Atv on the road.

[uscra112]

Which was a lot better than back when we had to actually crawl out and go to the front hubs and turn the knob to make them engage. Especially if you didn't want to engage them until you got to the point where you actually needed 4WD (like when you are stuck up to your hood in mud).

???? God gave us Warn hubs; why do we need anything else? If a man goes mud-bogging with the hubs disengaged, I have little sympathy.

My old (and departed) 1989 Cherokee had an "automatic" vacuum operated axle/wheel decoupler on the front axle, which of course worked intermittently from new, and didn't work at all once the thing passed 200,000 miles. I had to crawl under and lock it manually about the first of November, and leave it that way until end of April, which did bad things for my gas consumption on the highway. Not one of Dana's better features, IMHO. Give me Warn hubs any day.

BTW that Jeep got 25 MPG highway (with the front axle unlocked), to it's dying day. My cube-mate at work had a 2006(?) Cherokee, with the full-time AWD, and all the comfort goodies. It got 14 MPG highway. Same Kenosha inline six, but all the drag from the AWD, plus the added weight of all the upholstery and etc. Progress.......

[Bullshop Junior]

???? God gave us Warn hubs; why do we need anything else? If a man goes mud-bogging with the hubs disengaged, I have little sympathy.

My old (and departed) 1989 Cherokee had an "automatic" vacuum operated axle/wheel decoupler on the front axle, which of course worked intermittently from new, and didn't work at all once the thing passed 200,000 miles. I had to crawl under and lock it manually about the first of November, and leave it that way until end of April, which did bad things for my gas consumption on the highway. Not one of Dana's better features, IMHO. Give me Warn hubs any day.

BTW that Jeep got 25 MPG highway (with the front axle unlocked), to it's dying day. My cube-mate at work had a 2006(?) Cherokee, with the full-time AWD, and all the comfort goodies. It got 14 MPG highway. Same Kenosha inline six, but all the drag from the AWD, plus the added weight of all the upholstery and etc. Progress.......

They make kits for most with the vacuum hubs to put warn hubs on. I wish I could find the conversion for my 2001 GMC.

[uscra112]

They make kits for most with the vacuum hubs to put warn hubs on. I wish I could find the conversion for my 2001 GMC.

Dang! If I'da known I would'a dunnit. Shame on me. I was in the business then, too. Dana was one of my customers. (Insert forest and trees aphorism here.)

[starmac]

Vacuum hubs??????? never even heard of them. I always hated the vacuum axle lock, I would really hate vacuum hubs.

[waynem34]

It aint nothing in the world any worse than one of the vacuum lines coming off or getting damaged while stuck or four wheeling.I think the manual locking hubs are better.Lots of great times me as a kid jumping in and out locking and unlocking hubs and gates while groundhog hunting with my Dad.Atv would have been nice but not as comfy.With all the mud and snow.I have an older atv suzuki quadrunner you can shift into high, low, and super low.In and out of 4x4.I think 95.I also have a old truck that has the vacuum hubs on it.Its an 85 power ram just shift in and out as long as your not in a bind.Would rather have the manual warn hubs on it if i keep it to restore.I guess the manual locking hub is to the vacuum acuated hub what the revolver is to an auto pistol.I did ride my atv around with ice and snow all over the road, didnt see anyone out really,few flashing light where people tried to go on the ice.Was fun and cold.

[starmac]

Again I have never heard of vacuum activated hubs ever, how would that even work??? I have always liked manual hubs better than automatic, and have converted them to manual several times in the past, but the only vacuum operated any thing I have seen is the diff, chev even had a heat operated diff at one time, jeep also had some vacumn operated t cases, which sucked when components got a little age on them.

[montana_charlie]

chev even had a heat operated diff at one time,

My '93 Chevy has that thermal actuator system, and I have had new units put in about four times.
There is a manual conversion which operates via a push/pull cable. This summer I will think about changing to that because losing the actuator between one snow drift and the next is a real pain in the butt.

CM

[starmac]

MC I had a rancher customer that bought one new, it was notorius for not heating enough in snow drifts, and would actually switch to 4 WD by itself just from road heat in New Mexico. The dealer never did do anything for her. lol

[Three-Fifty-Seven]

I've heard of the jeep problem ... I have quarter turn manual Warn hubs on my 89 F150 ...

