hey guys im kinda new to the whole 4 wheel drive stuff but i was wondering why is it people seem to want to change out there auto locking hubs on these explorers to manual? i assume there is good reasons behind the want to change them i was just curious what seems to be the advantage or desire to have the manual locking hubs? I think i only drove one truck in my life with it in 4 wheel drive and it was a chevy S-10 i think with automatic 4 wheel drive all i did was push a button and bam your in four wheel drive if im not mistaken i remember the guy that owned it changed it into four high even while we were already moving. seemed pretty idiot proof to me!! another question is do i need to be aware of anything special when useing theauto4 wheel drive with auto lock hubson my 91 explorer? do i just hit the button and roll or is there more to it then that? any info would be helpful ,i dont want to mess anything up on this SUV and i just got ita while back and it didnt have any kind of owners manual on how to operate this 4wd equipment.

 

The auto lock hubs work as designed. They were designed for convienence and to reduce fuel consumption. They are designed to go into 4-HI at highway speeds up to 55MPH. But, if you need to use 4x4, then you probably shouldn't be going 55MPH. The auto lock hubs are not designed for use with plowing or hard off-roading. Most people replace them either because they feel they're not man-ly enough or they failed to use them as they were designed for and trashed them. I ran 209,000 miles on my 88 Ranger XLT S/C 4x4 with auto lock hubs without a single failure. I live in western NY and used them all the time in the winter and off-road during hunting season. The only thing I had to replace were the 2 outer U-Joints as they finaly wore out a about 117,000 miles. I always let off the gas when engaging the hubs as it lets them spool up to speed without being under a load. 99% of the time you could never heat them lock. You would just hear the additional load load on the tranny. Heck, my son even showed one of his friends how the PUSH BUTTON worked while I was tooling down the thru-way at 80MPH. Before I even had a chance top react...BOOM...It was in 4x4 with no advers effects. And that was when it was brand new. So as long as you don't abuse them, all you have to do is mash the button and keep tooling.

 

thanks man!! i cant see me doing any plowing or off roading any time soon so i think my auto lock hubs will be just fine for my use. other then the occassional deep snow fall i cant see me useing the 4 wheel drive at all. anyhow thanks for the info i was just concerned that maybe some of these guys were changing to manual hubs for a reason like these auto hubs fail alot or somthing but from what i just heard from you im glad i can keep the auto hubs. i think for once in a while use the auto 4wd and auto lock hubs are just to convienant to change to anything else.

 

The other thing that used to crack me up was how folks would tell people to replace the "JUNK" FORD locking hubs with WARN hubs. What a waste of time and money. Talk about expensive FREE advise. Since WARN is the manufacture of the FORD hubs, including the AUTO-LOCKS. The only difference between the WARN and FORD manual locking hubs is the name.

 

until they prove to be junk i will diffently be keeping my auto lock original hubs. besides if these hubs were supposed to be such junk why is it that on my 91 explorer XLT they were probably the only functional thing left on the suv after 16 years? One thing I did want to ask though is you mentioned somthing about manual being better for plowing,,whats the benefit of having manual vs auto locking when it comes to plowing? i was thinking of hooking up with a plow some day later down the road buti dont think id be useing it enough as a plow truck to be trying to switch out hubs if i really dont have to. are the manual a must for plowing or a nice to have kind of thing? I will never being useing my explorer for a off road use or anything so i would love to keep the conveience of auto locking but like i said some day i may want to use a plow for small jobs mainly my own driveway which is pretty long to be hand shoveling like i usually do.

 

The problem with plowing with auto lock hubs is that they actually unlock and relock every time you change direction.There is a spooler inside the hub that gets wound up by the drive axle causing the lock to slide over the splines of the hub and axle. So when you change direction, the spooler unwinds (unlocks the hub) and then spools up in the opposite direction locking the hub again. That's why the owners manual recommends that you back up for 15 feet after coming out of 4WD to unlock the hubs. However, if you service the hubs regularly, they pretty much will unlock themselfs when the torque is removed. I removed my hubs every year and repacked my wheel bearing, cleaned the hubs out and applied a light coating of grease to them. Old grease will gum up the hub and cause the spooler to turn. Do not over grease them as excessive grease will actually spin inside the hub causing the spooler to turn and try to and sometimes actually lock the hub while driving down the road. If you ever hear a buzzing noise coming from a hub while driving or making turns, it's trying to lock up. Auto locks are critical of bearing torque specs. Too loose and you end up with enough flex in the hub/axle to casue the hub to try and lock on its own. As long as not abused and they are taken care of, you'll have no worries. I'll stop rambling, but you get my drift.

 

i know that buzzing or clickingnoise!! i think i heard that the other day, i didnt actual get to drive it far yet but i did a couple circles in the front yard and i was hearing a light clicking type of sound i was wondering what it may be i was going super slow to just see how well it moves i think this is the first time its ran with a working transmission in it in over 7 years. last time it was taged when i got it was 2000..i will be sure to take them auto lockers off and clean and regrease everything like you was saying you do and see if that fixes the problem. it may need more attention then that being out of use for so long but i will be going over this entire suv several times to recheck everything before actually putting it back on the road to be on the safe side anyhow so i am sure i will find things here and there that need fixing or replacing along the way. i think with the way my driveway is with plowing it would be like a couple swipes to clear it and i can basically keep going in circles the whole time with the way our driveway is so i probably will be fine with the auto lockers with that type of plowing. thanks for all the info, youve been very helpful....Thanks..Shawn

 

Remember that since the front axle rotates faster then the rear, 4WD mode should only be used on surfaces that allow wheel slippage (snow, dirt, sand and wet roads). to keep the front drive line from binding. The other thing I used to do was this: About every other week, I would put my truck into 4WD while driving down the road that has about a 1 mile straight-a-way. This will keep work the front axle shafts and drive shaft U-Joints and keep them from siezing up during extended non-use periods. You don't have to worry about the drive line binding up in this short distance. Another thing that can cause the clicking noise you were hearing could be the front axle u-joints. Check them for sloppyness. I had to replacejust the outersat 100,000 miles, the inner one was OK. I would hear then click/clunk on hard slow turns in the woods.

 

I will be sure to check them u-joits as you mentioned, that could very well be the problem as far as that clicking noise i heard. With it being so long since this suv has moved on its own im sure there is all kinds of stuff in much need of fixing and servicing. I will update this thread when i get it all figured out and that way anyone else reading this may have some of thier questions answered if they were haveing similer problems.

 

Sounds like a plan. Good luck and Happy tooling...