Just got done with a ball joint replacement on my 2003 F550, everything went together great, just as it should. Until I got to the drivers side hub lock.

I have Mile Marker 449s/s manual hubs. Turn from free to lock and theres this loud clicking sound about halfway to LOCK (passenger side doesnt do this). Hub will stay locked for about 2 rotations, then it unlocks and makes a clicking sound. You cannot turn the hub back to FREE, it gets halfway and stops. I tried forcing it and broke the spring fingers inside. Have a new set on order.

Is this a locking hub issue or an assembly error? I was going to take these steps.

Take passenger side hub lock off and see if it operates normally or same on drivers side.
If same, remove axle and re-seat/re-assemble everything again

Anything to specifically check? All the parts went back in, washers were in correct order, outer snap ring is in groove.

 

I went with warns on my 08 because the rebuilt kit is cheap and available.

 

to me it sounds like something was either assembled wrong or was really worn out.. the locks should not change position freely like that.. unfortunately i dont have MM either.. i went with Yukon Gear locks since MM & Warn said theirs wouldnt work on my truck..

 

I'd do just what you plan to do - move the other hub over and see if the problem disappears.

Sometimes things just break or wear out; hopefully it's that simple.

 

well the hubs are less than a year old, i've only used the truck in 4wd 3 times

Hub broken - don't know how it could of broke just sitting there, but I didn't check it's operation before this project

Assembly - anything's possible. everything's seated and present and in the correct order.

hopefully it's something easy. Testing them with both front wheels in the air wouldnt have any effect on anything, would it?

 

If anything you would lessen your chance of breaking something.

 

exactly because it was in the air that removed all the stress off the drivetrain since it in turn removed the friction of the road. the only resistance that remained is the gear to gear from within the differential and weight of the drivetrain components itself..

 

MM are touchy, take the dial off and rotate it one hole and retry

 

swapped the **** part from passenger side to drivers side and it all works properly. Now to wait on the new spring fingers for the other hub so I can have 4wd instead of 3wd, lol

so yea, I guess it wasn't clocked properly, thanks for the help!

 

Warns are lifetime...Just bring em where you bought them for a new set...I'm on my 2nd set of premiums..

 

Without both locked in you would still have 2wd...Unless you have a locker in front..

If the ujoint is bad it could take out the hub. FYI

 

I wouldn't actually ever attempt to drive it with only 1 side locked. Was a joke.