how to convert to a manual hub

[lifeguard379]

i loved them when i had them under my truck.

 

[ExporeRanger]

should we go warn or MM?

 

[lifeguard379]

i don't have experience with the mile markers. but i have heard people say the warns are better.

 

[Josh]

The manual hub are definately stonger than the auto hubs. In order to keep the locknuts from backing off, you need to torque them good. I think mine are torqued to 200lb feet. Sorry to whoever pm'ed me, my e-mail has been all screwed up.

 

[ExporeRanger]

anybody comment on the MM vs. warn?

 

[shamal]

I did mine too last week, and ran the Ex up to 6,000 ft in the snow. The manual engage involves an extra step , but I prefer that to wrestling with that number of parts in the autos and the hassle of taking it apart. The manual removal is a piece of cake ! I prefer the manual hubs although my autos were working fine. I did not want to have a stuck hub up on the mountain somewhere, or worse yet, one that would not engage.
It's not that hard to torque the outer nut to 150, if you have a proper fitting hub socket, and a long half-inch drive torque wrench. Buy one used at a flee market if you have to, or at a used tool place. For this operation I use an old fashioned torque wrench with the extra shaft that bends a sliding pointer.
I tighten my inner nut finger tight, ( that is finger tight with the socket on the nut ) after setting the initial torque at around the 35lb mark, while rotating the hub back and forth. I keep in mind I've repacked the bearings and they are full of new grease and can take a little snugness. My hunch is the outer nut might tend to loosen, if that inner had too much slop in it, perhaps after that new grease got run in a few miles.
I did not use the plastic parts, just the splined washer and spacer clip as shown above.
All the best

 

[cculter]

I had mile marker on mine and loved them had no problems, then I bought a new front axel with an airlocker installed and there were some warn hubs installed so I left them on. I also like the warn hubs, no noticible difference between the two (except price) for me. I mostly go through mud and climb dirt hills around here no rocks. I am running 33's.

 

[Pollarican]

I just threw some factory manuals on that I bought on here and damn they lock 100% better. However, I noticed I have a bit of a clicking noise that increases frequency with speed. Anybody have an idea of what this is? I'll probably pop that side off real quick to check tomorrow - they still work great, but any advice would greatly appreciated.

 

[Mud Bug 94]

a bad u joint in the axle will cause a ticking as it flops around like a drunk hobo....

 

[scottmi]

warn hub torquing

ok.. i'm seeing lots of numbers here for how and how much to torque warn hubs..

ftlbs and inch lbs, etc and more.

i see torque to 35 in/lbs, then back off a 1/4 turn, then retorque to 16 in/lbs.
ok. well and good.

then lots of comments about needing 135, 150, 200! FT/lbs if your wheels are oversize.. what exactly is getting torqued to these levels? not the same hub which is supposed to be 16 in/lbs is it?

my wheels are nicely sized at 32" with a lift kit. should i be amping up the torque on something with my hubs?

 

[DeRocha]

ok.. i'm seeing lots of numbers here for how and how much to torque warn hubs..

ftlbs and inch lbs, etc and more.

i see torque to 35 in/lbs, then back off a 1/4 turn, then retorque to 16 in/lbs.
ok. well and good.

then lots of comments about needing 135, 150, 200! FT/lbs if your wheels are oversize.. what exactly is getting torqued to these levels? not the same hub which is supposed to be 16 in/lbs is it?

my wheels are nicely sized at 32" with a lift kit. should i be amping up the torque on something with my hubs?

I have cleaned up the image tags in the 1st post to make it cleaner..

The inner nut is designed to keep the wheel bearings snug within the bearing races.. Too much torque and the bearins will overheat, too little and the bearings will bee too loose and allow the tire to wobble on the spindle.

So the inner nut gets torqued to 35ft/lbs...backed off 1/4 turn, then re-torqued to 16 in/lbs (which = 1.4ft/lbs). 16in/lbs isn't very much.. I just use the hub socket with just a bare hand (no wrench) to tighten it has much as I can. The inner nut has an index pin that faces outwards.

Next the index pin washer goes over the pin in the inner waster and the tab fits into the grove on the spindle. If the washer doesn't fit try flipping it over as the holes are asymmetrical.

Note: Never loosen the inner nut to get the washer to fit, always go tighter as going looser will be too loose allowing the wheel to wobble.

