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one hub doesn't stay ingaged. Why?


sem76

Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2010
Messages
6
City
lakes region Nh
Vehicle Year
1999
Transmission
Automatic
I"ve got 99 ranger 4x4 auto 4.0. I've tried looking this up but can't find any info. I did the manuel hub by cutting the wagon wheel cover and pulling the screen out method because my hubs decided not to work anymore again. By pushing on the springs they both engage ok. While driving to test it, it'll work for about 15 to 20 sec and then it'll be in 2wd. the passenger side would disengage itself. The question is how can it do this when it requires pressure by pushing on the spring to do so.

Any help would be appreciated thanks
 
Ignore Him.^^^ even though I agree and am going to get some of them myself some time...

Do you push in the hubs to lock them in and then engage 4x4? I am assuming you did the conversion cause the hubs wouldn't lock or stay locked in for long? If you push in the hubs and then engage 4x4 the vacuum will still suck on the hubs and if your left sid is bad (has a leak) it will be mostly engaged and then the vacuum will stop and it will disengage. I cleaned my hubs up and checked everything and sofar the hubs are working 100% of the time... I'll get a link to where I posted what I did,
 
After I cut out my wagon wheels I disconnected the vacuum lines and sealed the holes. At that point you should be able to lock them in and they'll stay locked. I agree that vacuum could be causing them to disengage. I would love to buy some AVMs but as long as I can take the cheap out I will. Good luck.
 
lol if the cheap way works why not? I replaced the hubs awhile back because my abs sensors were shot. I noticed the hub o rings were pretty corroded but nobody stocked them when I needed them. I had to reuse them. So basically I'm thinking it could be the o rings if its vacuum. I ordered some from Napa and will be in tomorrow. I'll let everyone know what happens for future reference.
 
heres the thing I wrote up like last week that fixed my hubs...




I took them apart and found out that the metal clips had bent back slightly so they would stick... the hubs themselves had a slight layer of grime on them and my lines were toast.... So I pulled them apart, slightly bent the tabs till they were lined up straight (now they click in and out perfectly every time), Then I cleaned up the plastic parts and spread a very thin coat of lith grease over the contact areas. cleaned up the rubber seals mount/sealing surface put themback together and so far my hubs have worked 100% of the time... even in extreme cold. I also punched out the pinwheel and mesh screen for the manual conversion just incase they stop working one time.

I have pictures on a camera but it mysteriously disappeared in my garage somewhere.

I also would suggest testing the lines... there is some vacuum lines connected in the passanger side right under the air box. Either pull the air box or reach around underneath and grab the lines. Disconnect the one that leads back up to where ever. then get a vacuum gauge and attach it to the one you just disconnected. and then connect a vacuum pump to the two lines that lead to the hubs. turn the truck on and have someone or out it in 4x4 and run up to the vacuum gauge it should be reading something like 20 (whatever the measurment is like Hg/in or something) for about 30 seconds then click and nothing. if thats good then turn it back off and run back to it... it should now read somewhere around 7-8 for like 20-30 second. that means your vacuum solinoid is good. if the thing isn't within 1 or 2 units of 20 and 7-8 then thats your problem... these things are really picky about when they engage and even more so when they disengage..

If not then use your vacuum pump hookd to the the hubs and start pumping until you get it to 20 or 22. (this could take a little bit of time as you have to remove all of the air from the lines) with the front end in the air spin the tires a bit after you get it to 20 the hubs should click in and the axles should start spinning. If they don't then the hubs are probably gunked up. if it doesn't hold vacuum then you have a leak (most likely the vacuum lines) but seperate the 2 lines and test both sides individually. one side will more or less hold vacuum and the other will lose it rapidly. unless both sides are leaking. This can be any one or more of 3 things i have found. either:
1. the vacuum lines to the hubs are cracked somewhere and need to be replaced.
2. the o ring inside the hub cracked and needs to be replaced... (pray you don't have to do this)
3. the rubber disc inside the hub is not creating a good seal.

Testing the line is easy. pull it off the hub connection and plug it up, then pump away till you get 20. if it holds its good.. but i would reccomend replacing the line anyways just because they do get old. if it doesn't pump up or leaks thats probably your problem.

The Oring/rubber disc is different. Attach the pump to the hub connection and put a peice of trash bag or somthing over the end of the hub and secure with a tight rubberband. start pumping. The trash bag should start getting sucked in, if not its a bad o ring, if so pump it all the way up to 20 and if its slowly leaking out its probably still the oring. as the trash bag or whatever should be acting as a makeshift rubber disc. if it holds that means the trashbag is doing its job and its the rubber disc thats leaking.

EIther way I still recommend pulling the hubs apart and cleaning them extremely well and putting the slight layer of lith grease on them. if all works right you should have fully functional vacuum hubs again!

Hopefully this helps.
 
Ya the tabs on that side don't seem to lock all the time either. Maybe could be that as well. Good write up though. Thanks a lot.
 

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