Well looks like Im in the same boat. Cruising into Boat Harbour up here (which is a beach) every stops to look at the truck. Get up to the soft stuff and no more forward direction. Front hubs didnt lock. Problem is I have the covers on the hubs that come with the rims and had no allen key to get em off. How embarrassment. Luckily a guy had a set on him. Took the covers off, locked the hubs and off she went.

 

Don't ya love it!
When I did it the only way to access the hubs was to remove the wheels as the hub cover was a 'slip-in' from behind the wheel. I ended up cutting access holes into the covers.

The new wheels have open caps.

Not going to manual hubs then? In that situation you would have already engaged the hubs 'just in case'.

Actually, you're pretty lucky - in the old days I used to get a Landcruiser stuck in 2WD & shift into 4WD and still be stuck. I realised that to maximize my chances of getting through I had to have it in 4WD before it'd get stuck in 2WD to not get stuck.

Glad you got out without anything more than a borrowed allen-key!

 

When my alternator **** itself,i had to get a jump start at work from the bosses hilux,boy-o-boy did I cop it..

Jealousy causes them too find any excuse..

 

Problem is, with the weight of our trucks, not many can tow us out when you get it down to the axles. Discovered that on the farm... and had to go get the tractor.


As for the hubs not engaging. 99% of the time its a vacuum leak (or vacuum issue). The Aus delivered trucks all seemed to suffer from it, they took a lot longer to engage (if they engaged) than US trucks and I never got a chance to discover the source of it, whether it was different hose routing, ****ty quality hoses that crack easily, but I would suggest going through the vacuum lines and checking for leaks, and replacing it with high quality hose.

 

Yep that will be my first port of call. I want to keep my wheel covers on so manual hubs will end up being a PITA.