Hey fellas. Recently finished restoring/building the axles on an 85' runner and am now faced with this problem, the front axle shafts are not spinning when in 4L/H.

Details: Warn locking hubs, in which i heard where garbage, PO put them on. I did alot of cleaning/painting and put armor and truss on. front dif got 5.29's with new master install kit, stock open carrier. Stock axle shafts as well.

I tore each hub down to the knuckle balls and all was well. Since I martacked the shafts, I double checked to make sure there was plenty of spline going into the carrier, which there is. Only thing I havent done is take the dif out for a look.

Now when I lock into 4wheel on jackstands and just spin the wheels, it is making a sound as if the splines going into the diff arent in far enough, I know for sure they are!

Any ideas here?! I am thinking the warn hubs are my issue, however I'm not sure. Maybe I am overlooking something simple? Possibly the T-Case? Just looking for ideas, thanks guys!

 

Front drive shaft spinning in 4H or 4L?
To see if it is the hubs or not, pull the hubs off and see if the inner axle shafts are spinning or not. If they are, then something with he hubs is not locking in. Not sure on the Warns, but with the OEM hubs, it is possible to put them together wrong and not have them lock/unlock right. Might try pulling the locking mechanism out and see if it'll go back into the hub with a different orientation to work right.

With an open diff., you'll be able to spin one wheel and the other side should spin opposite direction with the t-case in 4H.

 

thanks 4crawler, Your site rocks btw!

I will look into the hubs, as I believe that is the issue. The shaft was spinning in 4L, I havent had it in 4H yet.

 

so with the warn end caps off, when I push the gear ALL THE WAY into the locking hub body, I get tires spinning. When I put the cap on and crank the dial to 4x4 it certainly isnt fully engaging.