F250 4x4 hubs question

[jdkinzenbaw]

Guys,

Question for you... I just put new wheels/tires on my F250. I use it mostly for towing and lots of highway/winter.

I'm coming off of a Chevy with independent front suspension, so I'm not used to having any hub locking controls on the hub itself. I prefer the look of the clean wheel without any switches sticking out, etc. The center caps these wheel centers came with don't have an opening in the end of them to access the switches. I'm not seeing that as a major problem, but then again, I'm used to Chevy trucks that don't have any switches in the hubs.

How drastic of a situation would I need to find myself in where I'd actually need to switch the front hubs from Auto to Full Lock manually? The only manual hubs I've been around are on my grandpa's old Willy's Jeep which must be locked in for 4x4 to work.

I don't intend to do a lot of intense off-roading. Mainly I need 4x4 for winter snow/ice conditions on the highway, and for a little additional grip when pulling a heavy trailer out of my farm yard; not any real deep mud, etc. I've got tractors and ATV's if I have a need to go in the nasty muck. No sense taking the F250 KR out in that!

Let me know what you guys think!
Jon

[mowdoc]

Put them in the "auto" position and go ahead and cover the hubs, you won't need any access for what you are driving in. It would be wise however, to remove the covers a couple times per year and operate the hubs just to keep them free. This should be done to all trucks. When rotating the tires is a perfect opportunity to do this.

[jdkinzenbaw]

Okay. Good to know - sounds like I'll be just fine then!!

Also, I may keep an allen wrench in the cab. The center caps appear to be removable with an allen wrench, so if I get in a truly desperate situation with no other options, I could pull them off and fully lock in.

Thanks!

[jasonmt]

The Harley SD's center caps cover the front hubs up as well, the only time we have problems with the automatic locking is when it is dipping below -30°C and we start locking them manually because we have blown up a few hubs...

[jdkinzenbaw]

Well, if Ford's doing it themselves on the Harley trucks, then I guess I can safely do it.

I think I'll take the advice on the tire rotation thing though and exercise those locks once in a while as I do my maintenance.

I shouldn't be too much running in temps at -30 C. That's about the coldest it could ever get here in Iowa... we've occasionally seen colder than that, but our temps in winter are more like -20 to 0 C most of the time. So not too bad.

[cherokee]

I'm looking for a set of solid KR caps for mine. 5yrs, 85Kmiles I never used manual on my '05 so don't figure I will on this on either. If I need to switch, just pop the caps off and switch.