thinking of hub lockers

[94d90va]

thinking of WARN or AVM....
what do you think ?


SIII 109

[superstator]

I think I paid money to take the Warn hubs off my truck and go back to standard. Don't see the point adding complexity to a truck like ours just to save a teensy bit of gas.

Unless you're actually talking about diff lockers?

[SafeAirOne]

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[I Leak Oil]

Never had AVM but have had good luck with Warn M-11.
Oh, and I prefer 90wt over grease, electronic over points and discs over drums. Just to get that out of the way. Thanks for the reminder Mark.

[TeriAnn]

Trying to be helpful:

I'm neutral as far as brand is concerned. I've had a couple different brands of hub lockers and each has leaked over time. I finally got tired of trying to keep the front wheels & hubs clean and removed them. Except for leaking oil, the AVM style (I had a different brand but same style) seemed to work well for me.

Back in the days when I had a 2.25 engine I felt that highway mileage increased slightly with the hubs unlocked and the engine felt like it had a tiny bit more pep. Possibly my imagination but it felt that way to me so I kept locking hubs on past the time I got rid of the 2.25. My only suggestion is to get and store a couple hub rebuilding kits when you buy the hubs. The last hubs I purchased were discontinued and the company stopped providing replacement seals. So when the leaks got too bad I switched back to fixed hubs.

Before putting them on you need to understand the negatives of hub lockers. The front mechanicals rely upon oil splash to keep parts above the oil line coated. At the outside end, the top steering pin gets lubricated by splash from the turning yolk. At the diff end the inside surfaces of the ring and pinion gears, differential and axle housing do not have any rust protection. Moisture will build up inside the axle housing over time. If the gears do not turn and splash oil up inside the housing everything above the oil level will rust and pit. I've seen front diffs removed from trucks that look perfect in the bottom 1/3 and were heavily rusted in the top 2/3s. If you install hub lockers it is a very good idea to regularly lock the hubs to get oil splashed up inside. What I did was keep the hubs locked except when I was going on a longish drive on a highway or freeway. This kept everything properly lubricated and slightly cut down rolling resistance when the truck is cutting through the wind at high (?) speeds. Go ahead and follow your preferences. Just be aware of the positives and negatives then try to minimize the effects of the negatives.