i have a 11 year old ranger with 75,000 miles and i was wondering how long i can expect the auto-locking hubs to last. i have the push-button 4wd and stock 235/15 tires, though i run 215/15 tires in the winter when 4wd is used the most. i just replaced my front axle u-joints so i guess my next "weak link" would be the hubs.

 

My 97 F-150 has 140,000 miles with alot of those driving around in the sand with the 4 wheels engaged. No problems so far.

 

with stock tires and little 4x4 use the hubs go pretty quick. if you use them often (once a month at least) then you are keeping them greased and they should last a lil longer. but most of us running 37" or so tall tire or bigger they start to wear out pretty quick. uss them enough to make'em feel wanted but don't abuse them and they could possibly outlast the truck. the hubs on my 93 f150 went out at about 105K miles running 31-33" tires doing very mild mud playin

-cutts-

 

I replaced the hubs on my 99 ranger last month, the previous owners abused the 4x4. I know the kid who owned the truck before me, I'm shure he drove in 4x4 high all the time. The hubs had 93,000 miles on them.

 

i've seen a set with almost 300 K on the body with one rebuild at about 200k, another set i've seen went at about 15K, depends on how you treat them.

The 200K ones were on an '85 suburban running 32 A/T's that had 4x used at least once a month. (the early GM ones were known for having the same issues as ford ones, esp. since they're both made by warn) The 15K's the guy had never used (ever), went to engage 4x for the first time, one hooked up, and the otehr started clicking immediately.

With average use and medium tired i'd figure about 80K would be reasonable.

Justin

 

I just did the man. conversion on mine. The autos were locking up on me while I was driving and you could hear them disengage when I backed up. It's little money to replace the hubs vrs. the whole front drive train...

 

I found (with 35's) that from the second you submerged them, you had about 48 hours of reliable enguaging, then about 2 weeks of "yeah it might work, it just might take 5 minutes to get them to enguage." Then you had 2 wheel drive. The piece that wears out on (at lest mine) is a PLASTIC washer or something like that. I suppose that teh sand and dirt in the water wore it down rapidly. I also trashed my bearings by not repacking them with grease after submersion in about 6 monthes of twice a month driving. sand is erosive

 

I was never able to keep a set on my 1997 Ranger for more then a year and they would fail at the worse possible time (like going up a steep icy hill and unlock). Makes the drive down backwards interesting.