Auto Hub Problem. Rebuild help?

[cloaked_chaos]

I am having a problem with one of my auto hubs not engaging. It used to engage but disengage under stress, but now it doesn't engage at all. I have disassembled it completely, and nothing seemed to be damaged in it. I even disassembled my working hub and they look the same on the inside. Both hubs only have a thin layer of grease on the inside with small clumps spread throughout, but not in the major movement areas.

I tried putting the hubs on the opposite side. They both exhibit the same behavior, same hub not engaging.

The splines appeared to be in good condition, as well as the main spring. The flat spring (I don't know what its exact name is) seems like it might be slightly more compressed than in the working hub.

While driving in 4x4, the bad hub sometimes makes a slight grinding noise from what I assume is the splines being close to engaging. The noise continues until I reverse direction with 4x4 disengaged.

If I turn the axle shaft by hand, on the good hub I turn it about a 1/8 turn then it takes more force to turn, at which point it clicks solidly into place and spins the rotor. With the bad hub I get the same extra force required at 1/8 turn, but it never clicks and just keeps spinning with the extra force still required.

What can I do to get this back to working order? I have a couple other auto hubs that don't function, but I have not taken them apart to diagnose them. Do you think it is the flat spring that is my problem? Could it be a missing washer somewhere? I couldn't find a diagram of the innards of the hub anywhere on the forum.

I also have a set of oem manual hubs in good working condition that I picked up from a junkyard for about $20 a while back but I don't have the conversion kit for them. I also would like to keep my pushbutton 4x4 instead of having to get out and turn the knob every time I want to wheel. I could leave the hubs locked full time, but the extra parasitic drag and the effects on my turning capabilities are not desired.

 

[keithisg]

If your set on auto hubs I have a spare set for like 40 shipped, although I would get the conversion parts for like 20 bucks and deal with getting out everytime.

Or ill straight up trade you for your manuals, mine work great pulled them off my x before I scrapped it and let them soak in trans fluid for awhile

 

[gmanpaint]

The plastic cam gear is what breaks on the auto hubs, leaving them useless. Those parts are not sold separately by any company. I only seen them being offered by an individual once on E-bay.

The manuals are stronger than autos, and there is even a stronger manual Jeep hub we can use. I will take reliable over comfort, any day myself.



There are diagrams on the forum too. Search manual hub conversion.

 

[cloaked_chaos]

Since my plastic piece inside is not broken, I have found that the source of my problem is indeed the flat coil spring that I initially suspected. Other people are fixing this by adding washers to take up the slack that the coil spring used to take up.
I am going to:
A. Try to stretch the coil spring to give it some life back.
B. Take a coil spring from another hub and add it in there so I have two.
C. I am going to add either one or multiple washers like other people have done to fix it.

The two threads that were instrumental in finding this were these:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=149326
http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/581318-4x4-in-1997-ranger-doesnt-work.html

 

[cloaked_chaos]

The cause of my problem was the little flat spring underneath the piece with the three "wings" had apparently squished over time which means it doesn't have enough strength to align the pieces properly. I had my buddy machine me some specifically sized washers to fit just underneath the three wing piece to take up the slack. My hubs work like they are brand new after that.