mistersamurai
Well-known member
One day this summer I was out on the freeway in the Samurai when I thought I felt a new vibration. It turns out, one of the locking hub dials was between the "free" and "lock" positions. At the time, I felt stupid for only partially engaging it, and was worried I may have damaged it or the splines on the end of the shaft.
So recently I'm installing new wheel bearings, etc., with Low Range's kit and figure I'll have a look at the hubs. A light bulb went off when I saw the part in the rebuild video where they remove and clean the detent ball and spring. Sure enough, my hubs don't have them. This must be how the one dial worked its way out of position.
These are basically new hubs- I bought them as a pair and installed them when one of my Samurai's original auto-lock hubs broke, just a couple years ago. Maybe I'm an idiot for not noticing the problem sooner, but the dials did feel sticky at the limits of their rotation, if not overly notchy. The only other vehicles I've had with manual hubs were my Scouts. Those felt very positive in their engagement, but I figured the difference was due to them being ~50 years old and the Aisins brand new.
Anyway, I found a ball-and-spring kit on the Yotamasters' site and bought another new hub, and my axle shaft is in great shape, so all is good. Still a weird and annoying problem, though. Has it happened to anybody else?
So recently I'm installing new wheel bearings, etc., with Low Range's kit and figure I'll have a look at the hubs. A light bulb went off when I saw the part in the rebuild video where they remove and clean the detent ball and spring. Sure enough, my hubs don't have them. This must be how the one dial worked its way out of position.
These are basically new hubs- I bought them as a pair and installed them when one of my Samurai's original auto-lock hubs broke, just a couple years ago. Maybe I'm an idiot for not noticing the problem sooner, but the dials did feel sticky at the limits of their rotation, if not overly notchy. The only other vehicles I've had with manual hubs were my Scouts. Those felt very positive in their engagement, but I figured the difference was due to them being ~50 years old and the Aisins brand new.
Anyway, I found a ball-and-spring kit on the Yotamasters' site and bought another new hub, and my axle shaft is in great shape, so all is good. Still a weird and annoying problem, though. Has it happened to anybody else?
