Clunk! Clunk! Was that my hub?

[Mat R]

Well, I went four bying today...

Weird thing is, is that I wasn't doing any hard trails, and I ended up getting stuck in the mud because my four wheel drive stopped working... I have pretty much narrowed it down to a blown drivers side hub. Now the question is, do I keep the autos or go manual?

I had manual in my old toy, and I have to say that I love being able to control it with a switch, but if I'm going to blow any more of these *******s it may not be worth it. Anyone know if there is a stong Auto hub available, or is the general census say that manual is the strong way to go.

And what is an average price to get this thing repaired? I'd rather leave the hub stuff to the pros.

Thanks Guys. May you not here the clunk, clunk, clunk, blam!

Mat

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1992 Ford Explorer XLT
Interested in trucks..?
Me too. Check out my web page.
MatnChad.com
www.matnchad.com

 

[mattadams]

I'd say manual... I blew out one of my automatic hubs the first time I took it four-wheeling, and no one really makes a heavier duty automatic hub (the ones you have actually are already made by Warn, just have the Ford name on them). They don't carry the same type of warranty (the warn manual hubs carry a limited lifetime warranty) and are not as heavy duty. The automatics are also quite a bit more expensive then the manuals (the manuals as I recall are around $150-175 plus a conversion kit where the automatics are in the several-hundred dollars. I've had teh warn manual hubs since about 2 weeks after I bought the Explorer, and I've done pretty hard core trails in Colorado and Moab and I haven't blown a hub yet. They do blow occasionally, but when they do you can get a replacement from Warn. The only thing I don't like ab out the manual hubs is the locknuts, you can check the thread on that.

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Matt Adams
94 Explorer 4-door nick-named "Tippy"
http://bart.is-s.com/~explorers/madams/

 

[mrboyle]

Go with the manual hubs. From my experience trying too replace the auto hubs are going to cost you three to five times what the manual kit costs. Matt already pointed out the only drawback, but keeping an eye on the adjustment of the lock nut is alot easier than refinancing your home to buy a new set of auto hubs (yes they only come in a set).

 

[riffman]

I also blew my auto hubs....but it was the second time that i when "wheelin"

the problem with the dang auto hubs is that they disengage every time you change direction....(forward/revers rocking)....

Clemson 4wd had warn hubs for like 125 + the conversion kit which was like 20 or 30 bucks....they're on the internet too, so you can check it out there....

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Play like you mean it!
'92 XLT

 

[tdavis]

I think I'm one of the few people that has blown both auto hubs and a manual hub. Yup, you can blow a manual hub. A blown manual looks like this:

The noise the hub makes - and the dangerous flying parts (we only found three of the four major parts - no knob found) is just wild. We heard a bang! and then found parts all over the place - and that's all she wrote.



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Thomas Davis
93 Mazda Navajo

 

[Mat R]

Well, per everyones reccommendation, and my own desire to not pay for another blown hub, I'm going to go manual. Hopefully this will cheer my truck up, it didn't seem to happy after I bent the nerf bar, blew a hub, and then a day later toasted the battery.

As always thanks for the info guys.

Mat