I gotta ask a "basic" question...

[TorqueWinsRaces]

Sorry, I know most of you will roll your eyes, but remember, everybody starts somewhere. This is my first 4WD vehicle with locking hubs- I have an Eddie Bauer Expedition, but as you know, there are no manual locking hubs on it.

First- I tried to find this info myself so I would not be embarrassed by making this thread, but I couldn't find what I was looking for.

So, based on my research I can just leave the hubs locked all the time if I don't want to mess with them? That makes no sense to me. If it was OK to leave them locked, why have the ability to unlock them? There has got to be a good reason why Jeep gave us the ability to leave them unlocked. I suspect wear-and-tear to be the culprit.

OK, so I'm going to assume that you will tell me to leave them unlocked unless I'm going off road. With that said...Does the transmission need to be in neutral, or anything like that when locking the hubs? What about when switching from 2WD to 4WD? And when activating the 4Lo?

Thanks!

 

[SteelHeadz]

As a rule, I only lock the front hubs if I know that I'm going to need it. In other words, don't wait until you get yourself in a bad spot before you decide that you need it. Yes, it's a bad practice to keep your front hubs locked at all times especially at high speeds on a pavement. I have a 4 speed manual and yes I place it in neutral when I switch the t. Case and lock the hubs.

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

You can lock or unlock the hubs any time the jeep is not moving.

Leave them unlocked onroad, it's less wear and tear on parts, and slightly better fuel mileage. It will keep your front driveshaft from spinning onroad.

 

[TorqueWinsRaces]

I think a light bulb just went off...

...so, if I engage the transfer case and don't lock the hubs, then the front drive shaft will spin, but it won't actually be driving the front wheels. Whereas, if I have the transfer case disengaged and lock the hubs, the wheels spinning will also cause the drive shaft to spin, but there is still no drive power because the t-case is disengaged.

The only way to apply power to the front wheels is to engage the t-case and lock the hubs. I actually knew that part, but I've never really understood how manually locking hubs worked.

Right?

 

[mud4feet]

Bingo!!!!!!!!!