I have a '96 bronco with an 8" rear open diff 31 spline. I f I plan on doing 4 wheeling do I need to put some sort of locker in it? Also don't know much about 4x4's but I heard if I change to manual hubs up front i'll get better gas milage cause of the electronic transfer case. Where is the best place to get manual hubs?

 

I put a detroit truetrac in the front of my 95 and so far am living with the factory limited slip rear - works pretty good. Also have one in my F250 (dana 60 front) and have over 15K on it with no problems - a lotta hard miles - work truck

 

got my manual hubs from Napa for 64.99 warn standard hubs. You also need the conversion kit - spindle nuts - 59.00 BUT your auto hubs disengauge when you take it out of 4 wheel drive (sometimes you have to back up 10 feet or so) so the auto hubs have no effect on fuel economy when in 2 wheel drive and push button 4x4 is kinda nice

 

I just ordered the manual hubs and the conversion kit. The standard hubs were $60 and conversion kit was $40. Is it pretty easy to convert? Also I noticed that there was some blue silicone around the rearend cover, So maybe someone put different gears in it or a locker...anyway to tell?

 

Other than just taking off the bolt cover, you won't know what kind of locker, but what you could do is jack up the rear of the truck, spin the tires one full roation and see how many times it spins to tell the gear ratio, prolly will only spin 3.5 times. Also if you spin one tire in one direction and the other spins with it, you have a locker.
Installing manuel hubs isn't to difficult. Shouldn't take someone that has never done it before any longer than a hour to do both.
Also if you have a limite slip, I personally would take that out and put in a locker, but if your rear end is open, then I would put in a aussie locker or a lock right, both really cheap and affective.

 

couldn't I just power brake it and see if I get 2 marks instead of one.

 

That always works too, that's what I did, and I got 2, but not every time, and one is always real faint, and not as strong as the other one.
So I figure I have a WEAK Limited Slip. Doesn't matter thought, I'm going to put a spool anyway.

 

69ford, i would get to know your rig and how it behaves offroad real good before locking the rear. its spendy and once its done your stuck with it for some time. lockers are great off road but can suck for a DD. you can get used to it of course but everything will act differently once locked so take that as a thought. I am gonna go as far as with the open diff. then lock it up once i figure i need to go further out in the sticks. so far ive had no trouble.

 

When I put on the manual hubs, does it make a difference if I have the hubs locked in on 2wd mode or should I just have them locked in when the 4wd is engaged?

 

You can drive your truck in 2wd with the hubs engaged if you want as long as you don't have a front locker.
For your situation, I was thinking a aussie locker or lock right would be best. Neither one should cost more than $250 new, and can be installed my yourself for free as long as you don't have a limited slip in the rear. Once installed, the locker acts like a open diff untill a certain amount of torque is applied or slipping occurs.