Locking Hub problem with Disk Conversion

[murdador]

Hey Guys,

I have a '69 that has a dana 44 installed from the previous owner. I managed to get my hands on 78-79 knuckles and related brake hardware. Everything has come together fairly easy, except the locking hubs. I bought new '79 wheel hubs but I'm trying to use the old locking hubs. They fit but it super tight and do not slide easy at all even with enough grease to swim in.
What am I missing? Are the locking hubs specific to the drum wheel hubs because they fit and function perfectly in them. Do I need to bite the bullet and get new locking hubs? Attached is a diagram of what my locking hubs look like.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Pedro

 

[SteveL]

The same locking hub should work drum or disc. Make sure bearings are seated all the way

 

[DirtDonk]

Is that as far in as the inner ring goes?
Is grease packed too tight behind it, or is it tight right from the beginning?

I bought new '79 wheel hubs but I'm trying to use the old locking hubs. They fit but it super tight and do not slide easy at all even with enough grease to swim in.

Do you still have the old hubs? Since many new parts are junk these days (even big heavy machined parts) maybe there are some burrs on the splines that are keeping the parts from sliding in.
We've even run into those where the splines were not finish machined far enough in to work with aftermarket lockouts. But even there, the factory ones were fine.

What am I missing? Are the locking hubs specific to the drum wheel hubs because they fit and function perfectly in them. Do I need to bite the bullet and get new locking hubs?

As said, all the lockouts were literally the same part numbers for all Broncos, F100/150's, K5 Blazers and K10 pickups, W100 Dodge trucks and Ramchargers. Except for a few oddballs now and then, they all used the same part number except for the different colored plastic knobs for the different brand trucks.

I would suspect the new bearing hubs, or something not quite right during installation. More likely the bearing hub got deformed in shipment than you doing anything wrong though. If the very first part after the spring and seat won't go in, something is wrong with the splines.

Sometimes the outer lock ring (#11 axle sleeve and bushing) are hard to install because they have to line up with both the axle shaft and the inner sleeve. But that's usually a bearing adjustment thing and can be remedied by jiggling the hub.
The first one in your pic only has the splines and the inner spring to worry about.

Anyway, check the splines and see what you find.

Paul

 

[murdador]

The same locking hub should work drum or disc. Make sure bearings are seated all the way

That's what I thought. The bearings are seated. The locking hub part #12 slides easily in the old wheel hub but in the new one it takes a lot more force than the spring. It's hard to push in and hard to pull out.

 

[murdador]

Is that as far in as the inner ring goes?
Is grease packed too tight behind it, or is it tight right from the beginning?



Do you still have the old hubs? Since many new parts are junk these days (even big heavy machined parts) maybe there are some burrs on the splines that are keeping the parts from sliding in.
We've even run into those where the splines were not finish machined far enough in to work with aftermarket lockouts. But even there, the factory ones were fine.

I would suspect the new bearing hubs, or something not quite right during installation. More likely the bearing hub got deformed in shipment than you doing anything wrong though. If the very first part after the spring and seat won't go in, something is wrong with the splines.

Anyway, check the splines and see what you find.

Paul

It's tight all the way, start to end. I can push it all the way back and compress the spring.

I just checked fitment on the old Rusty hub from the '79, fits perfect without any grease. I guess that's what I get for cheaping out and buying from rockauto. I knew the parts were cheap but damn that's bad.

Thanks for the replies,
Pedro

 

[75MIKE]

Are the splines on the new hub clean? I've had to do some light filing with a triangle file on new splines as the machining left high spot burrs of metal in the grooves on the outer edge.

Take a close look and might need some clean up filing.

 

[73azbronco]

clean all parts spotless, then test fit. I found old stuck on grease usually the culprit

 

[Rustytruck]

The splines do not get heavy grease coating. Just a thin film of white grease. Heavy grease will make the hubs practically impossible to move at very cold temperatures. Note it doesnt take much of a dent on the hub housing to make things hard to assemble. I had to take a hub and rotor once that gut dented in transit.

 

[tinytim02]

I had a similar problem with my setup, '74 Dana 44 with 78-79 knuckles. I could never get the old hubs installed correctly, after numerous attempts. I ended buying a set of Warn Premiums, they were easy to install and work great.

 

[murdador]

Update for anyone else running into the same problem.

After an hour of filing with a small metal file, the wheel hubs are much better. The locking hub slides fairly well now.

 

[murdador]

ce. Dq

The splines do not get heavy grease coating. Just a thin film of white grease. Heavy grease will make the hubs practically impossible to move at very cold temperatures. Note it doesnt take much of a dent on the hub housing to make things hard to assemble. I had to take a hub and rotor once that gut dented in transit.

Sent from my Mi MIX 2S using Tapatalk