Vacuum hub locking?

[reginald fairfield]

Can anyone give me some actual good instructions on how to remove the cap on the 98-00 plastic hubs? The instructions in the tech library are virtually useless. They say to SPIN. Spin what and how? I already cracked the housing listening to their stupid instructions.

 

[reginald fairfield]

Anyone?

 

[4x4RangerGuy]

You cracked the housing?

Get a new hublock then. If the housing's cracked, you're going to go into 4x4 and it's going to fail. The gears will separate themselves from the plastic retainers.

Typically they are about $120 from Ford.

Or just get AVMs. eBay and Tellico4x4 are both good places to look.

 

[reginald fairfield]

i can't just permanently lock them like it says in the tech library? The crack is just a hairline one. Even so, if I do get the avms I still have to take all the crap out of the sleeve.

 

[4x4RangerGuy]

If its just a hairline then you might still be ok. I do have a question though. In 2WD, do your front CV shafts spin with the wheels?

 

[reginald fairfield]

Sometimes, it depends whether I can get the stupid hubs to unlock or not. Sometimes it takes awhile. I plan on getting the avm's, but got no cash now because I just fixed the damn transfer case, so... yeah...

 

[4x4RangerGuy]

I'd attempt to remove them completely from the hub assembly to inspect them. If they will absolutely not come off, that's not a good sign. It's possible they are corroded, and if they are, you could run into the problem I recently had when I swapped to my AVM hubs: the gears were rusted to the axleshaft splines. It wasn't good.

I'd take them off and inspect them.

 

[ranger_scott]

i permamently locked in my hubs on my 98 it didnt take me 5 mins to do both. i just followed the instructions and one other thing i did was capped the vacum line at the t under the radiator reservoir and have not had a problem yet in the 3 months since

 

[JaBradt85]

Make me an offer fro a set of AVMs/Rugged Ridges I have a set sitting next to my comp 2 months old.