How do you know your hubs are going?

[jrfranz]

I have a 1996 XLT 4x4 that I just bought - I am reading a lot of threads with folks saying that their hub crapped out on them around 85 K I have 99K on mine but have 3 more months on a powertrain warranty. If I am going to find a problem I want to find it right now!! How do you know your hubs are shot? 4WD seems OK - is there a quick and dirty test I can run?

I notice a slight hesitiation when I shift from "R" to "D" or vice versa - it just seems to take a second before the tranny engages - is this normal or a sign of failure to come?

Anything else anyone thinks I should have checked? Like I said if I find and fix this stuff now it is $100.00 - if I wait 2 more months it will cost me dearly -

Thanks again for the responses - I am learning a lot.

 

[Steve94LTD]

i think the hub problem was mainly for 91-94 cars, IIRC someone on the board said that in 95 they changed the hub design. So I dont think you'll have the same problems that you read about us poor 1st gen owners having.

 

[Steve94LTD]

you do, however have a 4.0 with an auto tranny, which as far as Im concern, suck regardless of whatever year you have.

Id start doing brake torques, burnouts, neutral drops, towing semi trucks with full payloads, etc etc.... whatever you can to tear that thing to crap out now, because I got bit hard on that one.. $1400 @ 80.000 miles

Disclaimer: Im just kidding.. or something. but the auto trannies really do suck, and that could be ready to go out soon.. how you want to deal with that is up to you

 

[TPLYNCH]

Steve's right. You don't have the autohubs, so don't worry about them. You don't have Radius Arm bushings too (cause you'll see that come up alot also). As for the tranny, slight hesitation is normal. My '99 has always had it. How often was the Tranny fluid changed/flushed. Guide says every 50K, but most people do it about 30K. If it hasn't been done, you may not want to do a flush, but I would drop the pan and change the filter.