Newer F150's have the "better" (not in my opinion!) vacuum hubs ... http://m.f150forum.com/showthread.ph...748&styleid=19

[starmac]

I see the newer f 150's do in fact have vacuum actuated hubs, glad my wifes 03 is still old school. I guess the 99 F 150 probably had the vacuum hubs. We never had any trouble with it in over 200,000 miles, but the design just looks like trouble.

[montana_charlie]

MC I had a rancher customer that bought one new, it was notorius for not heating enough in snow drifts, and would actually switch to 4 WD by itself just from road heat in New Mexico. The dealer never did do anything for her. lol

I'm not sure what a dealer could do other than replace the actuator with a new one. He didn't design the system, and isn't authorized to modify it.
I actually get dependable service from mine, but longevity seems to be a problem. Four or five years is about the most I can get from one.

While I have not been in temperatures hot enough to cause the actuator to engage by itself, I have certainly used mine in the other end of the temperature spectrum. It's true that in very cold temps it often does take longer to actuate.
But, I've been running mine for twenty-one years (next month) and it has never disengaged due to cold weather or deep drifts. And ... I bet our winters are colder than in New Mexico ...

For that reason, I must say that I tend to disbelieve the 'cold part' of that rancher's story ... which makes me wonder about the 'hot part', too.

CM

[starmac]

I don't disbelieve it at all, and when she first got it, didn't know a thing about it. I always figured (after I learned a little about them) that it was a bad actuator to start with, but the dealer wouldn't do anything about it. We did in fact change it eventually when it was probably four years old, and as far as I know it was alright after that. I have a 95 that I've owned since 06, and couldn't tell you if it is set up the same or not, as I have never had a minutes trouble with it.

[Bullshop Junior]

I don't disbelieve it at all, and when she first got it, didn't know a thing about it. I always figured (after I learned a little about them) that it was a bad actuator to start with, but the dealer wouldn't do anything about it. We did in fact change it eventually when it was probably four years old, and as far as I know it was alright after that. I have a 95 that I've owned since 06, and couldn't tell you if it is set up the same or not, as I have never had a minutes trouble with it.

I believe the 95 has a electric actuator on it.

[starmac]

I tend to think it does, because it has never failed since I've owned it, and when you engage 4 wheel it engages right now.

[Bullshop Junior]

Yea. My 01 has that push button type with auto 4wd. It works alright (i never use the auto, although Amanda does when the roads are bad. I have had it a couple times refuse to come out of 4 low with a heavy load on, once unloaded it will shift back into high range fine lol.

[starmac]

Everything I own has the Tcase shifter in the floor, the 99 had the dash switch, and never gave any trouble, but I just never trusted it. lol

[waynem34]

Ive owned 2 toyota tacomas 07 and 09 ,1 manual trany ,1 auto ,both 4x4.Loved them both.They didnt have manual hubs but you can get them.Turning the switch leads to stuck.A lot of times if you get out of the truck you see how messed up it already is.I would aways go anyway.
.

[WILCO]

They are allowed on the roads here...

Same here. Seen a guy cruising around one with a cab and no doors, in the snow!

[grumman581]

???? God gave us Warn hubs; why do we need anything else? If a man goes mud-bogging with the hubs disengaged, I have little sympathy.

I don't necessarily go "mud-bogging". I am going off-road to get to hunting areas and such, so unless I'm pretty sure that I'm going to need 4WD, I don't active it before going in. Also, sometimes you are in an area that has remnants of paved road and you are driving on it intermittently. I've also had a case where I was driving in an area that looked like solid turf / pasture, so no reason to put it in 4WD, only to find out at some point that this nice grass area was growing over some muck that could swallow my Jeep. As it turned out though, 4WD would not get me out, so I was really glad that I had the hydraulic winch installed.

[Olevern]

And don't forget to add riding lawn mowers to this so the local drunks with multiple DWIs can make it to the bar okay. I personally don't care, as long as the ATVs meet the same safety standards as a car or motorcycle. That does include DOT approved tires and lights.

Our local drunk got arrested and charged with DWI (as well as driving while license suspended) while driving his riding lawn mower to the bar.