front hub help

[la hi]

In a ford f 150 or a ram 1500 while driving on the highway you push a button and the truck goes into 4 wheel drive. How do I do that with my 66 bronco?

 

[Attac]

You would have to adapt the electronic transfer case from a later year to your bronco but your front axles would spin all the time and just the transfer case would be dissengauged

 

[charlie6976]

In a ford f 150 or a ram 1500 while driving on the highway you push a button and the truck goes into 4 wheel drive. How do I do that with my 66 bronco?

Put a BUTTON on the dash!!!;D;D;D

 

[B RON CO]

Hi, generally modern trucks have push button electronic 4 WD.
The early 4WD trucks are manual.
To engage 4 WD you have to lock the front hubs, by turning the centers of the front hubs clockwise ( turning counter clockwise for highway driving unlocks the hubs), and then pushing the transfer case stick shift forward to select 4 WD high, or 4 WD low.
Good luck

 

[fatboy]

My 2003 Ford Excursion has a selector switch on the dash. This selector switch controls an electric motor that is attached to my transfer case. When I activate the switch, the motor rotates an input shaft on the transfer case, engaging (or disengaging) the gearset. My transfer case is mechanical in operation and the motor does the “shifting” for me. I have manual hubs on the front axle and I usually engage them around thanksgiving so that I will not have to get out in a snow storm to go into 4 wheel drive.

My transfer case is designed to go into 4 wheel drive at speed but I was always taught growing up that I needed to stop to put the tcase in 4 wheel drive on the older stuff (like a d20). Many guys on here with more knowledge than I that might be able to say that would be fine, but you are talking a reasonable amount of engineering to make this conversion. Either engineer making the d20 “automatic” or engineer putting in a newer tcase that has that option.

Good luck!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[la hi]

Would locking the hubs and leaving the truck in 2 wheel drive hurt anything?
I could stop to go into 4 wheel high, no problem. Every day I go up a steep gravel national forest road to get home. Getting out and locking the hubs in the snow each time is what I'm trying to avoid.

 

[bmc69]

Would locking the hubs and leaving the truck in 2 wheel drive hurt anything?
I could stop to go into 4 wheel high, no problem. Every day I go up a steep gravel national forest road to get home. Getting out and locking the hubs in the snow each time is what I'm trying to avoid.

Does not hurt anything. You'll notice some minor kickback in your steering when make tight turns at low speed but that's about all.

You can shift in to (and out of) 4-hi without stopping...I avoid doing it at highway speeds but otherwise never an issue. Just don't ever try that with 4-lo, where stopping to shift is mandatory.

 

[la hi]

Thanks all, I am new with broncos.

 

[bronkenn]

It is actually good for the frontend to lock in the hubs and drive it every once in a while, it keeps the seals and bearings working good. Ken

 

[DirtDonk]

What they said. The bit about locking the hubs now and then is actually part of normal "maintenance" as listed in the owners manual. I think it even says so on some of the decals we used to find on our trucks from the factory as well.
Not every year got every decal, and not every Bronco of a particular year seemed to get all the decals either.

To do what you asked in the first post without having any hubs to lock you would need to swap in a modern Dodge axle as well. Not very easy to do in a simple way, so something like a drive slug in place of the lockout mechanisms would do the same thing.
In the seventies the Fords and GM trucks with the NP203 "full-time" transfer cases used a simple splined slug with a chrome dome cap covering things up and keeping gunk out of the hub. No spinny thingy knobs.

Lot of work though, and it sounds like you've got your answer for your troubles. Just leave the lockouts (also called "free-running hubs") in the locked position. Lots of people do that in the winter snowy season like you might experience as well.
And remember, the free-running hubs were actually an option on the Bronco. So without that option the axles were spinning 100% of the time anyway.

Regarding the kickback that bmc mentioned, if it seems abnormally high, or severe to you (I realize you haven't done it before, but you'll know...) your u-joints may need replacing. If you feel oscillations in the steering all the time then your joints are likely toast.
If they were replaced in recent years this is likely not an issue. Yet...

Paul

 

[sprdv1]

Put a BUTTON on the dash!!!;D;D;D

LOL, there ya go

 

[fatboy]

Does not hurt anything. You'll notice some minor kickback in your steering when make tight turns at low speed but that's about all.



You can shift in to (and out of) 4-hi without stopping...I avoid doing it at highway speeds but otherwise never an issue. Just don't ever try that with 4-lo, where stopping to shift is mandatory.

What Bill and others have said. Lock in the hubs and shift when you need to !


