Pardon my bumpside.. I have a 1977 F250 with ‘72 cab&bed. I have tried my hardest following forum and YouTube advice to free my hubs with no luck. I’ve picked the gap and sprayed wd40&brake cleaner, hit with rubber mallet, and worked back and forth with a large pair of channel locks. The cap moves about 3/4” before a hard stop. I’m tearing up the plastic. My question is this: Do I need to free these hubs before doing anything else? Can I unscrew the bolts to get better access to spray? Or can I replace the whole daggum thing after taking it apart piece by piece? Any help and/or experience is always appreciated.

 

Are they both bound up? Odd if so. But take out the allen screws and pop the chrome cover and pull it apart to inspect it. Keep things in order. If anything is damaged just place then with some new Warn ones.

 

So the lock in/out is stuck in lock (4wd). Quite using channel locks! Of course you are tearing up the plastic. I see the truck is on PAVEMENT, that could be the 1st problem. Is the truck in 2wd xfer case wise? Then put the truck in reverse and back up a bit. That might un-bind the drive line. And get the front axle OUT of 4wd. Once you have the truck in 2wd and back up just a bit you should be able to unlock the hubs BY HAND.

And or..


Hub socket for sticky lock in/lock outs. https://www.etsy.com/listing/1061104383/new-4x4-hub-tool-high-vis-orange?ref=sfl_cart

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1338403817/4x4-manual-locking-hub-tool?click_key=188fa68df856b3a973426e5744b8e711be2 409d7%3A1338403817&click_sum=6f103a90&ref=sold_out-1

 

And put all the lug nuts on...and that rims looks like it does not fit well on that hub/rotor. What is going on there? And those lug nuts to not look seated/tightened down enough. Get the truck off the pavement in 4wd.

Worse case clean the heck out of the allen head screws, take them out and just pop off the lock in/out piece. The chrome piece and the red piece will come off as one. Nothing will fly apart if you do just that. You have a ways to go before parts start flying off.

 

There is no reason for stuck engaged hubs if the truck transfer case was placed in neutral or 2wd before driving it on hard surfaces. If you had it in 4wd and drove much of any distance on good ground or pavement, it's bound up. If it's in 4wd and you can't get it out ... reverse direction and move the truck to unwind the drive line.

 

Like has been said, if the transfer case is engaged put it in N or @wd and see what happens.

If that doesn't work pull the Allen bolts and pop the bezel and dial out, sometimes you have to tap on it a bit but don't hammer hard on it you'll ruin the bezel. . get everything loosened up with FREE or WD-40 or something. then see if you need to dig deeper.

Get the lug nut situation fixed before it goes anywhere, everything about that is wrong.

 

I bought the truck with many interesting challenges and a vague history- it had been sitting for a few years. I am 14 lug nuts short(will fix today) and I’m sure I’m in 2H. I have tried backing up and rocking the truck. I think my next step will be removing the Allen bolts and taking a look inside.

 

Put the truck on gravel or grass. Make sure you are in 4H (shifter all the way to the seat) then rest you arm on the seat, as a way to control the shifter movement. Doing it free arm is a great way to get it in the wrong gear. Even use the seat as an arm rest, no I am not kidding. Then using the other hand move it into 2wd. If you are for sure there, go to N then come back to 2wd. Sometimes you need to have a little fwd or even reverse movement (of the vehicle) at idle, while shifting.

Now once you try that and they will still not unlock, time to dig deeper. If you get the allen screws out and the chrome hub part off you are going to see one of 2 set ups. Since you have the Ford dials you probably have the 1st pic one. When you rotate the lock in/out dial to LOCK. It pushes in on the 2 ears on part# 1OA53. And that in turn makes 1A028 and 1A052 move to lock the axle shaft to the hub. It has been a day or 3 since I was inside one of these. So I might be 100% wrong. But you can take all that stuff apart and not worry about the wheel coming off. Pay attention to how 1A055 is orientated in the hub when it comes out.

If you strip the heads of the allen bolts to not panic, you now have to drill the head off. Do not use a drill bit bigger than the holes in the chrome cap #1A050. Then take the chrome cap off and red dial off. They come as together. And then can use vice grips (properly) to remove the rest of the screw body. Then remove the 2 snap rings 1B093 and 378392. The second one is in a groove in the inside, but very outer part of the wheel hub. With grease and grime in there is can be hard to find. Using spray carb or brake cleaner will cut thru all the old gunk.

If you can not get part #1A051 out, use 2 of the allen head screws across from each other and screw them in there to be like handles to help pull it out.

When you have Warn hubs.

Lay the parts out as they come out, and keep them on order.

 

If you're in 2wd then you're right, look inside. if the dials turn easily in the bezel once you get them off then the problem is in the hub itself. they're simple and easy to work on fixing them will be no problem.

If the hubs have locked up checking the wheel bearings and pocket bearings would be worth it while your this far.

 

Don't be afraid of taking stuff apart on these things, they're barely one step above old tractor technology in terms of complexity. As long as you keep everything organized in the order you take it apart, you shouldn't have any issues. If you don't already have a service manual, get one, preferably a factory manual, but even a Haynes or Chiltons will give you the basics.

 

X2 what he said, if you have to get past the lock in/out you are going to need a 1/2 drive 4 point hub socket. It is a great tool to have and needed to do front wheel bearing maint/replacement. A 1/2 drive 2" 9/16 thin wall socket is needed to do the rear brakes and wheel bearings.

Front:
Rear:

 

So, how's it going? If it was driveline that was bound up, just jacking one front wheel up off the ground would have released the binding tension..