Used the 4x4 finally

[James Morse]

Went up Broad Run Road quite a ways. Didn't go all the way through, went over several crossings, got to one that looked a little hairy - water is a bit high - and decided to call it enough. If current is moving fast, water can pile up, I say this relative to keeping hubs dry, if you look at the water and it's say 6" deep and running fast, it'll probably be all of 8 or 10 as you go through it and hubs are at what, 12+, not a lot more.
Plus there is some point where water will push you sideways.
I learned a few things - first, 4x4 works great, I just go slow through the water but keep up momentum. I get out first and take a good look how much water is it; I look at the approaches, because it seems always the low water crossings themselves are pretty flat, but, the approach over the bank can be a hump/dip and that has to do with the angle of approach/departure, so I get that and 31" tires will help a little bit on height. Crossings happen often because the road will follow the flattest part of the land and that will vary as the stream meanders because usually (on that road anyway) on the other side of the creek is just a vertical rock wall.
Finally I got to one crossing where probably I would have been ok, but seeing as this is the extent of my off road experience I called it enough. The crossing had those sharp vertical grain slab rocks in it, probably fine but I bet hard on tires, and, it had a dip just before the exit where it looked a bit deep, anyway, I decided let's just leave that for when the water is lower.
I saw a F150 FX and an old Blazer on the road. Had a really good time, looked for flat rocks, found a fossil I'm pretty sure, looks like it's brick, but seems to match fossil, maybe came from somewhere else or was washed there who knows, would have to ask the experts.
Last week I was asking myself why did I buy another vehicle when I had a perfectly good one... so this is the answer. I had no actual need of it, it's just for fun / recreation. I know this is not what you guys call serious 4x4, but the point is, the truck quite effortlessly got me far up that road to places I never could have got to otherwise and that was the point of it.
So for tires I decided since I'd never take the truck out in salt anyway, I don't care about performance in snow. I need something good on dirt and rocks for the most part and won't get cut up easy by sharp rocks and has lots of grab for going through these low water crossings that are full of rocks of various sizes or slabs of rock. I'm thinking General Grabber right now. But really my old Coopers did ok, just not what I'd want ultimately plus they are smaller than what the truck came with oem.
Took pic of this crossing as this was where I stopped with the rwd B3000. I realize it looks like nothing... but trust me you wouldn't want to be half through it in rwd and have your tires start spinning. This was actually the point where I said "I think I need 4x4" last year so finally here we are with one.

Later on the road is more like rough cobblestones and more crossings. I basically coast through the water; to me the harder part was pick where are you going to approach/leave the stream bed. So one like this, very easy, yet, not something you'd probably take your average car through.

Below, collecting rocks; long view is the stream bed not the road, there's probably a good 70-80 yards there you could do some plinking.

here's fossils but it looks like a brick doesn't it?

the end it was a good time

 

[Curious Hound]

Glad you had fun. If everything is properly maintained, your hubs are sealed against water. But if you haven’t checked them over yet, it’s better to keep them dry.

 

[James Morse]

Thanks. I read somewhere about if they get in water I have to take them apart and dry them, sounds like not fun. But I'll worry less about it.
I have no idea what the hubs look like inside, but I am planning, pretty sure, to change them out for Mile Marker manuals. Or maybe Ford oem manuals if you could find them but they're probably no better than MM.
I recall Ford says avoid driving in water deeper than the hubs in their little booklet.

Here's the thing if it's standing water you could probably go through 10" water (in the stock truck) if you go not fast, and have dry hubs, but if the water is moving, that's something different - the water will pile up against the wheels and start piling up against the frame and body and that is a tremendous unstoppable force that will push the truck off the low water crossing and into a deeper stretch of wter which is I'm pretty sure what happened in that article I posted. Then you have a whole different problem.

What I was doing was by no means pushing any boundaries of what the truck could do. I think much of it is judgment - there are always going to be places you can't go no matter what you have, so it's a matter of knowing limits (and I don't yet). If you go over a hump that exceeds the trucks approach/departure angles it will hang somewhere right? You have to eyeball it. If I get hung up/stuck it would mean I either didn't judge it correctly or I'm asking the truck to do something it can't.

 

[Curious Hound]

Everything should be sealed by O-rings and lip seals. I have a video out that shows how to disassemble, clean, lubricate and re-assemble the manual hubs. It shows the O-rings that seal the actual hub. I should have a video for replacing hubs and cleaning and repacking front wheel bearings within the next week. Really hoping to finish it tomorrow since it will be raining at my place.

