Locking hub won’t spin after knuckle rebuild

[Pura Vida]

So I got everything lined up, had someone experienced come and help me through the process, and I finally got to the point of just putting the locking hub on, and my hub locker won’t spin. I saw another thread that had a similar issue, but in that one, the axle was hard to spin when an 8mm bolt was run through it. My axle spins fine and has no issue. I’m stumped. What could be happening?

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

You just can't turn the dial?

 

[Pura Vida]

You just can't turn the dial?

Yeah. It spun perfectly fine before the rebuild, but now it won’t spin at all

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

Yeah. It spun perfectly fine before the rebuild, but now it won’t spin at all

Does it work when removed from the axle?

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

Are the guts lined up properly, and lubed?

 

[Pura Vida]

Does it work when removed from the axle?

No. I don’t know why, but it only works when it is bolted up. The other side I just bolted it up to a hub, and it spins like that, but not when it is unbolted. Not sure why

 

[Pura Vida]

Are the guts lined up properly, and lubed?

Yeah. I’ll take some pictures when I get home. I put a light layer of grease in the parts that are supposed to move, and on the teeth. These pictures are from the gasket issue. That is resolved.

 

[pb4ugo]

Can you turn the dial when it's not installed?

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

No. I don’t know why, but it only works when it is bolted up. The other side I just bolted it up to a hub, and it spins like that, but not when it is unbolted. Not sure why

Sounds like a great science project.

 

[Pura Vida]

Turns out the most trivial issues have the simplest fixes. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out the part that was failing, so I just sprayed the part with a ton of WD40, and turned it with vice grips, and it’s like I broke a seal, because now it spins perfectly fine. Thank goodness it wasn’t something bigger, because I did not want to take my knuckle or hub back off again.

 

[DangerNoodle]

Turns out the most trivial issues have the simplest fixes. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out the part that was failing, so I just sprayed the part with a ton of WD40, and turned it with vice grips, and it’s like I broke a seal, because now it spins perfectly fine. Thank goodness it wasn’t something bigger, because I did not want to take my knuckle or hub back off again.

Did you go and degrease and clean everything? Those hubs should shine with a bit of elbow grease.

 

[Pura Vida]

Did you go and degrease and clean everything? Those hubs should shine with a bit of elbow grease.

Yep

 

[DangerNoodle]

Yep

Pics or it didnt happen

 

[middlecalf]

I have no experience with these…

but usually when I use vice grips to break something free it’s not to make it work.

Just sayin’… as they say 😂

 

[Chungas Revenge]

I ran into a similar situation after rebuilding a set of Asco hubs. Turned out the replacement O-ring was the offending piece of kit.

Did you toss the old O-rings? If not try a comparison with the new. Like @middlecalf alluded to^^^ you may want to take it apart again just to check it after the vice grip coercion...

 

[Homey15]

I have no experience with these…

but usually when I use vice grips to break something free it’s not to make it work.

Just sayin’… as they say 😂

Break may be the key word here. It will now rotate, but does it engage? If your lockout turns so hard you need vice grips to crank on it you need to back up a step or two and investigate why

 

[Chungas Revenge]

Go over to YouTube and watch “Free Wheeling Hubs - Land Rover Restoration Part 9”.

This vid covers your AVM vintage hub. Assembly/ disassembly/ restoration. About 10 minutes long.

 

[Pura Vida]

I did my best to clean it, got most of it shiny, put some grease on it, but I didn’t take the hub locker apart like the video. Earlier, I put the caliper on, and it was rubbing against the rotor, not sure why it’s doing that, so I’m probably going to have to take it all apart anyway, and I’ll clean it more then, and probably be more surgical with it. I suspect a possible thing is that the bearing seal may not be completely in, and it is making the rotor stick out slightly, but I am not quite sure yet. I’ll take it all back apart tomorrow and buy some primer and paint to repaint it all after I am done stripping it and stuff.

I’ll probably have to go out and buy some paint supplies at Home Depot or something. Any suggestions on what I should buy? What paint gun? What paint?

I also accidentally broke a hard brake line that runs on the axle on the drivers side. Probably needed replacement anyways. What is that specific line called? I’ll have to call Kurt tomorrow to order a new one of those

 

[Pura Vida]

Break may be the key word here. It will now rotate, but does it engage? If your lockout turns so hard you need vice grips to crank on it you need to back up a step or two and investigate why

The part works correctly, and spins by hand, but I initially had to spray WD40 and use vice grips to get it started the first time. It is no problem to spin by hand now.

 

[DangerNoodle]

Just build new lines. It's going to be a lot less expensive if you can just rent an iso bubble flare tool and get some new 1/4 steel line.

I would get a high quality paint like SEM in trim black for most knuckle stuff. An actual automotive paint store should have that. Also get some lacquer thinner or a good quality degreaser. Some 0 or 1 grade steel wool can help prep a deagreased surface.

Don't bother with an actual paint gun. It's a lot if work to get set up, and you need a pretty high volume compressor and very clean air to run a HVLP gun anyways. You would also need to get paint, activator, strainers, measuring cups, a good respirator, etc to do it safely anyways.