How much trouble do auto hubs present

[matwelli]

Reading Andy Cockroft's books on 4wd North Island Adventures, he rates the auto hubs as only suitable for normal road driving, stating that they are dangerous off road, unlocking at the wrong moment, such as hill decents.

Are they that bad ?

My vehicle is a 89 mitz pajero, 2.5td automatic with autohubs.

If they are that bad, what sort of cost is involved to replace them ?

[cruiser_beast]

my mate has a safari, kent, and we havent noticed at any time the hubs disengaging. They have casued a bit of grienf though, playing up and engaging sometimes randomly while on the road.

have a look in the tool shed, some other guys r looking for prices, saw some prices posted up in there b4 for hubs.

cheers,

Sam.

[DieselBoy]

In my limited experience, the Mitsi auto hubs seem to be the worst of all. We have a guy in the club who uses a L200 Ute while he is building his LR hybrid thing.
They cause him alot of problems, as when you go between forward and reverse they have to unlock and then relock. It appears with that particular hub set up often you need the wheel its self to rotate a bit before the hub will lock again. Not good if your stuck.
By nature of design and construction, the hubs are weak.
My surf had auto hubs, which i had problems getting to dissengage properly, my terrano had auto hubs, and i did a few trips on them, never had a problem with them, but i changed them to manual before I did.
You can get SuperWinch and AVM manual hubs for around the $220 mark from AFWE in Auckland. (09) 2560632.
I got my hubs from there for the Terrano, cost $270 for the AVM ones.
Repco do some as well, i put those on the Surf. They are quite pricey retail i think.
Hope thats enough of a start for ya, I hope others will add their thoughts
Pete.

[De-Ranged]

If you are planing on anything other than shiny trips lose the auto hubs I've had dealings with them on surfs and a paj with some painfull results, I've never had them drop out but had plenty of issues getting them in... the first thing you learn is you don't wait till it gets bad before you ingage 4wd, trying to ingage them on step hills or with hard steering lock were the worst listening to the poor things banging away in one corner till they ingage isn't nice you get the feeling the next bang is going to be an expensive one

An option for cheaper manual hubs I've found is the trade and exchange mags try an add there

Cheers Reece

[wopass]

after see'ing many auto hubs fly to bits,all breeds and makes of auto hub,mostly caused by the hub not disengaging when hitting the tarseal again, i would never use them. i have fitted a lot of "super winch" hubs onto suzuki's and surfs with good results and reasnoble cost,not too sure on what they would be worth for a pajero but if you give 4x4 partsworld a ring, im sure the guys there would be able to help,if not sugest someone who might be able.most 4x4 shops would be able to give you a price for the manual hubs, i would say that "warn" hubs would be the best and strongest but also the most pricey$$, the other brands are all very good units and probably much cheaper.
and what all the other peeps said,loose the auto hubs,before they let you down/cost you money.

[wjw]

I've been looking at replacing my hubs this week and I've found out:

1. Repco hubs fly to bits, really only designed for occasional use
2. AVM or Superwinch are the recommended ones...

http://www.genie4x4.co.nz do the superwinch ones.... am getting a set from there....

AVM - Partsworld peeps do those... make sure you get the steel not plasticy ones....

[matwelli]

Hi Guys,

Thanks to all for the input on the autohubs.

Changing them definatelly seems to be the option if I progress from light duty offroading (the trucks No1 job at the moment is still the school run, so cant get to caried away).

Also need to make sure 4wd is selected early on in the trip and not waiting untill its needed or have gotten myself stuck. as the hubs may not engage properly.

