Posted by _jamm on Monday, January 01, 2001 at 3:55PM :
In Reply to: locking hubs for a 78???? posted by John on Monday, January 01, 2001 at 12:53PM :
i'm assuming that your truck is still fulltime 4 wheel drive . about adding locking hubs , the short answer is , you can't .
the long answer is you can , BUT it's a lot of work . you have to either swap in a newer dana 44 out of a 1981 or newer dodge which had locking huds , or goto a GM dana 44 with locking hubs . the reason for this is the the wheel bearing assembly isn't the same as other dana 44 and was designed for fulltime 4 wheel drive use . the other option is you could unbolt the "ball joints " that hold on the wheel bearing assembly and add on a wheel bearing assembly off of a axle that has hubs ( you would also have to change the outer axel as well)
if you do this you also run into the problem of having 2 different wheel bolt paterns front and rear . the easy fix is to swap in a newer dodge dana 44 front axle , then swipe the rear axles from the same truck ( i'm assuming that both trucks are using the same rear axle , 1/2 tons most of the time used the 9 1/4 chrysler rear axle )
lots of work either way you look at it , for what 1-2 mpg ?
i know all this because i have a 77 power wagon 1/2ton short box 4x4. mine is stock , but i have done the " conversion for a friend , and his milage only went up 2mpg at most .
people will tell you the front bearring is crap and doesn't last and the u joints will wear out faster and it will cost you lots of money .
3 years ago i replaced every u joint with hardened , heavy duty ones and heavy duty wheel bearrings , they all get greased roughly every 5-7000 km when i change the oil . now almost 70,000 km latter i have yet to replace a single u joint or wheel bearing . in fact i just changed the oil a couple of days ago and checked everything and it still is all good . in case it matters i also us synthetic grease .
i run fairly large tires ( 34" super swampers ) and this truck see's most of it's driving time offroad , it's not some pampered street truck .
anyway i hope this helps
_jamm
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