I thought that the flying hammer was common procedure... mine always seem to move themselves across the shop somehow

 

Your stock hubs are fine,I have 60,000 mile on stock auto hubs. you must keep them clean and relube them every 20,000 miles. And most important USE YOUR FWD AT LEST ONCE A MOUNTH.

 

Yeah, im curious too....

So, you cannot activate your 4x4 without getting out of the truck and turning the new hubs???

 

So there really is no advantage to changing... It's just personal pref's as to whether or not you trust the auto hubs & like getting out of your truck in the mud, snow etc to manually engage your hubs

 

Thanks for writing us the doc; I really appreciate your time and effort. I just saved the instructions copy in my truck folder. One less trip to stealer-ship ! <O</O

 

You can still activate / deactivate your 4WD with manual hubs; you just have to have the hubs engaged (i.e. like during winter). Just engage the hubs beforehand if you think you will need them.

Then, just turn the switch when you need 4wd. It does not hurt your driveline to drive that way. It will increase gas usage slightly, but won't have any major negative effects on your truck.

The other advantage to manual hubs, is that you have 2WD LOW. Very handy for backing in heavy trailers on hard surfaces. Just leave the hubs unlocked and engage 4WD LOW. No power going to front wheels; all the torque goes to the rear.

 

Reliabilty is the issue. The factory automatic hubs are prone to failure, just when you really need them. In my case, one of the hubs wouldn't unlock. I've been using Warn manuals now for several months and no problems at all.

 

WOw! what a write up!! THanks a million. So my factory hub is F250 hub is held on by a ring. So, I can remove the old hub, without first disassembling it. Do I have to remove the **** and cap, to access the retaining ring? Thanks guys!

 

Should you cap the vacuum port on the knuckle to prevent water and debris from getting inside?

 

Nevermind...when I opened the doc those words were behind the picture.

 

Just squeeze the two extensions on the snap ring (you'll see them as soon as you look at the area around the hub) with a pair of pliers and it comes right out. Then you should be able to just pull the whole hub assembly right out. If they are sticking a little, it helps if you have another person to gently rock the truck back and forth and it will pop right out.

 

Will this install also work when replacing manual hubs (- the vaccum line plug)?

 

PM'd you.

 

carefull rich is a ranger and only a short time home from afganistan it might be some thing very small and very fast at 1 mile.

 

Naaaaaaaaah! It'd be a whole lot more fun to use a hammer.

I'm kidding!