[jsomedaysoon]

i bought a bronco for a donor truck for my other bronco. i've decided to fix it up and drive it. the guy that i bought it from said one of the hubs was messed up but didnt know what was wrong with it. should i just replace both hubs or is there some way to test the four wheel drive with out just going out and getting stuck?

[Justshootme84]

Seabronc made a good post in this thread on testing the t-case and hubs:

http://broncozone.co...showtopic=15031

[jsomedaysoon]

cool, thanks that was somewhat helpfull. i think. haha i'll have to wait till i get outside to be sure that i understood it all. the guy i bought the truck from doesent know anything about trucks at all but said that sombody told him that one of the hubs was messed up. they are manual locking hubs. if i find out that one or both is actually messed up should i invest in the warn hubs or will some used ones off ebay work?

[Justshootme84]

New hubs are less than $100. I would only buy used ones from someone I know that didn't abuse them.

[jsomedaysoon]

understood, i'm pretty sure its just the drivers side thats messed up because when i lock in the hubs and try to spin the front drive shaft the passenger side doesent move but the drivers side does. i'm sure its one of those things thats smartest to change them both at once though.

This post has been edited by jsomedaysoon: 06 September 2008 - 03:58 PM

[jsomedaysoon]

okay so i'm trying to test my four wheel drive system BEFORE i go get stuck. from what i've read in this old post i found out that i needed new hubs so i replaced them. okay so now what i have is when i lock both hubs in and try to spin the front drive shaft by hand with the transfer case in 2 hi both axles lock up like they should. okay now here's the questionable part. when you turn them to free with the transfer case still in 2 hi and spin the drive shaft only one axle spins. could this be because its an open front differential or is the non moving axle not unlocking for some reason? sorry if that got a little confusing haha.

[96fsb351]

best way to test it out...go find a grassy field(dont get on pavement...youll tear something up) and lock in the hubs and put it in 4lo..You can easly tell if the front end engages as you drive around and turn the truck.

[jsomedaysoon]

yea thats probably what i'll do but i cant get it legal for another week or so. i'm just trying to do everything i can to it now before i get it on the road.

[walnuts75]

You could tie it to a big tree and floor it and have a helper walk around the truck to see which tires are spining.

This post has been edited by walnuts75: 07 September 2008 - 07:49 AM

[jsomedaysoon]

haha that sounds like even more fun... and i could do that in my own yard... hmm i'll have to pitch that one to the gf and see what kind of evil looks i get. haha

[shift1313]

if you have an open diff up front(which im pretty sure you would) only one wheel is going to spin. If you lock one hub and leave one in free, the free axle will spin. you can do this and make sure both are spinning freely.

what kind of hubs did you have and what did you replace them with. I have 1 good superwinch hub( i had a wheel bearing grenade on me destroying a few things on one side. if your other ones were superwinch ill send you my parts. two of my truck have warn hubs because they were cheap but the superwinch ones are much nicer in my opinion.

[jsomedaysoon]

yea i got the warn basic ones. i kinda wish i had gotten the premium ones but i couldnt see enough of a difference to justify the extra money. i'm happy with these i think. they are really similar to factory exept you can actually hear the click when they both lock into the lock position. the factory ones didnt so it made me nervous. and i'm pretty sure its an open front also. i'd be amazed if it wasent.