[DieselBoy]

And to be gentle on the pedal when going from forwards to reverse

[wopass]

the real beauty of manual hubs is,, when your not four wheeling they are unlocked and never going to give trouble,you could select four wheel drive and drive around town and the front wheels are still not engaged at the hubs,just the diff driving the axels,not driving the wheels as the hubs are unlocked . and you know when they are in or out as there is an arrow on them saying,, FREE or LOCK, so very idiot proof,,lucky for me i have them .
when you go for a play off the road make sure you engage them before you get serious but AFTER you leave the tarseal as damage can occur if locked on tarseal and 4 wheel drive is selected ,, a friend of mine found that out in toupo,, twisted an axel off .
the only dissadvantage is,, you have to get out of your vehicle "ooohhh my nice new shoes are going to get dirty" and you have to remember to unlock them again befoer you leave the loose stuff and hit the tarseal again "ohhhh my shoes,, look at them ohhhh the humanity"
another thing i LOVE about manual hubs is,, when your out in the mud with the hubs all locked in, and there is a vehicle behind you,,, you can slip the gearbox out of 4 drive and into 2 drive(just the back wheels will turn) and give it the jam ,spinning the shizz out of the bak wheels,, covering the vehicle behind ,,,then you slip it bak in 4 and drive off ,,,,not that i do it of course ,,just an option

just remember not to do it to the person that might have to tow you out of the mud you just got stuk in,, they will repay the favour when your hooking up the rope,,,or not tow you out,,
so there you go. my opinion of manual hubs "better in every way"

[matwelli]

all very good reasons for manual hubs then....

Seriously one situation is when I have gone in to a swamp and needed to reverse out, I guess there is a good chance the hubs may not re-engage in reverse as the wheels have not turned (same as getting out of trouble in loose sand)

Take it easy on the gas ? come on, its a diesel with a whole 90hp on tap

[wopass]

90 horse ! !,, OMG ! ,,, how do you keep it on the road ! ! it must be hellish on tyres ! ! does the local council send you the bills for tarseal repair !??

heheh

[shifty]

Another point to consider (apart from unlocking downhills) is the shock loading transfered to the gearbox/drivetrain when they unlock and then lock.
If you watch a vehicle reving up in mud with auto hubs you can hear the hub lock and unlock with horrible clonking sounds. This is caused by the wheel overspeeding and unlocking as the weight comes off, then locking back up as the weight comes back on. dont sound good and can chock the gearbox.
P.S. have been put in a fence when auto hubs unlocked going down slippery hill. Bought manual hubs quick as after that (AVM ones for around $240 ish from memory).

[matwelli]

Wopass - its been a change going from 220hp 1500 kg's in a falcon to 90hp and 1800kgs, especially the first passing manuver......

Shifty - scary story about the disengaging on the slipery hill. was your truck an auto or manual ? with a auto (as mine is) using the "driving over brakes" method of hill descent, the hubs may not get a chance to disengage as there will be a fairly constant driving force on them.

As every one has said, when the time comes, ditch the auto hubs.

[shifty]

Hi Matwelli
my trucks diesel manual so heaps of engine braking. couldnt really feel them unlock as such, just the back wanting to pass the front, only choice is to put foot down till it straightens, but you can only do that so many times till its red line and going to fast.
down the same hill descent a gain after i had the manual hubs installed, no problem, now it hold well on hills.
also seen a safari nearly fubar on a decent when the back wheels slid cause the front had hopped out, that one was scary.
for me manual hubs are the gears, when theyre in theyre in.
cheers

[albundy]

auto hubs will stuff your front diff as well. I replaced mine with a set of Warn and yes they were expensive but they are super strong, well worth the extra $100. People are moaning that you have to get out and change them over, this gives you a good opportunity to inspect your tyres for any damage, check out you steering gear, so there is a good reason for getting out to change your hubs.
Albundy.

[safari]

Reading Andy Cockroft's books on 4wd North Island Adventures, he rates the auto hubs as only suitable for normal road driving, stating that they are dangerous off road, unlocking at the wrong moment, such as hill decents.

Are they that bad ?

My vehicle is a 89 mitz pajero, 2.5td automatic with autohubs.

If they are that bad, what sort of cost is involved to replace them ?

I have A 88 safari wiht auto hubs . i have dun a lot of hills and river and mud with them good as gold . but going to put on superwinch .not so dangerous .surf auto hubs are bad bad bad.

[DieselBoy]

Hi Safari, i wouldn't bother swapping your hubs, you have the ultimate as standard!!!
Yours opperate as auto hubs, but then you can get out and lock them manually so they stay locked just like a manual hub.
You just need a spanner to do it