Just a quick question fo you guys. I was rotating my tires today, and for some unknown reason I got it off the ground before breaking the lugs loose. Now its in the air and the front tires are turning while im trying to loosen the lugs. So I figured I would engage the hubs to lock up the tires, but it didnt.

Its a 00 4wd with warn hubs. Ive never messed with the 4wd because I honestly havent used it since I bought it.

So that leads to my question. Does locking the hub do nothing unless you change the switch inside? Or is there something wrong? Like I said, all I did was switch on the hub to lock, nothing with the 4wd switch in the truck.

 

How Do Locking Hubs Work? | eHow.com

I would say something is wrong

 

Were both wheels up in the air? If you turn one wheel the other one should turn too if the hubs are locked

 

Thats what im thinking about now. They were both up, and now thinking I dont remember seeing if they both moved or not. Now im thinking maybe I just tried to engage one at a time.

Thought I had them both locked at the same time, but couldnt tell you if they were both moving. It was a long day.

 

Sounds normal. The way it works is this:

During normal 2WD operation with hubs unlocked, your front wheels are actually divorced mechanically from the front axle shaft. So your wheels are rotating, but the axle shaft, front diff, and front driveshaft are not. Your front driveshaft is divorced from engine power via the transfer case. In effect, these components are isolated from either end.

Since you have manual hubs, if you were to only engage your hubs, your wheels would spin the axle, diff, and front driveshaft. Driving around this way, you'd be in 2WD but you wouldn't want to do this because spinning all that running gear robs you of power and mileage.

If your hubs were unlocked but your transfer switch in 4HI/4LO, all the running gear would be spinning due to power from the transfer, but not getting to the wheels.

Locking hubs + switch = true 4WD.

Now, the front diff accommodates the dissimilar wheel speeds of the inboard and outboard wheels during turning, so it doesn't chirp. If you locked the hub, just one, with that wheel off the ground, the wheel you were working on would still turn, but you'd also be turning the running gear. It would be more resistance than just the wheel, but not enough to break lug nuts loose.

If you had both wheels in the air and both hubs locked plus 4x4 engaged in the transfer, the wheel would still spin because the opposite side wheel would spin opposite the one you're working on. That is due to the gearing inside described earlier.

Hope that helps, kind of a crash course. Easiest way is to leave it on the ground or have someone hold the brakes for a sec.

 

Thanks. If there supposed to still spin engaged it lightens my mind. For some reason I was thinking it would lock up and not move like the rear.

 

Yeah only if you're in park, in 4x4, both hubs locked and only one wheel off the ground should that happen.

Rear is a limited slip diff btw, so it'll control a lot of that free wheeling internal to the axle. It will act differently just because of that. The rear driveshaft is engaged by the transfer at all times, of course.

 

You can lock the hubs and still spin the wheels if they are up in the air. The transfer case isn't engaged yet so it is still disconnected from the tranny. You are only spinning the front axels and the front drive shaft.
If you have the selector, manual or by the switch, then it connects to the tranny and then it will hold in place so long as your rear tires are on the ground.

 

No. You still would need one front on the ground. With both up it just spin each tire in different directions unless you have some type of traction aiding differential.