Auto hub repair questions

[vault]

My auto hubs suddenly stopped working. I believe I have the worn spacer problem in the hub. I have some questions before I tear into the hub. My questions are to do with the compontents on the spindle. I took the auto hub off to clean noticed I do not have the two trust spacers behind the cam assembly as shown in this image.

Is this magnifying the problem also by not being able to push the cam in the hub as far? OR were those not on the 1994 explorer?

 

[ranger-93]

sometimes those spacers will stick to the cam when you pull it off, check that first.

the cam and the hub need to be lined up when putting back together, if it dont go on almost all the way, turn the hub and try again. usually does the trick

 

[vault]

sometimes those spacers will stick to the cam when you pull it off, check that first.

the cam and the hub need to be lined up when putting back together, if it dont go on almost all the way, turn the hub and try again. usually does the trick

I'm not having problems re-installing the hub. I took the hubs off to clean the greases off everything hoping that was the problem. Since I cleaned the cam assembly I know the spacers were not stuck to the back of the cam.

 

[ranger-93]

if the hubs were working before and now there not i would assume the spacers dont have anything to do with it. idk if the spacers were on the 94 or not, i would think they would be though. if you find out its the hubs themselves and want auto hubs i recently switched to manuals and have the autos available if you want to buy them.

 

[vault]

In this post it sounds like the thrust washers are not used in the later 91-94 series.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=146722&highlight=auto+hub+rebuild

mine being a 1994 That might be why I did not see them.

 

[DeRocha]

Those spacers are very thin (each about the thickness of a sheet of paper). They where used to ensure a more positive engagement between the inner cam assembly and the autohub. I don't know if your hubs are worn to the point the spacers would help, or if the require more extensive servicing/rebuild.

 

[Reejerey]

replace them with manual hubs. Fixed

 

[vault]

So I got the auto hubs fixed. It's my wife's dailey drive and 4x4 is maybe used 1-2 times a year so the auto hubs are preferred for her. Two problems:
1) all the tabs were broke off the drivers side Spindle side cam.
2) the hub side cam was worn badly on the back out side of the cam where it meets the plastic bushing on the hub. it wore down .20 in. don't know what caused it. maybe a broken off tab from the spindle side cam. I have pics of everything but cann't up laod them.

any whays I got a chance to use the face mill I picked up for a few 100 at an auction an machined a spacer at .2 in. to compensate for the ware and I'm back in bussiness. thank's for all the info on this site to help trouble shoot this.

 

[Tony H]

It's always nice to play with cool tools. Especially to fix something for $0.
The 'X' is my wife's daily driver as well. I'm not a paranoid nut case but I went with the Much more reliable Manual Hubs. Like your scenario, The 4WD is only for Snowy roads as far as this 'X' is concerned (a few times a year). If the Roads are snow covered, she locked them in before leaving the House. No harm in running with Locked hubs on dry roads. If she felt a snow issue, she'd push the button on the dash and lock in the T-case. The $200 for easy to install Hubs was worth knowing that when she needed 4WD, she had it.
Hopefull your fix is good for the life of the truck. I'm just saying these hubs are way unreliable.