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Nothing Special]

It's been danced around a little. But to be clear, when you are driving with the hubs locked you can shift from 2WD to 4WD high range without stopping. When doing this you want the front and rear tires to be going about the same speed. That means going pretty straight and not spinning or skidding any tires. With a manual trans it works well to push the clutch in and shift the transfer case. With an automatic you can usually just let off the gas and shift the transfer case.

Similarly you can shift from 4WD high range back to 2WD without stopping too. Doing that is less picky than shifting into 4WD, but it's still best to be coasting in a straight line. Otherwise it might bind up and be hard to shift.

Again, you can only do this if the hubs are already locked. And you need to stop to shift in or out of 4WD low range.

 

[okie4570]

Leave hubs locked and twin stick it. I run around OCBR for days like that. Easy in and out of the front axle engagement dozens of time a day while on the move.

 

[B RON CO]

Hi, now you got the answer to the question.
I would not drive with the hubs locked all the time.
You will have excess wear and tear on the front axles and driveshaft. You will also hurt you MGP.
I would think the Bronco could drive gravel roads in 2 WD anyway, even with a little snow. I off road on hunting trails and seldom need 4 WD, but I don't drive hard core stuff.
Getting out and locking in the hubs is part of the Bronco experience.
A Bronco with nice tires like my BFG KOs has a lot of capability.
Good luck

 

[Nothing Special]

Hi, now you got the answer to the question.
I would not drive with the hubs locked all the time.
You will have excess wear and tear on the front axles and driveshaft. You will also hurt you MGP.
I would think the Bronco could drive gravel roads in 2 WD anyway, even with a little snow. I off road on hunting trails and seldom need 4 WD, but I don't drive hard core stuff.
Getting out and locking in the hubs is part of the Bronco experience.
A Bronco with nice tires like my BFG KOs has a lot of capability.
Good luck

I agree that I wouldn't drive with the hubs locked all of the time. But if I thought I might need 4WD on that trip I certainly wouldn't hesitate to lock the hubs before I started out. And if I thought I might need 4WD on every trip, well then they would be locked all of the time.

I also agree that 2WD and good tires makes 4WD unnecessary much of the time. But hey, we've got 4WD, nothing wrong with using it as insurance before it's completely necessary. It's easier to stay unstuck thsan it is to get unstuck. (But don't use 4WD much on clear pavement, that will lead to excessive wear on tires and other components.)

 

[DirtDonk]

I believe the old recommendation was that you could shift in and out of 4wd HIGH at up to 45mph.
As usual, your results may vary. Just like the ease of shifting Dana 20's varies from unit to unit.

For short trips your mileage loss is likely to be minimal. Out on the open highway it might be a bigger deal, but if I was traveling short distances and I knew I was going to be needing 4wd literally almost every day like the OP experiences during season it sounds like, I would leave them locked in too.
If in the summer months traction is not an issue, you can leave the hubs unlocked and simply shift to 4-wheel LOW range and use the gears rather than any real need for the front end helping.

If locked all the time, then I'd just unlock them now and then as more of an exercise for the parts and making sure they all work properly than anything else.
And while I agree that wear-and-tear and mileage is effected, it can't be too serious as it used to be, since no manufacturer currently puts free-running hubs in their 4wd vehicles that I'm aware of. For that you have to go to the aftermarket.
Dodge used axle disconnects for awhile on their solid axle setups, but I don't think they do anymore. Either that, or they're more reliable now so we don't hear about their failures as often? GM IFS setups had something as well, but not sure how that works currently.
And not sure if Ford ever did use any type of disconnect on their solid axle front ends. Just at the transfer case?

So unless you're putting tens of thousands of miles a year on your Bronco, I don't see wear and tear, or fuel economy as being the big deal it was in the seventies. It's true that the D44 in EB's (low pinion) is driving on it's coast-side, so wear is odd when compared to it's original position as a rear axle, but it's only wearing the coast side when under power. Just leaving the hubs locked would not create that situation.
Maybe with our t-cases and old-school axles it's a bigger deal. I just don't know what would have changed inside an old D44 vs a new one, or an old t-case vs a new one other than being chain drive again.

Either way, it's a very workable solution for the OP.

Paul

 

[sprdv1]

I agree that I wouldn't drive with the hubs locked all of the time. But if I thought I might need 4WD on that trip I certainly wouldn't hesitate to lock the hubs before I started out. And if I thought I might need 4WD on every trip, well then they would be locked all of the time.

I also agree that 2WD and good tires makes 4WD unnecessary much of the time. But hey, we've got 4WD, nothing wrong with using it as insurance before it's completely necessary. It's easier to stay unstuck thsan it is to get unstuck. (But don't use 4WD much on clear pavement, that will lead to excessive wear on tires and other components.)

I'm at the point, I need to put my selectables in vs the full time plugs..