ok i have a 94 f-150 with locking hub, my friend has a 94 f-150 with automatic hubs, a co-worker of ours (lets call him mr.know it all) says having the automatic is better the the locking in all aspecs, and i say the locking hubs are the way to go, no doubt......can i get some support?

 

I support locking hubs.

Your co-worker is a lazy butthead.

And honestly I think they're weaker. And more of a hassle in the end.

 

i agree. i have no problem getting out and locking in the hubs.

 

can the automatics ever not engage? like how does that work? does it go around locked 24/7 or what?

 

I'm sure they can if they're broken. I heard something about it having a vacume thing.

And don't you have to back up like 10 feet or something to disengage them?

 

I think both have thier benifits and thier drawbacks. My daily driver has locking hubs, and it is nice that I can just turn the dial and have 4wd when I need it. My 77 Ford, which is more of my playtoy..I wouldn't want auto hubs on it. My experience, manual hubs seem to hold together better in more extreme situations.

 

auto hubs suck, especially when your stuck and trying to get the truck in 4 while its immobile, good luck, the t case will go in 4 and you will be all pansy until your sure the hubs have locked themselves, then you can on it just to get your brains jarred as a hub locks while your foot is on the floor, this crap happened almost everytime my buddy used his 4 wheel drive, some how nothing ever broke...

 

I've heard from friends that they can stick sometimes... off or on I cant remember... I think your right

 

Locking, it is or it isnt there is no maybe.

 

well we have auto, luck and unlock on our F-550s, we just leave them locked in 24/7. Yeah we've tosted a few hubs but oh well. It's nice to know when your in 4 your in 4.

 

At least with my 1997 Ranger, the owner's manual had a warning that auto hubs were not for heavy duty or "farm" use.

> like how does that work?

Basically, when you put it into 4h/4l it spins the axle, which spins a three prong cam, which turns another cam inside the hub (think two gears meeting). Once it spins enough the cams/gears lock under it and now you have 4x4.

But, if you do something such as back up or slide down a hill, your hubs automatically unlock. You are now in 2x4 until your tires spin enough to lock the cam again. Off road, especially in deep snow, this means you most likely just totally sunk your rear tires into a rut and you are stuck.

Or even worse, you are going up a hill, you can't make it and have to back down. If you start to slide sideways in reverse, you can give it the gas and pull it back straight, if your hubs unlock (which they will), your truck will just slide completely sideways with the front end just pushing mud. That can cause you to roll over sideways down a hill.

I pull down trees with my trucks, I frequently have to pull back and forth until I start to break the hinge or to give me another head start on a hard yank. Same thing with a pull strap, if you are yanking someone and they do not come out, you might have to back up a few feet. Hubs are now unlocked. Now you have to get your head start in 2x4 in what probably is slippery or uphill terrain, now you are stuck too.

The absolute worse experience I ever had with automatic hubs was they broke (think it was the 3rd time) 1/2 way up a steep slippery hill in the middle of a snow storm. I slide all the way to the bottom because I could not get traction in 2x4 and without 4x4 there was no way to swing the truck 180 so I could drive straight down either.

See, if you do go down with all 4 wheels powered, if you start to skid, you can steer it and it will correct, without 4x4, the front unpowered axle will slide out, but, there is no way to pull it back in. You can't even consider doing a 180 down a hill without 4x4.

 

very easy to break a vacuum line, then no 4wd....
once you turn the manual hubs and you engage the transfer case, by the time the transmission engages the hubs are locked in....

Yea they can unlock, if a stick or something turns the hub.... Or if you break...

 

auto suck major donkey kong and there is no advantage to having auto hubs! they dont have a place. most will say 'so i dont have to get out of the truck'. like its a long walk. i have been there and done that and i dont even much like manual locking hubs anymore. too many moving parts to break. i have since gone with drive slugs, although they are not street friendly unless you run a full time NP203

-cutts-

 

Dont get autos and semi-autos confused.
Semi auto similar to those found in Super Duty trucks use pulsed vacuum and not steady vacuum to activate the lockouts. If these hubs recieve a pulse to lock them in, they require another pulse to unlock them. Once locked, if the vacuum line fails, the hub will remain locked. Thats the theory anyway. This in addition to the ESOF system has made this system very unreliable as a whole. There are exceptions but as a whole they are unpredictable. If I had a dollar for every truck I have had to pull out that could not get the front end engaged!
Standard auto locking hubs work on the principle described above, and the bottom line is that when another moving part in introduced, a simple procedure turns into a complicated one. This level of complication means that there now becomes a greater possibility of failure. These failures dont occur in the driveway, they happen when you need it most. Often these failures leave a driver looking pretty silly.

 

The superduty hubs are the best of both worlds. Sucks though because mine don't work in auto mode so I basically have manual hubs and an electric t-case.

The 97+ F150's basically have drive flanged and use a vacuum activated disconnect on the center diff I think.

I've heard that the 80-96 style trucks with auto hubs are very un reliable and have that issue with backing up and unlocking the hubs.

For off-road only they make drive flanges so you don't have to worry about hubs at all.