Jeff Strickland

I wasn't aware of the fancy name, but they were prone to wearing out, or
otherwise had some issue that locking hubs solved.




"L.W. (ßill) ------ III" <----------@***.net> wrote in message
news:3F37EAEB.BBAA6A7E@***.net...
> Hi Jeff,
> I don't think you realize ****** used an advanced constant velocity
> axle universal joint, bolted and centered to the floating hub flange:
> http://vernco.com/id474.htm
> God Bless America, ßill O|||||||O
> mailto:-------------------- http://www.----------.com/
>
> Jeff Strickland wrote:
> >
> > Now, for another exciting journey through the History of Locking Hubs
....
> >
> > Early Jeeps had full time hubs, hubs that could not be unlocked. The
trouble
> > was that the technology of the metal was not very advanced, and the
parts
> > suffered from excessive wear because gears were turning that weren't
being
> > used for anything. Along came the manual hubs that the
driver/participant
> > passenger could get out and lock in when needed, and unlock when not
needed.
> > This gave longer life to the gears and other parts as compared to the
> > previous iterations. Eventually, the manual locking devices were
replaced by
> > vacuum activated systems, allowing the driver and participating
passengers
> > to remain seated. There were marketing advantages here as well because
many
> > 4WD makers had actually improved the metals used in the axles and
transfer
> > cases, so having systems where your customers had to get out to fiddle
with
> > ***** and dials was a severe disadvantage for sales quotas.
> >
> > Today, we have significant advances in metal technology, so we can do
away
> > with locking hubs altogether. No manual hubs, no automatic hubs, just
plain
> > old hubs that are always mechanically connected to the rest of the
> > drivetrain.
> >
> > The wear and tear, and lower fuel mileage are insignificant, and the
only
> > reason to use manual hubs is so that if the ujoint(s) break, you can
> > separate the broken hub from everything else, and limp home in 2WD.

Jeff Strickland

"L.W. (ßill) ------ III" <----------@***.net> wrote in message
news:3F381D80.A3689CD5@***.net...
> They were too expensive and only our Government would pay for them.
> And of course Warn like to sell their after market winches and stuff.
> Pushing a free wheeling front differential down the road is dumb. But
> apparently Daimler believes their customers are too stupid to operate
> another lever.


Stupid or not, the other car makers have done away (for the most part) with
locking hubs, either manual or automatic. I can't remember the last new 4x4
I saw that had manual hubs, but the best of my memory was that it was on a 1
ton Ford, hardly a mainstream consumer vehicle.