Covert a auto 4x4 to manual 4x4?

[jdsegura02]

I have a 98 Ford ranger 4x4 3.0 V6 and was wondering if there's a way to convert my electric vacuum locking hub to a manual locking hub?

 

[Original_Ranger84]

Yeah you can do a ton of stuff.

1. Get AVM hubs from Baseline 4x4 or Rough Ridge

2. Swap out explorer front end parts for full time locked hubs.

3. Take apart the plastic hubs and remove a little metal clip to have them stay locked in all the time.

4. Take apart the plastic hubs and remove the pinwheel and metal screen behind the cover so that you can manually engage the hubs.

 

[jdsegura02]

Thank you for the info. I think I'm gonna go with AVM and just do that but I have another quiestion. How do I check to see if I have a leak in the vacuum lines?

 

[Original_Ranger84]

Thank you for the info. I think I'm gonna go with AVM and just do that but I have another quiestion. How do I check to see if I have a leak in the vacuum lines?

Heres a link to a write up I did about how to troubleshoot and (hopefully) fix the Vaccuum Hubs, Give it a look through i guess.

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72000

 

[jdsegura02]

One more question and I'm sorry I ask so many but if I replace my old hubs with with the manual hubs can I take out the vaccum line or do I still need them? Cause I thought I read somewhere that I could get rid of them but that I would just need to cap them at the solenoid.

 

[Original_Ranger84]

If you get the Manual hubs you can just remove the vacuum lines, but I would cap off both the solinoid and the hubs.