I was curious what the procedure is to manually switch the hubs from auto to lock after wheels are replaced and the center hub is no longer accessible? Is there a way to do it from behind the wheel should the vacuum fail or is that simply the price you pay for aftermarket wheels?

 

You would have to remove the center cap covering the hubs, usually held on by small Allen head bolts. Some people run the front wheels with no center cap covering the hubs but with my experience with my trucks and the abuse I've put them through I've never had a shift on the fly failure. My 2011 f250 is in 4HI probably once a week.

My opinion is run the front center caps and in the rare occasion in which your esof fails, just have the Allen wrench in your truck.

 

I agree. I had 1 failure in 300,000 miles on my 2011 f350. took 2 minutes to get the center cap off

 

That depends on where you use the 4wd. I would not want to pull the cap off in 18" of mud and water. The other issue is that the hubs should be turned a few times a year just to keep the o ring seals from freezing up. I didn't turn mine for 2 years and when I finally needed them it was almost impossible to turn them over to manual.

 

I also agree. I keep an Allen wrench handy. I am in and out of 4 wheel drive all winter long and have only ever had one failure. It was a split end on my vacuum hose attaching to the hub. A quick pocket knife trim and reattachment had me back in business, so I never have had to use that Allen wrench yet.