Manual hubs

[RustyBiker]

Can I leave my manual hubs locked? Or will it damage them? I am in Iowa and currently leave them locked due to the weather and the road conditions changing quickly. 99 psd / Thanks

[Dave]

it wont hurt anything as long as you are not driving around all the time with the 4 wheel drive engaged too

[GreenF350]

Yep, won't help the gas mileage, and will wear on the front end a bit faster (might even keep it lubed up better), but it won't hurt anything. I used to do it all the time when I lived up north.
-Aaron

[powerstruck]

From what I understand it will wear out your front gears since they are being driven by the front wheels, causing them to put wear on the back side of the gears. Instead of by the transfer case on the front face of the gears.

[Lord Tauk]

If the wear thing is true, how come the Dodge/GM trucks don't have this issue?

[NoRalPh]

Why would the "back side" of a ring gears teeth be any more prone to wear than the front side?

Especially in a no-load condition...

Doesn't make sense to me.

Turning the front diff will cause extra drag that will cost you a bit fuel and the U-joints probably wear slightly more as wells as the bearings/spiders/R&P but... how much worse is it to Never spin & lube those same parts?

It just CAN'T make a significant difference, think of all those trucks with no way to free wheel the front end at all !

[GreenF350]

It might wear a LITTLE more, but nothing significant. That being said....It's POSSIBLE that they are heat treated or made from a different alloy if they are designed to constantly turn sacrificing strength for less wear. I don't know, but I doubt it, just a possibility. I DO know that racing gears are a softer metal so they flex instead of break but they wear faster and just the opposite for street gears, but that's another topic.

Lower gas mileage (to some extent), slightly more wear and more lubrication will happen when you drive with the hubs in, but I surely wouldn't worry about it, expecially if it is only in the winter. In fact, I was just reading the other day that you should lock in your hubs and drive a bit at least once a month to make sure that everything gets a good bath in gear oil, (unless you use the 4wd) since during normal driving they only get what splashes around from bumps, accelleration, etc.
-Aaron