gotime242

Hello all,

I just took my wheels off to paint them. Ive owned the truck about a week now. My understanding was when the front hubs are in free they are disconnected from the axles completely. However in "free" when i spin the wheel it rotates the axle.

Is it stuck in locked? I searched for this problem on here and mostly found answers to the hub selector being stuck or it stuck in free. My selector can still be moved back and fourth with ease.

Thanks!

xxxtreme22r

is it still staying stuck when moving the wheel forward and reverse?

mmcpeck

Somebody may have had them apart at one point, doing brakes, and didn't put them back together right, it's pretty common as they can go back together more than one way, but only one way is correct.

It happened to me once when I got my brakes done with new rotors, when I got it back the hubs wouldn't move all the way to the Lock position and then I realized they were stuck locked and spinning my CV's all the time. I pulled them apart and put them back together right, I do my own work now.

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

Either big spring upside down, hubs put back together in "lock" position instead of "free" or pawl is not original and too tall to disengage.

:wabbit2:

gotime242

Thanks guys. Seems like an afternoon can right this pretty easily. I found this write-up that should help me take them apart and get them back together correctly.

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/mainte...d/hub_rebuild/

Kinda of frustrating to think about...the truck has been used to commute almost 2 hours a day on the highway for the last 5 years (i know the guy i bought it from well)...so i wonder what kind of wear its gotten, and the diff in gas mileage it will make.

Thanks again.

xxxtreme22r

the hubs themselves typically don't wear out. Could be something as simple as too much grease as well. I made that mistake when I first did mine.

hunter h

Mine was doing the same thing it ended up just being the clutch had came loose from the spring just took them off cleaned them up and they work fine now

gotime242

Ugh...just removed the other wheel and its doing it as well.

Then being installed incorrectly seems like it makes the most sense so far.

Ill remove, clean and try to correctly reinstall both sides and see if that makes a diff.

Thanks

gotime242

And just for everyones info, i still managed 18.2 mpg with the hubs that have been locked for the last 3 years apparently. It was mostly highway with 200k miles on the engine (22re), recent seafoam, new spark plugs, and 30x9.5 tires @ 32psi. I see threads regarding fuel mileage with hubs locked but in 2wd so i figured id throw that out there. I wonder if i can get 20mpg+ once they are free and with 40psi in tires...

mountaingoat

Probably the spring. I had one that was like that, the spring was disconnected so that it wouldn't retract the splined hub when disengaged.

If you have the hub removed, you can actually lock and unlock it right there and see how it's supposed to work. If the spring is connect and it's put together right, you'll see how it extends and retracts the splined hub. Pretty simple little bugger really.

I ran mine this way for 6 months...wondered why my gas mileage took a hit, heh heh. Went up a couple MPG once I fixed the hub.

Mine was actually reassembled wrong by a shop that I'd had do some work on the front end. The usually do good work, but...needless to say, that was the last time I've allowed anyone but me to work on my truck.

gotime242

It turned out to be easier than i thought. Reading about how the hub goes together online was starting to really confuse me. I ended up just taking it apart and sure enough the smaller spring wasn't even attached to that "gear." So essentially the gear was just sitting there in the hub connecting the axle to the wheel.

The first side took a bit, as i took the wheel off...took the 10 and 12mm bolts off etc. But then when i did the other side it took 3 min as all i needed to do was remove the cap and just reattached the spring.

It does look like i need to get in there and re-grease everything. There seemed to be some moisture too...and it looked like there should be a gasket of some sort between the hub cap and hub body (where the 10mm bolts are)....

Anyway, thanks for the help all. Im curious to see what kind of mpg i can get now, and look forward to smoother highway driving.