the link by Sheriff has great info on maintenance...but what or HOW do you UNLOCK a STUCK hub is my question withOUT disassembly?...maybe you HAVE to follow the disassembly steps posted in that link...don't know...I'm curious...as I'm sure others are after reading 4 pages and near 60 posts in that other thread...

THANKS!

joe.

 

Interesting. I would assume the entire subject got removed by accident when they were trying to delete some threats from one user.

I think we need to post this in your new subject.... excellent information!

http://guzzle.rbmicro.com/allube.html

 

Edit:::::::

 

The mods obviously did something...let's let THEM do their job...

Not sure why the whole other thread was removed either...but I'm looking for an answer to this particular question...

the link by Sheriff has great info on maintenance...but what or HOW do you UNLOCK a STUCK hub is my question withOUT disassembly?...maybe you HAVE to follow the disassembly steps posted in that link...don't know...I'm curious...as I'm sure others are after reading 4 pages and near 60 posts in that other thread...

So if we could...please stick to this topic...

THANKS!

joe.

 

I would say u would have to take apart the stuck hub. Unless FOMOCO offers a lube or a grease that would free it up?

 

I've seen info in the 7.3 forum.. I'll try and dig it up

 

its all going to depend on the reason for the failure..the most common failure in the system is going to be the vaccum side of things, hubs don't often fail unless under extreme abuse, which I would venture to say that 98% of the people on the board will NOT subject their rigs to. Even in my rockcrawler where I am constantly putting high torque into a system with grossly oversized tires, I rarely see the mechanical failure of the hub itself. Ford did us a favor by allowing the mechanical override with the manual hubs in addition to the vaccum actuation. I ran into an f-350 on the beach this summer who had a vac leak and his hubs were frozen in the auto position..it took a lot of pressure with a pair of channel locks to free it up(he later told me that in the 5 yrs he owned the truck he had never rotated the switch)
If the manual part is totally inoperable, disassembly will be required, it could be as simple as a snap ring or a total replacement.


hope that helps

 

The hubs on my X had the problem of not unlocking earlier this fall. I purchased the X in August. Simple service according to Guzzles website took care of the problem. When I pulled them apart the grease was pretty gummy. Cleaned them well, regreased, reassembled and everything is working.

I think the best bet is to pull the hubs annually. I had never had the hubs off on my F350 and it has 160k miles w/o any issues, but after doing my X I pulled them and did the same. For some reason(probably due to more frequent use) the pickups hubs were not nearly as gummy and sticky.

 

I don't have the issue...but was curious when reading that other thread...

I was more curious if it was more common to have a hub that would not engage vs a hub that would not dis-engage.

the problem of a hub not engaging is one you can deal with in the field using the rotary switch to manually lock the hub...

The problem of a hub not dis-engaging...well that requires Guzzels weblink to disassemble the hub and clean it out.

Most may never realize that the hub didn't DIS-engage except for the drop in mpgs?

My questions are only for learning...for the future...'just in case!'...

THANKS!
joe.

 

I just got sick of it and ordered a set of warn hubs for my X. I like the idea that I will know for sure the position of my hubs, be it locked or unlocked.
just my $.02

 

Whats the diff between warns and OEMS?

 

Veeerrry innnterrresting... (remember the guy on "Laugh-in"... what was his name?***)

Joe, I've been sitting here watching the Rangers hockey game and wondering about the your enquiry...

I'm going to say that the amount of vaccuum needed to lock the hubs would not be sufficient enough to lock "yucked" up or sticky hubs. Get where I'm going with this? Whatdaya think?

And, if the vaccuum is enough to lock the hubs, I doubt anyone would keep it in 4 wheel long enough to develop a situation where they might stick... other than crazy abuse of course.

On my old 99 F250SD my autolocks failed due to the vaccuum issue... it also effected my heating system a bit too (just like it is documented in other posts on the subject). The problem occurred prior to my FTE days, so I was clueless at first... I figured it out with good old trial and error troubleshooting. When I joined FTE, I found Guzzles great sites and decided that the fix was not worth the time and efforts. (manual worked fine for me).

So, since I got the X, I pop it 4 wheel at least once a week along a strip of road straight so as not to stress the system when it is dry.

It still works like a charm! (knock on wood )

What a thought provoking question... thanks for stimulating my mind after a day of Kindergarden screening in my P.E. classes!!!

edit: BTW... I just reread your post and I had a situation when my hubs would stick in my 99 when I would turn them to unlock (the t-case would disengage without a problem)... I could feel the difference in how the front end felt... especially when turning. I could reach behind the wheel and "back and forth" the u-joint with my hand and it would free up and unlock.
***Arte Johnson (thanks google)

 

So ur saying when ur hubs got stuck, u went behind the wheel and moved the u joint with ur hand back and forth and it would free up the hub?

Also, ur vacum leak affected ur A/C?

 

yeah, the vac affects the AC because the default blower position is defrost. So if the AC can't pull enough vacuum to redirect the air to the right vents, you're gonna have problems.

I guess potentially, if the vacuum solenoid to the hubs is shot, you might get better AC performance all the time if you capped the vacuum lines before the solenoid (a la http://www.eurekaboy.com/f250/esof.htm )

As far as the warn hubs, the advantage of manual hubs is that you manually turn them to locked or unlocked, as opposed to the locked vs auto stock hubs. Auto roughly translates to: MAYBE its unlocked or MAYBE its stuck locked with no way to unlock it)

Yeah, I'll have to get out of my car to lock em up, but its worth it to KNOW 100% when they are/are not engaged...

 

Yes and no... It's kinda hard to discribe... I've tried to discribe in other posts so here it goes.

I'd reach behind the tire/wheel when it is turned so I could access the u-joint without getting all grunged up... I would then push on the u-joint in it's rotational direction forward & backwards... it would move, but only a "tick", hardly at all. But, the back and forth pressure would release it and eventually I could turn the front axle by rotating it at the u-joint.

Understand?

The vaccuum leak effected both heat and A/C... very minimal though... I could feel a lack of air through the vents.