Aftermarket Warn Locking Hubs Won't Unlock

[asknoquarter]

I recently bought a 94 explorer with manual locking hubs. The previous owner had them installed only 6 months ago ( i have the reciepts from the garage where they were installed). When driving with them unlocked there is a grinding noise. Previous owner took it back to the garage and they told him it was just the belt tensioner bearing grinding. I purchased it after hearing this (and checking the pulley bearing, it was noisy). I replaced the pulley, as well as the idler which wasn't much better, and the noise changed. It was no longer as loud and was definetly comming from around the wheels now. On a hunch I locked the hubs and the noise disappeared. After unlocking them it came back right away. I had a friend take it apart for me (as i don't have the tools to take the hubs apart), he said that the outer casing seemed to be too tight so they couldn't unlock all the way. After disassembly we put them back together and before putting in the retaining clip the worked fine, but by the time we had pushed it in far enough to get the clip in they no longer worked. Has anyone ever had this problem ? Any fixes ? He suggested using some emery cloth to clean the inside of the cover and see if it was enough.

Thanks

 

[sledgehammer1990]

I had one of my locking hubs crack on me so I went and got another one from the junk yard. Whenever I made a slight turn, it would be a grinding noise. I could flip on 4x4 with the hubs unlocked and it would go away. I figured out that the one from the junk yard didn't have a spring in it to release it. It would stay locked even when unlocked.