4wd school me

[crowz]

Keeping it locked thru slugs or locked in hubs only wears the ujoints out faster at the wheels and the front drive shaft for the most part. Mine spent 100k miles or more with one hub locked in where it messed up. Killed the ujoints at the wheels (the passenger side was the one locked and it was completely toast while the drivers side was shot but not about to fall out like the passenger side was) and the front drive shaft ujoints wore out too. Otherwise fine.

The crappy wheel bearings seem to fail locked in or out. Will NOT be using chinese wheel bearings anymore.

 

[Trqmnstr]

I guess leaving them locked or not is going to be a matter of opinion. If you put A LOT of miles on with the hubs locked you might see some slight premature wear on tires.

With the hubs locked and T-case out you are essentially doing nothing different then what the rear is doing. The ring gear is turning and you're turning a set of axle joints. The wheel bearings and ball joints are doing the same job either way.


OP your problem of coming through the defrost when trying to engage 4x4 is from losing vacuum while trying to pull the hubs in. It could be at the hubs the inner bearing seal or one of the lines going to the knuckles.


Trqmnstr- What year truck are you referring to?

It was an 02.