idea for auto to manual hubs?

[99stocksport]

As you all know the second gen x's have the auto locking hubs in the front, which are nice, but i would like to be able to know that they are locked. so i was thinking about the brown wire mod, and how you can trick the computer into turning the 4x4 auto off, and it occured to me that there might be a way to trick the computer into locking the hubs and keeping them locked. so i just thought i would post this and see if any one thinks it might be possible or if it is not.

--Davis

 

[Robb]

2nd Gens don't have locking hubs at all.

 

[99stocksport]

i thought they had the auto locking hubs? now im confused can some one explain to what they have then?
thanks

 

[CodePoet]

They have drive splines

 

[99stocksport]

thanks

 

[Robb]

The 2nd Gens just have basically a "live axle" going out to the outers. As stated, going through the hub is just a splined shaft..........and as long as the wheel is turning, so is that shaft. There is no way to mechanically seperated them.

 

[99stocksport]

ok, so i guess my next question is, is it like the rear i.e when one wheel is off the ground thats the one that spins, or do they both spin all the time when the 4x4 is engaged?

 

[bmxking5]

That has to do with your carrier in the diff. If you have an open front (stock in nearly all trucks/SUVs) the tire in the air will spin, while the one on the ground won't do anything. If you added a locker to the front, both of the front tires will get equal power no matter if they are on the ground or in the air.

 

[gijoecam]

If you've ever seen a front wheel drive car's front end, that's essentially what we have in the front of a 2nd gen explorer. Hubs to hold the wheels on, inner and outer CV joints with a shaft between them, and a stubby axle that's essentially a shorter rear axle turned around. The suspension moves, flexing the CV joints, but the axle is fixed.

As everyone else stated, there are no hubs to lock in. The CV shafts (aka halfshafts) are splined to the hub, so they rotate with the wheels. the 95-96 use a Center Axle Disconnect to break the passenger side axleshaft inside the axle housing. That allowed the front driveshaft to be disconnected in 2wd and supposedly saved on gas because the front end wasn't turning the diff and driveshaft all the time. For '97 up, they discovered that the CAD wasn't necessary (and prone to failure) so they eliminated the CAD and went to a live drivetrain. Engaging the 4wd simply became a matter of coupling or decoupling the front and rear driveshafts. Much less complex.

-Joe