 

[Blmpkn]

If you went over something that was greater than your approach/departure then you'd drag a bumper. If you go over something that's greater than your break-over angle you'll hang up on the frame.

Ford states not to drive through water deeper than the hubs mostly for liability reasons I'm sure, but also to wiggle out of doing certain warranty repairs.

Or example... a hot differential submerged in water will rapidly cool, and thanks to science it has the potential to draw water into itself past its seals. I change the fluid in the diffs on my wheeler every few hundred miles for this reason.. theres always dilution.

 

[James Morse]

OK that's exactly what I'm talking about the break-over angle.
I can see where the approach/departure is important if you are going say from level to uphill you don't want your bumpers dragging.
But what seems to be, usually, the bigger problem is you come up out of the stream bed and there will be some kind of lip or hump there so you can have the approach/departure fine but if you have steep up then a hump then down, that's the breakover thing.
You can have a situation where approach/departure is fine, and there's no breakover problem because it levels out gradually after the change. Or not, and I guess you just gain experience over time to be able to look at it and say, it's not a problem, it's iffy, etc. It's just geometry... I can see that lifting the truck would give you more room there.

Thanks about the differential, I think.... something I would rather have not known to be an issue but sounds like I should do this (change it out) too if I'm in water much, which seems to be a likely situation. I probably didn't get the differntial wet... this time, but it'll happen I'm sure.

 

[Blmpkn]

@ericbphoto can let you know better than I can on how easy water can invade your diff.. it may not be a problem with your truck.. I was just using it as an example as to why ford might say it's wading depth is so shallow. It's certainly not because of potential intrusion into the hubs.

That being said, if your use of the truck is going to include diff depth water crossings on the regular.. your usage of the truck would definitely be considered 'extreme'.. and with extreme usage comes increased maintenance.

 

[Curious Hound]

Only issue I’ve had with water damage was when I broke the hubs underwater a few weeks ago. All bets were off at that point and by the time I got it home, severe damage was imminent.
My differential seals were all replaced back when I upgraded gears and added the Aussie lockers. That was a few years ago. But not really a lot of miles.

 

[sgtsandman]

When I was back from the Badlands trip in 2021, I changed the axle, transfer case, and transmission fluids just to be on the safe side. It didn’t look like any water got in any of them but the one time you don’t do it, that’s going to be the time it happens.

 

[Curious Hound]

One thing to do ahead of time, if you're going to be hitting deep water, is to extend the breather vent hoses to a higher location. Your transfer case and both axles have vent tubes with a little fitting on the end to keep dirt out but allow air to enter or exit. Get longer pieces of hose and replace those. Get the vented end up as high as you can. If these vents are in good condition, they give the axles an easy place to breathe and minimize the chance of ingesting water when they need to draw air in due to cooling and contracting components. Doesn't help for front wheel bearings, though. You just have to have good seals there.

I recently built a little manifold and installed it on the front of the truck bed between the bed and cab. I ran all 3 hoses to that manifold.

In my recent creek dunking, those vents were still at least 24" above the water level.

 

[ProjectMiniBeast]

I'm not exactly sure what hubs you have. But Warn built the auto and manual hubs for Ford and badged them with Ford lettering. I have MileMarker hubs and haven't had any issue with water intrusion.

 

[Curious Hound]

I'm not exactly sure what hubs you have. But Warn built the auto and manual hubs for Ford and badged them with Ford lettering. I have MileMarker hubs and haven't had any issue with water intrusion.

I'm pretty sure James has the original mechanical auto-locking hubs from Ford. He is just new to 4x4 and Rangers and has a lot of questions.

 

[ProjectMiniBeast]

UOTE="ericbphoto, post: 1948138, member: 93265"]
I'm pretty sure James has the original mechanical auto-locking hubs from Ford. He is just new to 4x4 and Rangers and has a lot of questions.
[/QUOTE]

Oh ok cool! I'd say he's in a good place to find information on these things. I suppose I should clarify that I mentioned that Warn built hubs for Ford so that if he was wanting to go back to the OEM choice from Ford it is easier to find a new set of Warn hubs than OEM Ford badged ones in my experience.

 

[RumPunch]

Did you go from the New Castle side of Broad Run or the side near Mt Union? My friend in Paint Bank(the reason I built my Bronco ) just picked up an 86 EB BII and would probably love to check that road out.

 

[Curious Hound]

Here's the video for replacing Dana 35/28 TTB hubs and bearings (Fresh out of the editing room HD version will be finished processing in a few hours). This may help you see how things are sealed to keep water out.