Auto locking hubs and gas mileage???

[Dude/Bro]

I own a 04' Taco with the 2.7 and it has the factory auto locking hubs. I've never really liked them but they seem to work ok. My question for all you Taco experts is if I replace them with a manual hub conversion to something like a Warn will the truck get any better gas mielage not having to spin the front end all the time. Also do auto hubs by default cause more ware and tare being locked all the time.

[WristPin]

i know there was a thread about this a while ago in the early truck section. but i could not find it.
what i gather is half of the people responded says it makes no difference in mileage, the other syas it impacts mileage. I belive strongly that it impact mileage. plus impacts wear.

do a search on this, and for the sake of your own and all the starving pigmys down there in new guinea, please dont buy warn hubs.

and are you the guy who coined 'dont taze me bro, dont taze me'?

[Hilux]

If you don't have manual hubs I'm sorry, I feel for ya. And last I checked it's not worth the @ $1,000 to convert them over....tisk tisk, when people started giving the sales guys too much lip about being too lazy to turn a dial.......oh well.


Too bad Toyota isn't up to making good'ol fashioned plane ol' trucks anymore.

MAYBE if your lucky you can get some salvage manuals but even then Toyota prolly did something to make that easy swap impossible.

Did some quick googling for you

4x4Wire - Off Road Solutions Manual Hub Conversion Kit


tacoma Manual hub conversion - Off-Road Forums & Discussion Groups



Downey Off-Road

[Dude/Bro]

The conversion kit is about $350 and you can pickup used hubes from about anywhere. I'm more interested in the effects on gas milage and un-needed wear and tare.

[FlatlandTRD]

Originally Posted by Dude/Bro

The conversion kit is about $350 and you can pickup used hubes from about anywhere. I'm more interested in the effects on gas milage and un-needed wear and tare.

It has no benifits, and was talked about in this forum...
http://forum.ih8mud.com/95-gen-toyot...ns-please.html

But if you come across the parts extremely cheap, and want something to do, go for it.

[cackalak han]

I personally can't see any dramatic difference in gas mileage happening with the manual hubs. Currently, I am getting 21-23MPG on the highway if I set the cruise at 65-70MPH. I HIGHLY doubt that I will see any difference with the manual hubs. BUT, if any of you do this and get 26+MPG, let me know!!!

[OffRoadSolutions]

You will be lucky to see 1mpg out of the changeover to manual hubs. That is not the main reason people do the conversion.

The main idea behind the conversion is to save wear & tear from the CV's spinning all the time, along with being able to disengage an axle if you break on trail and being able to limp home VS having to do a fix right there and then to get out & home.

[d0ubledown]

pros:

cool grey aisin dial in your front wheels
can limp out sans axle
no cv's constantly spinning


cons:

cost of the conversion. either full swap kit from ors which uses warn hubs vs oem, or junkyard swap requires press work
marginally weaker axles as they are a mil or 2 smaller in dia
swapping out an ADD axle is much easier to do on the trail than a manual hub axle
no cool grey aisin hub dial

i looked into this as well. wear on your cv's is a moot point, unless youve got a rediculous lift which strains your cvs, which is not a good idea in the first place. as much as i wanted to do it, i couldnt justify the cost for the minimal gains. i ended up spending that money on an RD90 instead...

[OffRoadSolutions]

We also offer a "basic" hub kit (sans lockouts) and you can buy Aisin from us or go with Mile Marker if that is something you have sitting around or prefer.