Can I swap Ranger hubs - 94 w/Manual Hubs & 97 w/Auto hubs?

[BillRod]

Hi All

I have a very tired 94 Ranger with Manual Hubs.
I am looking at buying a 97 Ranger that needs new automatic hubs.

Can I simply swap them between the 2 trucks?
Or are there different spline counts or other differences that would not allow the swap?

Thanks!
Bill

 

[scotts90ranger]

That's a simple swap between the two, you will need one special tool (Dana 44 wheel bearing lock nut socket), enough tools to take off tires, a pair of channel lock pliers and a magnet.

For the auto hub truck take the tire off, pull the hub off if it didn't come off with the tire, find the notch in the threads of the spindle, put the magnet where the notch and the lock nut meet, now wiggle the lock nut back and forth with the channel locks and pull out on the magnet (a strong magnet is best), the lock key should come with the magnet. After that screw the lock nut off. To reinstall on the other, set the preload on the wheel bearings, find the nearest notch in the lock nut that lines up with the notch in the hub, insert the key, put the plastic cams in place and reassemble.

On the manual hub version, pull off tire and hub, now you'll see two lock nuts with a washer between them, stick the socket on a breaker bar and on the outer nut, break that loose (it'll take a bit, spec is near 200ftlb) and take it off, then pull the washer, and pull the inner nut. Reinstall in reverse order. The inner nut is the one with the nub in it for the washer, make sure it is on the washer side, set preload on the wheel bearings, install washer so the pin lines up with a hole while it's notch is in the notch in the spindle, flip if necessary, then install the outer nut, basically tighten as much as you can, like I said spec is near 200ftlb...

 

[BillRod]

Thank you for the info.
That does sound pretty simple.

I would actually prefer to keep the Auto hubs on the truck if I buy it.
Do they make repair kits for the Auto Hubs?
Is there a common failure point?

Thanks!
Bill

 

[Denisefwd93]

Toss em

 

[BillRod]

Huh...

Not a good endorsement for the Auto Hubs...

 

[Denisefwd93]

We won't get one from me I don't think many others would covet them either lol, they do make interesting noises, and lock unlock for no reason at all, like going down the road you make a turn suddenly feels like your power steering fluid leaked out and it turns out the front axles are spinning and turning the driveshaft like a big gyroscope

Huh...

Not a good endorsement for the Auto Hubs...

 

[scotts90ranger]

Yeah, that's the general consensus... I've had them on an Explorer once, but it's shift motor didn't work so I didn't get to try them out before I switched to manuals... They are good in theory but not necessarily in practice. For manual hubs, you can just leave them engaged for say the winter, you MIGHT lose 1/2 of a mile per gallon

 

[adsm08]

I have found a great many reasons to avoid the auto hubs.

It is a much less reliable design, sometimes disengaging for no good reason, more frequently just not engaging at all.

The have a tendency to come apart, sometimes catastrophically.

The hardware is more secure, but harder to work with, and easier to screw up.

And they make it far more difficult to remove and install the front drive shaft if you ever have to. With a manual hub you can lock and unlock the hub at will to use the wheel to hold the drive shaft still while working with the bolts, in both directions. With auto hubs they will lock and keep you from turning the shaft while trying to get to the next bolt, unlock and let it turn when you try to break the bolt loose, you have to jack up a wheel to turn the drive shaft, it's a regular PITA made as simple as turning lights on and off with a manual hub.

Now that may be an enhanced consideration for me since most of us pull our transmissions every 10 years or so, and I seem to have to take it out about every two years for one reason or another. Bad slave, exploded clutch, rebuild transmission, rear-main seal leaks, I got bored one weekend, etc.