1994 Explorer Auto Hubs, (Confused) | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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1994 Explorer Auto Hubs, (Confused)

JUNO

Member
Joined
August 20, 2013
Messages
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City, State
Currently on the Illinois-Wisconsin State Line
Year, Model & Trim Level
1994 Explorer XLT 4x4
I was HOPING to be able to fix or at least salvage the automatic hubs at this time and replace with manual hubs later, unfortunately this is not, financially, the best time to be thinking of converting to manual hubs.

After pulling the hubs and looking at them, I'm left scratching my head, since they'd appear considerably different from each other.

The first picture is from the passenger side of the vehicle.

paside_zps13dc9fee.jpg


The portion of the auto hub that's visible seems to have a snap ring just below the surface of the exterior part of the housing.

The second picture is from the driver's side of the vehicle.

drside_zpsb4e5b5df.jpg


This one has a set of gear teeth around the top edge that aren't present on the opposite hub.

The truck was bought used last fall, the exterior teeth are damaged so that alone will call for replacement before doing any 4x4 running with it. But the question is... is this correct, or is one unit in maybe upside down/backwards? Are they both on the correct sides of the vehicle? I have no idea what the previous owner(s) did or attempted to do or how they did it or if they had someone else do it. I'll probably just slap them back on until I get the manuals but want to make sure I'm putting them back on the correct side so I don't do any more damage if they're not. Thanks for any input.
 



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well if one has any parts ripped or worn off, there is a problem, and i dont think it is easy to get the parts to refurbish an autohub, i may be wrong about that though. however, you said you wanted to swap to manual hubs, but they were too expencive, try a junk yard, i got my set off of a 92 explorer with all of the parts and hardware i needed (hubs, nuts, snap ring, etc) for 60$, and there was a mazda b4000 there with manual hubs too. most unkyards know that the manual hubs are popular so they will test them out as soon as they get a vehicle with them, the JY mine came from checked them out before they put the truck up on blocks and took them off to keep water out of them. 60 bucks for the pair is much better than 2-400 new.
 






If I went with the JY Manuals, would I change to one of the commercially available nut conversion kits that are used with either the Mile Marker or Warn Manual hubs when replacing the automatic hubs?
 






Yup,take those along with the hubs if you find any at the JY.
 






If I went with the JY Manuals, would I change to one of the commercially available nut conversion kits that are used with either the Mile Marker or Warn Manual hubs when replacing the automatic hubs?

You could just buy the Dana 44 spicer nut set. It is much cheaper than a conversion "kit"

More info than you ever wanted, including the Spicer kit p/n of 28068X in this thread... http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=232754

The Spicer 28068x is $16 per side at amazon.com & 4wheelparts has them too.

~Mark
 






OK, thanks for the info. Will give the Junkyards a shot first to see if I can come up with anything first. If not, April might just end up being a Ramen Noodle Month... :confused:
 






Bit the bullet and ordered a set of manual hubs plus the nut conversion kit from eBay on Thursday night. Today, Monday am, they were sitting at the Post Office waiting for me. Went through a number of online blogs, posts, websites that gave conflicting instructions with what was packaged with the kit, maybe terminology more than anything. Once I finally figured out the procedure, side one took maybe 45 minutes wading through the process and side two was a breeze since I knew what to do by then.

After I finished it up just ran it out to a gravel road to test out the 4x4 and a huge difference from what I had been experiencing. The only noise I get now is on hard cranking in tight turns, which sounds more like rubbing than metal on metal.
 






if you arent familiar with 4wd it will have some resistance while turning from the U joints binding. this is normal and sometimes makes sound so you shoudl be fine. did you regrease everything before putting it back together? when i did my swap we cleaned everything down to the wheel bearings in kerosine and then let it dry and then repacked the hubs and bearings with new grease. i had to reuse a chipped gasket for one though since the auto hub on one side of my truck didnt have one and one of the ones on the manual hubs was broken. i havent had any trouble since with the hubs and ive used the 4wd relatively often.
 






This is my first FORD 4x4 and it's more noticeable that any of the other 4x4s I've had in the past.

1952 Willys CJ3A
1974 Chevrolet K5 Blazer
1974 IH Scout II
1979 J10 Pickup
1984 Isuzu Trooper II

Yes, pulled the wheel bearings, cleaned, inspected and repacked before re-installing. Torqued everything back to Spec.
 






i have heard that sometimes the manual hub inner nuts (big ones that you need the special socket for) sometimes back off or loosen if they are only torqued to spec, not sure but it hink most guys put another 15-20lbs on them. not entirely sure though, if they loosen up then they need more torque.
 






i have heard that sometimes the manual hub inner nuts (big ones that you need the special socket for) sometimes back off or loosen if they are only torqued to spec, not sure but it hink most guys put another 15-20lbs on them. not entirely sure though, if they loosen up then they need more torque.

The Dana 35 bearings are really close together. That means with oversized tires that the nuts can back off some.

I've gotten to the point that I do it by feel. I tight the inner nut a bunch while rotating the rotor to get things seated, then I back if off, turn it by hand until it stops. At this point things are still too loose..

I then put on the holed washer and the outer nut and then get that outer nut as tight as possible. While doing that if the inner hub tightens too much I use a punch/hammer to knock the inner nut backwards a bit.

I've gotten pretty good at this method. I know it isn't to spec but the bearings are lasting much longer and aren't loosening up like they used to.

We are running 33x12.50r15s with 3.75 backspacing in case anyone cares..
 






Shoot Maniak, I though I was the only genius that figured that out.

One day I was staring at the spindle with a straight look of defiance and noticed the same thing.

Get the preload set a little too tight, then after cinching down the outer nut, use a punch to back off the inner until it hits the key-way and presto! no more loose lock nut. (not to crazy with the BFH or you will shear off the pin)

If the lock ring fit the key-way more precisely this would not even be a discussion.
 






It's been a while since I've been on, 2014 and the very end of 2013 has proven to NOT a good period of my life. Now as far as the Explorer is concerned, and the discussion about torquing to spec not being or being tight enough. I'm running P235 75R15, have put thousands of miles on the Explorer and have not experienced any issues that would suggest a problem with the bearings or nuts. I can understand the concern with larger tires as mentioned above.
 






I followed FR-425 a few years back in replacing my auto hubs, best move I could make at the time, manual hubs work better, less maintenance and the part about the lock ring fit is spot on in my experience. Maniak has it explained perfectly.
 






UPDATE...

The 4 wheel drive and the manual lockout change got a LOT OF USE this last winter. I'm happy to report that it worked flawlessly. VERY happy with the switch from auto to manual hubs and they got me to where I wanted to go, when I wanted to go and I didn't get stuck once.

As always thanks to everyone for your help and suggestions.
 






UPDATE...

The 4 wheel drive and the manual lockout change got a LOT OF USE this last winter. I'm happy to report that it worked flawlessly. VERY happy with the switch from auto to manual hubs and they got me to where I wanted to go, when I wanted to go and I didn't get stuck once.

As always thanks to everyone for your help and suggestions.


Now your toes will get cold.

Sacrifices, eh?
 






But not as cold as they would have gotten if I had been stuck and had to walk several miles home. I've done that more than a few times during my lifetime and never a pleasant experience. ;)
 






Exactly, a moment to turn the hubs, is small compensation for knowing they will always work; ask any owner running one of these in the northern winters. This was early days in the development of auto hubs, they could not perform like my newer 4X4's.
 






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