I have a 1990 f250 4x4.iT HAS BEEN ACTING CRAZY IN THE DRIVERS SIDE FRONT HUB .4WD WAS WORking great until I tried backing up a bank.something popped in that side.now it tries to kick in going down the road, and when you put it in 4x4 it kicks out if in the least little bind.I'm pretty sure i'ts in the hub.Ithas a nearly new transfer case.I don't know a whole lot about these hubs but I took the outside part off and everything looks o.k. there.I even took the outside part that turns it into gear off my other truck that I knew was working fine and still the same thing.It just doesn't feel like when you turn the hub it's locking in like the other side.I've never been all the way to where the main hub part is, I guess.Can anybody tell me how i'ts made in there after you get past the first 2 springs and that gear?A couple of people told me to take it apart and clean the old grease out.Does old grease really get hard enough to make the hub act like that.hopefully because these aren't cheap.I have the dana 60 chunks 3:54 gears.thanks







1986f250 6.9 c\6

1986 f150 4x4 302 4spd

1990 f250 4x4 7.3 auto

2005 kia 1.6

other junk

 

If the grease is cold enough, they can sometimes hold the hub back.
The best fix if you rely on your 4wd to work, is to replace them with a set of Warn hubs. I've got almost 300K miles on mine and they work great. I have them on every 4wd I own.

Jason

 

Manual hubs...... should use a special high temp light grease also........the Ford dealer sold me Speedo Cable grease for my auto hubs and they work well..... One should clean them every couple years or if problems arise......

 

Warn hubs are what the factory use or they were on my 87. Said Ford on them but had Warn inside in a couple places.

 

if you havn't locked the hubs in on a regular basis and put a lot of highway miles on there, grease will bake hard as rock. had buddy have that happen on old model bronco. made him effectively have a 1 wheel drive since hubs wouldn't lock in and he had a peg-leg rear end. LOL hope you have better luck at dissasembly of hub than i did. ended up not delving deeper nad waiting on somebody that does it for a living to deal with it. maybe i'm just a big baby, but i don't like tearing the front hubs down. :-(
speedrd

 

I've got 283K miles on my auto hubs, they work great for me.

Go buy a Haynes manual. Their maintainence procedure is pretty good.

It's an easy job. Once you do one... it's like falling off a bike

 

The autos will fail when you need them the most.
If you have almost 300k on a set of auto hubs, you're in the very lucky minority. I have replaced them with as few as 30K miles on them when the dealer wouldn't warranty a change to manuals.

Yes the factory manual hubs for the Dana 50 and 60 (from the 80's on) are made by Warn. They are similar to the standard Warn hubs.

Jason

 

I disagree. It's not like I use my truck for muddin every weekend. But I have used them in the snow, sand, mud.

If you maintain them, they work. If you don't, they wont.

 

That statement holds true for trucks period.

If you want it to work right every time, you need to spend money on it.

The harder you work it, the more money you need to spend.

My repairs last year were 1,616.85.
In 2006 they were 5,382.30.
In 2005 they were 3,621.73.
This year I will be spending around 700 dollars on driveshafts again, I just hope they make it to warm weather.

 

is it the showplow that's so hard on parts or the loads you haul ar some combination of both? got me curious.
speedrdr

 

Snow plow does a number on the front U joints, tie rod ends and ball joints.
Towing and hauling does a number on the rear U joints and drive shaft.

Towing and hauling in some of the extreme locations I frequent, does a number on everything.

We have some very steep streets in the towns around here.
If I have to tow our mini excavator up some of them, 4x4 low range on paved streets to get enough traction.
Hot summer days, move the machine first thing in the morning.
After the sun starts beating down on the blacktop you will get hung up on a blacktop road even in 4x4 with posi in both ends.

As an example, the street beside my house is over 30% grade.
Fortunately it is concrete, so I can pull up it all day long.

Now consider a GCVW of 20,000 pounds up a 30% slope.

Wonder how I split that transfer case in half?
I was just under 24,000 that day.

 

Just with the 92-97 model trucks, I could fill a pickup bed full of junk automatic hubs replaced with manuals, that didn't even last long enough to need maintenance. These were on anything from work trucks to been in 4wd once, grandpa cruisers.

Jason

 

okay, dave, makes me kind of ashamed to whine about the 1,000 to 1,500 pounds of tools and other assorted material i haul.

speedrdr

 

I used to work in the excavating biz, and have seen some of Dave's infamous pix. I can say for sure, that there's not much of a tougher game, than what an excavators truck plays.

 

I like my morning commute to the office.



Once I arrive I have a picture window with a 360 degree view of the site, just flick my wrist if I want to look the other way for some reason.
Power rotating arm chair, heat and AC set to my desired temp, no one to give me crap about the temp I select.
Stereo set to what ever channel I chose as well, as loud as I want it.

And the nicest thing of all, I have a 40 foot radius around me that is the kill zone.
Anything that makes me mad within that radius dies if I choose to kill it.
When you get in the 50,000+ pound class of excavators, if I can't tear something apart, the only thing that will tear it apart is explosives.

Some people play in the mud, I work there.