My girlfriend recently asked me a question about her car, a '98 Sidekick, that, embarrassingly, I could not answer (She made sure to revel in the moment).
The question was if she needed to engage 4wd now and then while driving in snow for starts and things, do you need to get out and lock the hubs every time, then turn them back to free every time you switch back to 2wd? My guess was no, you could leave the hubs locked and switch between 2 and 4wd as needed, but I realized i had no idea what technically was happening. I told her it was magic, which she's cool with, but now I'm kinda curious..
I had no idea that those had manual locking hubs.
Leaving them locked short term should be no big deal. The biggest issue AFAIK is that they front DS will spin full time, and on vehicles with locking hubs, the front DS is usually not balanced since it's a low speed application.
Ian F
Dork
1/21/10 8:16 a.m.
Yes, you can drive around in 2WD with the hubs locked. It'll just use a bit more gas since you're turning the front axle assembly when normally it doesn't move. This was pretty much normal practice in the good 'ole days before AWD and crappy axle-disconnect systems: if the weather looked iffy, you locked the hubs but left it in 2WD until the need arose.
When the hubs are unlocked, the front wheels are disconnected from the front axles, so they spin freely for less parasitic drag. If you look at some trucks (Super Duty Fords still have a factory manual hub option), you can actually see the axle hub u-joints not spinning while the truck is moving.
In axle-disconnect systems like my '95 Dodge, the axle and u-joints are always turning, regardless of the transfer case or axle disconnect engagement. I honestly have no idea what the point of axle disconnect is since it only disconnects the passenger side wheel from the differential... but everything still spins... all the way back to the transfer case... Placebo, I guess... Or maybe so the front differential doesn't spin quite as hard.
It depends on the hubs. Some MFG like ford have a manual override but vacuum operation for shift on the fly so normaly you don't have to get out and lock the hubs but if you wish to manualy lock them you can. Now early and some of todays cheaper trucks have manual only. Most manual only types also have manual shifter for the transfer case.
44
In winter we just locked the hubs and shifted the transfer case when needed. We also smeared grease on the face of the hub to forstall corrosion from the salt.
I found that hubs are good for app. 2 mpg on the highway.
My Liberty has no disconnect other than the transfer case and I have often wondered about this as everything is turning up there.
Yes, this is fine.
In fact, it's a good idea to lock the hubs on dirt roads and the like, even if you're not using 4WD, as it somehow helps protect the axles (I don't really know why, but my father swears by it, and he'd be the one to know such things).
