Driving with locked hubs. Wear of front differential?

[EsbenDenmark]

I have actually asked a similar question before and came to the conclusion it does not matter.
Yes maybe I use a bit more fuel and yes there will be more wear as more parts are moving.

But what about the front differential. If the 4x4 is not engaged but the hubslocked. Then the front axles must be pushing the front diff gear.
The pressure must be on the back side of the gear teeth like it was driving in reverse all the time?
Now this sounds like a bad combination of the gears are not made this kind of stress and wear.

What do you think.. should I start unlocking my hub locks again?

 

[george_tlc]

1) what is the issue unlocking the hubs when 4wd isn't required? With them locked and in 2wd, the front diff will still spin as well as the front prop shaft.
2) old school 4wds didn't have free wheeling hubs stock. So, it's not 'fatal'...
3) just unlock them, is it that hard to do? Save a bit of fuel, a bit of wear and tear and a bit of noise.

cheers,
george.

 

[EsbenDenmark]

Not really and issue as such.

The reason I ask is that we are travelling in our 75 series. We do drive almost every, often long distances but also use the 4wd almost every day and often several times a day.
Especially here in Oman.. get up in the morning, need 4wd to leave the place we camped, drive normal road, then offroad, then normal road , then dirt, the paved, then sand, the paved, then offroad to find camping.

Got a bit tired of running back and forth all the time

 

[AirheadNut]

For what it is worth I usually keep my hubs locked for most of the winter so I can engage 4wd on the fly if conditions dictate. I doubt it will make much difference, in fact many newer 4wd’s (including a lot of 70-series) use drive flanges or similar.

 

[bj70bc]

you need the exercise anyhow

 

[EsbenDenmark]

For what it is worth I usually keep my hubs locked for most of the winter so I can engage 4wd on the fly if conditions dictate. I doubt it will make much difference, in fact many newer 4wd’s (including a lot of 70-series) use drive flanges or similar.

True. But I am pretty sure they all have a different transfer box with some sort of center differentiale.

 

[EsbenDenmark]

you need the exercise anyhow

There definitely is some truth to that

 

[bj70bc]

i leave mine in when on the trail all day

 

[WarDamnEagle]

Every single 75 series in the middle east has drive flanges. There is no way I will ever change my FZJ75 from drive flanges to locking hubs as I don't think it's worth the effort. And besides, I am so used to seeing them in Saudi without locking hubs, they actually look funny to me with locking hubs. Seems to be the first "upgrade" though whenever a 75 series is imported into the US. Yes, I grew up with Ford trucks, Broncos, and Scouts and they all had locking hubs. Now I know better.

Leave them locked.

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Gears are designed to drive both ways, and there is very little load on anything when it is just passively driven by the road wheels.

It also keeps everything lubricated.

 

[Lo2aY]

Might not be a popular opinion but I always convert my Cruisers to have the selectable hubs. Even my new 7x series cruisers are converted from the auto hubs to the manual selectable hubs.

The benefits of having them have been discussed a lot. So I won't get into that. We do a 2 week trip each year in Saudi where we cover somewhere between 7 to 10,000kms of driving. Usually the cruiser I use will have the hubs locked and unlocked throughout the year until we reach this trip. it stays locked until the trip ends. We are on and off road all the time so we adjust tire pressures to somewhere between street and offroad pressure. No crazy offroading during this time but it just helps to not waist time adjusting tire pressures. The same goes for the hubs, I lock them so I don't forget if it's locked on a particular stretch or not.

There is no affect on driveline in terms of damage or anything else like that if you kept your hubs locked. You can drive with them locked for as long as you want.

 

[Mark W]

Standard use in places where winter brings snow that stays until spring is to lock the hubs in the fall in any part time 4x4 rig and unlock them once the roads stay clear, just engaging and disengaging the transfer case is to lock the front hubs.

An awful lot of rigs for many many years used this way with never any detrimental effect.

There is not enough load on the gears from spinning the internals of the diff to care about. There is no undue stress just because it is running on the back side of the gears. In fact most older rigs do not use reverse cut gears in the front diffs. It is just a rear diff spinning backwards... underload.

Don't overthink it. Drive.


Mark...

 

[dogfishlake]

I'm still hung up on the part where you are traveling every day.

Envious.
I'm with the "lock the hubs and shift in and out of 4wd. club"

Have fun!

 

[EsbenDenmark]

I'm still hung up on the part where you are traveling every day.

Envious.
I'm with the "lock the hubs and shift in and out of 4wd. club"

Have fun!

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We are in Oman right now, after this United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia

 

[WarDamnEagle]

Might not be a popular opinion but I always convert my Cruisers to have the selectable hubs. Even my new 7x series cruisers are converted from the auto hubs to the manual selectable hubs.

The benefits of having them have been discussed a lot. So I won't get into that. We do a 2 week trip each year in Saudi where we cover somewhere between 7 to 10,000kms of driving. Usually the cruiser I use will have the hubs locked and unlocked throughout the year until we reach this trip. it stays locked until the trip ends. We are on and off road all the time so we adjust tire pressures to somewhere between street and offroad pressure. No crazy offroading during this time but it just helps to not waist time adjusting tire pressures. The same goes for the hubs, I lock them so I don't forget if it's locked on a particular stretch or not.

There is no affect on driveline in terms of damage or anything else like that if you kept your hubs locked. You can drive with them locked for as long as you want.

Okay so there's one exceptional Saudi in the Kingdom with locking hubs.

 

[Lo2aY]

Okay so there's one exceptional Saudi in the Kingdom with locking hubs.

haha. You're going to make the diesel crowd upset. the HZJs came with the lockouts.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

haha. You're going to make the diesel crowd upset. the HZJs came with the lockouts.

So how many diesel 70 series were in The Kingdom 10 years ago? Two?

Just kidding but there weren't many. I didn't know that about the diesel 70's. What about the VDJs? Pretty sure this one didn't have lockouts. I took this photo west of Riyadh in late 2019.

 

[Lo2aY]

So how many diesel 70 series were in The Kingdom 10 years ago? Two?

Just kidding but there weren't many. I didn't know that about the diesel 70's. What about the VDJs? Pretty sure this one didn't have lockouts. I took this photo west of Riyadh in late 2019.

View attachment 3812489

You'll surprised how many HZJs are in the market. The VDJ above has Auto hubs which all GCC VDJs came with. I converted mine on the 78 to manuals. They are easier to deal with.