can I leave my manual hubs in all the time

[Timbatrader]

Freewheeling hubs what’s the down side of leaving them engaged all the time I’m thinking of moving up to a 70 series Cruiser from my Hilux. The Hilux is a 06 base version it has part time 4wd but no free wheeling hubs “or auto disengage diff” at first I were a little concerned about Toyota's penny pinching but I am now keen on it. I need to engage 4wd every time I leave or arrive home. (I drive across a river and up a steep track) current set up is great no getting out in the rain to put the hubs in or the reliability issues with auto hubs.
On the new cruiser It has manual hubs If I leave these engaged while in 2wd what’s the damage not on long trips but say on the 40 km milk run to town and back? Keen to hear any feedback from anyone PS I have a good 2 year old extracab flatdeck Hilux for sale on Trademe going cheap snorkel winch TJM bumper big tyres etc

[mercutio]

my g wagen doesn't have free wheeling hubs at all.
all it means is you front diff and drive shaft from transfercase to front axle will be always be turning at road speed when driving down the road so there will be some added wear as a result.

[Bulletproof]

Freewheeling hubs what’s the down side of leaving them engaged all the time I’m thinking of moving up to a 70 series Cruiser from my Hilux. The Hilux is a 06 base version it has part time 4wd but no free wheeling hubs “or auto disengage diff” at first I were a little concerned about Toyota's penny pinching but I am now keen on it. I need to engage 4wd every time I leave or arrive home. (I drive across a river and up a steep track) current set up is great no getting out in the rain to put the hubs in or the reliability issues with auto hubs.
On the new cruiser It has manual hubs If I leave these engaged while in 2wd what’s the damage not on long trips but say on the 40 km milk run to town and back? Keen to hear any feedback from anyone PS I have a good 2 year old extracab flatdeck Hilux for sale on Trademe going cheap snorkel winch TJM bumper big tyres etc

You will also use extra fuel because turn the front take energy

Richard

[fweddy]

As long as you have the transfer case out of drive you eliminate the risk on wind up. If you have a front locker you would have more issues. I live a few kms from the river and often leave the hubs in when I go home, the odd time I forget to disengage them and make a trip to Rangiora (10 odd mins each way).

Its no problem that I see, but like they say its just extra wear and fuel but for small amounts that just gets weighed against the effort of getting in and out to lock, unlock and can be worth it.

Well that's my some-what uneducated theory.

[Andrew1706]

I was mucking around in my truck one lazy Sunday afternoon and had it in 4WD but chucked it back to 2WD once on some hard stuff and drove through a big bunch of tall grass/reeds and when I popped out I could hear an almighty thumping that got louder the faster I drove.

Got out and looked underneath, the tall grass had been collected by the front driveshaft because the hubs were still engaged. I was shitting bricks because I thought it was something serious. Unlocked the hubs and unwound the grass off the shaft, no worries.



Although its a small possibility, you might get yourself unstuck and can quickly drop into 4H from 2H while on the run.

[Steve_t647]

Locking the front hubs can also cause more side wear on your tyres, I run mine engaged for a short run once a month just to make sure the oil etc is thrown around, as long as you don't have a front locker you should be good.

Subaru and a lot of other manufacturers have locked hub's and engage and disengage at the transfer case, if I an doing a short ashphalt run I do this hub's locked too, just disengage 4wd.

[albundy]

This BS about a front lokka in the front running your hubs engaged is shit. I was up playing/rescueing vehicles yesterday up past Porters. I put my hubs in before I left the driveway and no problems at all. Was flicking in and out of H4, and even with chains on out of 4wd but hubs engaged they presented no problems. If you guys are having problems with front lokkas with hubs engaged but not in 4wd, check it out, you got problems.
Al

[Steve_t647]

I was thinking long term leaving the hub's locked with a locker at open road speeds could cause an issue in handleing and cornering if there was enough pressure or loading in a corner, this could catch someone out more so if they didn't know it was there or wasn't driving the vehicle regularly.

The original question was about engaging them and leaving them in all the time, without a front locker I am just guessing the characteristics it may have up there, did you have any surprises while the front was locked?

Oh and I played Rugby in that snow, it started 15 minutes after the game started!

[Sadam_Husain]

It wasnt all that long ago that 4wds all came out with fixed flange plates on the end of the hubs and free wheeling hubs were an aftermarket extra you could spend big money on so I wouldnt get too worried about leaveing the hubs in if its more convenient for you

[wjw]

This BS about a front lokka in the front running your hubs engaged is shit. I was up playing/rescueing vehicles yesterday up past Porters. I put my hubs in before I left the driveway and no problems at all. Was flicking in and out of H4, and even with chains on out of 4wd but hubs engaged they presented no problems. If you guys are having problems with front lokkas with hubs engaged but not in 4wd, check it out, you got problems.
Al

I have locker and manual hubs in the front, when in 2wd, I notice no difference with the hubs locked goign slow. As soon as I put it in 4wd the steering gets heavy.. the same situation occurs with chains on. the change in accelaration when overtaking with the front hubs locked in 2wd is noticable though.

[cool__bananas]

having a front locker or not wont affect anything when driving on the road, its only if you have crappy auto lockers, but proper lockers like arbs or what ever that you can turn on and off are exactly the same, but with the hubs on if you hav a lsd in the front that will change it

[wjw]

having a front locker or not wont affect anything when driving on the road, its only if you have crappy auto lockers, but proper lockers like arbs or what ever that you can turn on and off are exactly the same, but with the hubs on if you hav a lsd in the front that will change it

Both Al and I have auto lockers and with hubs engaged, you don't notice it. not sure where you get your 'crappy auto lockers' from I've seen ARB's break on every big trip I've been on. I've only 'heard' of one auto locker failing.

[skid]

so to cut a long story short and give the original topic question an answer..............



YES you can leave them in if you wish, nothing will go wrong

[H2OLOVA]

Just an idea if your worried about leaving them in with lockers etc, why not unlock only the drivers side, That way you don't have to lug your lazy ass right round the truck each time and it will free up any binding that may or may not occur because of lockers etc

[pagar]

the long and short of it still remains the same if you buy a cruiser with an open front diff there is no issue just check that the diff is full of oil and clean as it will wear if underfull, you will geat less fuel econamy with the hubs locked. if you buy one with an auto locker there should be no issue either as when the locker gets drive from the wheels rather than from the drive shaft it disengages as this is how they work anyway. a selectable locker in the front will cause no issue if in the open position. a LSD in the front will cause heavy steering, posibility of loss of traction to one or both front wheels in slipery conditions when cornering and exsesive tyre wear if the hubs are left locked. the only reason that the freewheeling hubs where added was to allow better fuel ecconemy and less wear to the front end when it was not needed (ie out of 4wd) cheers, oh and I often forget to unlock mine and last month drove from rangatakie/ rununga to Auckland with them locked and could not tell any difference on the drive.