The outer nut gets torqued to 150 ft/lbs - 200ft/lbs and higher.. Its purpose is to act as a jam nut and hold the inner nut, pinned washer and outer nut in place by torque alone. When running larger tires 33"+ or Off-roading members have reported the wheel bearings loosened up. The larger tire/wheel mass combined with off-roading can jounce the nuts loose. It is more common for the driver's side to loosen up since when driving forward the wheel is rotating counter clockwise (exerting loosing force on the nut). The passenger side when going forward is rotating clockwise exerting a tightening force. Anyway 150ft/lbs is probably fine for on-road use with stock tires, but when running larger tires or off-roading people will torque the outer nut higher 200ft/lbs+ to help keep if from loosening up.

If you perform a ball joint check (jack up the front wheel grab the tire at 12 and 6 and push pull) the wheel should NOT move at all. If the wheel moves in/out (while ball joints don't move) at all it means the wheel bearings are loose and need to be re-tightened.

 

[Tony H]

Just what Derocha said.

The only thing I might add is if the Pin Washer hole will not line up with the Pin in the inner nut, take the Washer off, turn it around and put it back on . These holes in the Washer are not semetrical.
Or you could just slightly snug the inner Nut to make it work.

 

[thaywood]

I need to look at mine again. I recently put new brake pads on my '94 XLT 4x4 with Warn manual hubs. The driver's side was loose as heck. I took the locking hub off and checked for play and the rotor flopped around all over the place. I then took everything apart, cleaned it and put it all back together the same way it came off. Everything was nice and tight when I got done, but I couldn't see any pins or keys or any way at all to secure the nut from backing off. I basically torqued the hell out of that final nut in the hopes that it wouldn't back off. That was about 3 months ago. Now it still seems tight, but the inner tire tread is wearing. So I'm wondering if that nut has backed off again?

 

[Tony H]

I need to look at mine again. I recently put new brake pads on my '94 XLT 4x4 with Warn manual hubs. The driver's side was loose as heck. I took the locking hub off and checked for play and the rotor flopped around all over the place. I then took everything apart, cleaned it and put it all back together the same way it came off. Everything was nice and tight when I got done, but I couldn't see any pins or keys or any way at all to secure the nut from backing off. I basically torqued the hell out of that final nut in the hopes that it wouldn't back off. That was about 3 months ago. Now it still seems tight, but the inner tire tread is wearing. So I'm wondering if that nut has backed off again?

http://warn.iwebcat.com/imgVD/WAR/32722A2-pn32720.pdf
See Figure #4

The First Nut ( with the Pin) screws onto the Spindle and holds the Hub lose. No play in the hub but lose. Then the Washer slips on, it locks into the Spindle because of the notch in the spindle It keeps the inner nut from rotating because of the PIN on the nut. Then the outer nut gets put on Tight.
Make sure these components are on correctly. If you didn't know to look for the PIN on the first Nut, you may have put it on wrong and beat up the locking Pin.

 

[thaywood]

http://warn.iwebcat.com/imgVD/WAR/32722A2-pn32720.pdf
See Figure #4

The First Nut ( with the Pin) screws onto the Spindle and holds the Hub lose. No play in the hub but lose. Then the Washer slips on, it locks into the Spindle because of the notch in the spindle It keeps the inner nut from rotating because of the PIN on the nut. Then the outer nut gets put on Tight.
Make sure these components are on correctly. If you didn't know to look for the PIN on the first Nut, you may have put it on wrong and beat up the locking Pin.

Thanks for that. I didn't know to look for that pin I'll be working on it tomorrow so I'll be sure to take it all apart and check it again. Thanks again!

 

[Tony H]

Thanks for that. I didn't know to look for that pin I'll be working on it tomorrow so I'll be sure to take it all apart and check it again. Thanks again!

Yup the drivers side will want to loosen if the hardware wasn't put on correctly 9 rotation of tire).. The Passenger side will try to tighten so go to that side and check it out before you burn up a Bearing or have the front tire lock up on you.

Good luck

 

[thaywood]

Yup the drivers side will want to loosen if the hardware wasn't put on correctly 9 rotation of tire).. The Passenger side will try to tighten so go to that side and check it out before you burn up a Bearing or have the front tire lock up on you.

Good luck

I've had this Explorer for about 4 years now and I love it. I've never really had any real problems with it until that left wheel got loose. There doesn't seem to be any play in it right now, but I'm still going to pull it off to check anyway since my future ex-wife ran it into a tree and knocked the alignment off and damaged the steering gear box. I have replaced the gear box but the toe is out by a LOT. I didn't get to work on it Friday due to a whole lot of rain. Had to work this weekend but I'll be off tomorrow so I'll work on it some more then. Thanks again for the advice.

 

[siguaw]

Have had my warns about a year. No complaints. Work great

 

[thaywood]

Turs out the d/s hub had no play at all but the p/s did. So I took everything out and cleaned and re-assembled, tightened, and greased it. So no play now but we'll see how long that lasts.