Manual locking hubs - grease or no grease?

[El]

I have manual locking hubs on my 1991 Explorer and had one of my axle shaft spacers disintegrate inside thus resulting in no 4X4. The inside of my hub was packed with grease and I was wondering should there be no grease in there as with the automatic locking hubs, or should the manual ones be greased? I have wiped all of the grease out for now, but will need to do more work once I get a new axle shaft spacer and I would like to know if I need to regrease the hub or not.

 

[CodePoet]

some grease i beleive, not alot though

 

[Creager]

I was always taught to put bascially no grease...

only time you should put any grease in there is if it starts too look like the splines in the hub are corroding. thats the only place that should get grease... a very, very, very light coat at that.

 

[410Fortune]

NO GREASE INSIDE THE HUBS

You need to clean them and grease will not lubricate the hubs.
They will get enough grease when you re-pack the wheel bearings.

Every time you have the wheel off, take your hub, turn it upside down and fill it with ATF.
While it is full of ATF click it in and out of lock/free about 30 times.
This will let any dirt/rocks in there come loose.
Drain the atf, let drip dry, re-install.

No bearing grease in the hubs.

 

[El]

Thanks for the helpful information. Unfortunately I don't have a four pronged spanner wrench to take off the two lock nuts which you need to remove to take out the wheel bearings. Does anyone know of any other tool which could be used to do the job or any other method to get them off? I would like to check my wheel bearings but need to get the lock nuts off first.

 

[Infragate]

The axle shaft spacer was destroyed because there is a bad component, i had the same problem, how are the U joints? The one on the side the spacer desintigrated may be bad, should check it out before it happens again.

 

[410Fortune]

you need the spanner wrench in order to correctly re-torque and pre load the wheel bearings.

Any auto parts store will have it and it is a must if you plan to do any sort of front end work.


You can get the inner and outer nuts off with a hammer and flathead, but like I said you need the spanner wrench/hub tool to put it back together.

 

[El]

Infragate, on the side where my spacer gave out the axle fell into the spindle about an inch, is that normal? As well, my axle shaft spacer on the other side is in bad shape apparently, it has a worn groove on the inside side which I thought was supposed to be there but the guy at the store I bought my new ones rom said that groove is from wear. So is it only the spacer which holds the axle out in place or is there something else wrong?

 

[Infragate]

When you say it fell into the spindle, what do you mean exactly? Can you pull it farther out away from the vehicle? Those spacers are there to keep the axle shaft from wandering around and keep the seal behind the spindle up tight so it keeps crap out of the spindle bearing and rest of the assembly. It also acts like a thrust washer too, a bit of a polishing is normal but when they are grooving and desintigrating it means something is binding up and overloading that thrust washer which destroys it over time. usually it is because the u joints are no good. i would begin by taking the axles out and checking them, you will know a bad u joint when you feel it, and if it is destroying the spacers, you will definetely know its bad. I would also change the spindle bearings too because the bits of spacer are probably in there by now and since your in there, you can save yourself the headache later. Make sure the slinger seal is good as well as the spindle bearing seal. If its been like this for a while there may be more damage which is creating this falling into spindle. But please provide a bit more info if you can and i will try to help with that too if i can.
Dan

 

[El]

When I did my initial inspection of the hubs I started on what is the good side and the axle was protruding out of the spindle ~1 1/2", which is what it should be I assume becuase that side was in good order. When I took the hub off of the bad side the axle was only protruding ~1/4" and I was able to pull it back out in position by pushing on the u-joint and pulling on the protruding axle the same time. I don't have a spindle nut wrench so I don't really want to be taking off the lock nuts and not being able to put them back on properly, so I can't really do too much work on the bearings right now, the tool is something I need to invest in. I am by all means a novice mechanic (not a weathly one either) and am learning as I go and all of your help is greatly appreciated. I was hoping the new axle shaft spacers I have ordered would fix my 4X4 but would you advise not trying to use my 4X4 once I install them if I haven't checked all of what could be causing the problem? As well, don't you need a special tool for changing the spindle bearing or can it be done without it? And thinking about it now, it is likely my u-joint because there is a lot of rattling on the side which the spacer broke on, I don't know anything about how to fix u-joint problems, I guess there's parts that need to be bought and stuff. Will it harm much if I use my 4X4 with a bad u-joint. These may seem like obvious answer questions but to the ignorant mechanic like me they aren't, any help is appreciated.

