needed here for 4-5 months of the year.
You still don't want to take a full speed corner on dry pavement in 4x4, that will cause big problems. But as soon as I'm off one of those main roads the truck won't even move in 2WD. When that's half and half, it would take me an hour to get across town if I didn't leave them locked.

But that's here, in these types of conditions. It's not "squeamishness" when your truck doesn't move forward. Likewise, that's not going to be a problem in California. You have to know your terrain. A blanket statement doesn't apply on a forum that can be viewed anywhere in the world...

 

OK my 2 cents. And I hope this settle some of this. I live in farm country. When we get a good snow, plow crews come out and do a good job of clearing the roads. However, mother nature likes to blow the snow back on the road into to drifts across the road, that can be near a foot deep. I have a 12 mile strech of county highway into town and can easely have 6+ drifts to drive through, but in between the pavement will be bone dry. I can't make it through the drifts in 2 wheel and the 11+ miles that is dry would be excessive stress on the drive train locked at hihgway speeds is not good at all. getting out to lock and unlock the huds that often would be excessive and quite possibly dangerous with the other traffic on partially snow covered busy road. Therefore I lock before I leave but don't stay in 4 HI. Hope this makes sense to everyone.

 

I'm similar here rolape, even when plowing I'll leave the hubs locked, but switch from 2 to 4 as needed with the transfer case. Running site to site I try to stay in 2wd as usually the roads are decently plowed, on site, depending on the snow, I can often plow in 2wd, as they are mostly paved lots etc. Heavier snowfalls though I'll switch to 4wd rather than spinning out etc.

 

why not stay locked into 4wd for plowing?
less ware on the front end,when not required i take it? this sounds like a good idea.

 

With almost all the truck plowing I do being on paved lots, and tight corners, lots of potential for binding up the drive train. With a few exceptions, the lots we do get the corners and tight spots cleaned out with trucks or skid steers, then the bulk of the snow is done with loaders or tractors with larger blades and/or snow boxes.

A loader with a box 16' wide, 4' high, and 4' deep endplates moves a LOT of snow in a hurry. Two years ago that was what I was running, while I was at another site the truck guys thought they would be smart, piled up about 30'x50', as high as they could stack it. I put the box down in high gear and had the snow flying over the cab of the loader, had to drop a gear, but kept right on trucking through that pile. About three more clean up passes and it was totally gone.

I commute 1.5 hours (in good weather) to where I plow in Toronto. As it's a large city, there is a shortage of operators for commercial snow. Rather than trying to get more machines and drivers, they've gotten larger. Move more snow with less people,a nd faster too.

I've ran loaders with angle blades up to 22' wide, the 16' wide box, and lots of farm tractors with 12 or 14' wide blades.