 

[Infragate]

The axle falling back in towards the vehicle is normal if there is no more spacer left to hold it, so yea that is the reason for that, seems you lost 4x4 because the splined part of the axle pulled out of the hub. Well, just changing the spacers will give you your 4x4 back but its all a matter of time before it happens again and possibly take out something more with it next time. Changing U joints and spindle bearings requires the right tools. I usually use a slide hammer to pull the spindle bearings out, that is a pretty easy method of removal. The U joints on the other hand could be a bit trickier because of your environment down there as well as the age of those joints. If they are still the original U joint, it will be a bit of a fight to get them out, you must also be careful you don't mess up the yoke by bending them when removing the old U joints. Don't get me wrong it isn't difficult but you may want to do some research before you attempt all this. This site has some great information about all this, just use the search button . A haynes manual would also give you an idea about the methods too. As for the spindle nut tool, most auto parts stores borrow kits for a down payment, that include alot of front end rebuild type of stuff. You can always borrow them which would save you money, as you get your down payment back in full when you return them. If your in a panic to get this fixed however, you may want to take it to a garage.
Dan

 

[El]

Thanks for all the help and useful information Infragate. Unfortunately I am in a town of 350 people and complete isolation with no roads out of here and no garage in town so getting the right tools and getting parts and knowledge is a real challenge. I know I can fix the hubs when I get the parts, I can likely acquire a spindle nut tool and can work on the wheel bearings and can ask around for a slide hammer to change the spindle bearings but as for the u-joints they may have to stay as is for now. I'll get my 4X4 on the go and hope for the best as to the way the spacers hold up and last. Thanks for all your help, I'll post a reply when I get the parts I ordered and hopefully I can get her in 4X4 and on the go again. One more question, what's the steps to get the rotor off so that I can access the inner wheel bearing and spindle?

 

[RangerX]

One more question, what's the steps to get the rotor off so that I can access the inner wheel bearing and spindle?

You'll need that spanner wrench to take off the lockwashers to remove the rotor.

 

[410Fortune]

RangerX is correct.
Here are the steps"
remove wheel
remove hub
soak hub in ATF
Remove C clip on end of axleshaft and splined washer
Remove brake caliper slide pins, hang caliper aside
Remove outer spindle nut (with spanner wrench)
remove lock ring washer
remove inner spindle nut

BLAMO you now have the rotor, outer and inner wheel bearings and grease seal in your hands.

You are down to the spindle.
Removing the spindle requires 5 each bolts and the ARB sensor (PITA)

 

[Infragate]

Yes, without the spanner it will be tough to preload the wheel bearings again. But basically once the hub is removed, take off the C clip, slide the spacer off the splines, remove calipers then remove the lock nuts and the rotor will slide off the spindle. When reassembling make sure the pin on the inner locknut is on the right side, which is away from the rotor. The spacers Ford is probably gonna give you, if you don't have them already, is a 3 piece spacer. The original ones are a solid piece. But i believe they come with install instructions if im not mistaken. I prefer the solid originals as they can take more abuse but i guess you gotta take what you can get . As for the U-joints, if you have a machine shop or something of that nature around, just take the axles and new U -joints and have them install them for you. I know you said the town was small but i would rather see you have them replaced than running the ones that may be in rough shape.
Oh yeah, the Rangerstation.com has some exploded view diagrams that show you exactly how they are put together, go over and have a peek.
Dan

 

[El]

Thanks for all the useful information. I was just wondering how do you get the brake caliper slide pins out? do you just hammer them out through one side?

 

[El]

Hi. Just to let you guys know I have been able to service the entire hub, bearings and spindle with your help and have my 4 wheel drive back on the go. I was able to make a spindle nut socket out of a piece of pipe and save myself some money. It seems my universal joints need replacing and they contributed to my spacer giving way so I guess that's the next task. Thanks again for all your help.

 

[kdogg212001]

also i must say that if you pack the hubs with grease you will get a suction, kinda like a vaccum effect! it wont shift into 4wheel! or if it does it will slipp! I was told to clean the hubs with atf.(automatic transmission fluid) i just let it soke for a while then spilled it out! some of the grease build up in there wants to stick but just use a small pick to get it out! worked for me! hope this provides you with a little more info.